The Bullis High School team just won the Geico HS National Championships and I’m taking a closer to look into what makes their offense so effective. One reoccurring theme of their offense is incredibly smart off-ball movement. To oversimplify the offense, they either run a set play (which they do really well) or they go a much simpler route. The simpler route being that they dodge with their heads up, and they make the slide man’s job incredibly hard. I encourage you to watch one of their games for multiple examples. Three examples to follow:
Off-Ball Movement By Bullis High School: Geico HS National Championships
#1 (Bullis Back Cut Clip)
The Bullis player off of the endline starts a dodge with a pick set up below GLE. No. 6 of Salisbury is on crease and ready to slide, No. 11 of Bullis notices his man (No. 6) isn’t looking at him and back cuts to the ball. No. 6 looks back to find No. 11 and doesn’t find him until the shot is going into the net.
#2 (Bullis Back Cut 2)
Very similar to the previous clip, No. 7 of Bullis initiates a dodge, No. 44 of Salisbury slides, No. 19 sees his man sliding and cuts to the net where there was no two-slide.
#3 (Bullis Off Ball Cut)
Same idea, different delivery. No. 7 of Bullis sees that his teammate is dodging and that his defenders head is turned. He cuts across the backside of the defense where he is wide open.
Tip for players: Unless you have a scripted play in the works, if you see the back of your defenders head MOVE. By constantly moving you make your defenders job incredibly hard. This is even more effective when your defender has slide responsibilities because they are preoccupied and slower to react.
