Once Kansas State coach Bruce Weber starts talking about the technical side of basketball it is hard for him to stop.
That much was evident during a virtual clinic he taught earlier this week as part of the NABC Championship Webinar Series. The topic was man-to-man offense, and he dove deep into X’s and O’s for nearly 90 minutes. He spoke so quickly and confidently that the online moderator had to interrupt him several times to give viewers an opportunity to ask questions.
Weber was full of answers. Even when a high school coach asked what advice he had for a team that featured four starters with “below-average speed” and no point guard, Weber suggested a methodical, ball-screen heavy offense that could pose problems for defenses without a shot clock.
It was fascinating to hear Weber break down successful K-State plays on video. Though he is open and honest with media after games, his answers at press conferences aren’t as precise without a visual element for everyone to connect with. And none of his clinic covered zone offense, which tends to be a weakness for the Wildcats.
With that in mind, here a few of the most interesting things he shared during the virtual clinic.
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One thing Weber made abundantly clear during his talk is that he values spacing in his offense. Though he will occasionally send two players on a similar path (he calls that a circle option) at the beginning of a set play to create confusion for the defense, he otherwise wants K-State players to give each other space and begin possessions in the middle of the floor.
That should come as no surprise to anyone who has watched Weber’s motion offense, but it was still enlightening to see how quickly a possession can bog down in that system when the ball isn’t moving or a player gets stuck against help defense on one side of the floor.
The vast majority of positive plays Weber broke down featured either a middle ball screen, quick side to side passes that created driving lanes or dribble hand offs that forced defenders to switch or go under screens.
One play Weber was particularly proud of occurred at Texas during K-State’s run to a shared Big 12 championship in 2019 when the Wildcats executed ball-screen motion so perfectly that Barry Brown had to choose whether to send an entry pass to Dean Wade (coming off a baseline screen) or Makol Mawien (after setting a screen), who were both wide open under the basket. Weber also highlighted a game-winning layup from Brown against West Virginia in which he was able to blow by three defenders that didn’t know how to defend a middle ball screen.
Interestingly, K-State’s offense hasn’t changed all that much during the Weber era. He broke down clips from his first year in Manhattan with Rodney McGruder and Will Spradling, as well as his most recent season with Xavier Sneed and Mike McGuirl. Both teams used similar techniques.
Weber’s message was to “put defenses in binds” and to try and do so early in possessions.
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It can take time for certain players to master Weber’s offense.
When a viewer asked Weber how important continuity has been for his teams, Weber said it’s easier to teach an experienced group than a new one.
“It probably takes until Christmas to get it going,” Weber said. “If you have these guys for a long time, it really helps.”
That might not bode well for K-State’s offense early on next season, as the Wildcats will have at least eight new scholarship players. Weber said young teams have to work on motion offense every day and gradually build up to in-game success. He compared the process to teaching the alphabet to his grandsons.
Knowledge is so important in Weber’s offense that he said he once told a player to “go stand in the corner and pick your nose” if he didn’t understand how to run a play, because that would help the team more than cutting the wrong direction.
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Bruce Weber is a fan of the new ESPN documentary “The Last Dance” that chronicles the Chicago Bulls and their championship seasons with Michael Jordan during the 1990s. Not so much because of its entertainment value or its journalistic revelations, but because K-State players have taken some valuable lessons away from it.
“They said they learned about Dennis Rodman,” Weber said. “They didn’t even know about Dennis Rodman. Some of them don’t even know about Michael Jordan, to be honest. They realized the building of teams and the importance of winning.”
Not knowing about Jordan, whom many consider to be the best basketball player of all time, is probably hyperbole considering two of K-State’s players (DaJuan Gordon and Seryee Lewis) call Chicago home. But his point remains.
Weber was glad to see K-State players point out how valuable Rodman, a ferocious rebounder, was to those old Bulls teams. Weber said one of his players went so far as to call Rodman “the GOAT.”
“Think about how good Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen were,” Weber said. “Here one of my guys says the GOAT was Dennis Rodman. They finally figured out that if you accept your role and execute your role and take pride in your role you have a chance to be successful.”
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After coaching under Gene Keady for years at Purdue, Weber predictably mentioned his former boss as one of his primary coaching mentors and quoted him heavily throughout the clinic. But it was a tad surprising to hear Weber also quote Bob Knight, who coached against the Boilermakers at rival Indiana.
The Knight line he used the most: “At the end of the season do you want two good plays or two good players?”
Weber shared that quote to emphasize how important it is for players to adjust and use their talents to make certain plays work, even late in the season when conference opponents know what is coming. A good play is nice, he said. But there’s a reason NBA teams give their best players the ball and let them create in crunch time.
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It seemed appropriate that one of Weber’s primary keys to running successful man-to-man offense included defense.
The defensive minded coach emphasized the importance of designating a player as a “safety” on every offensive set so your team doesn’t get beat for any easy layup after a turnover or a missed shot. The football term fits. That helps explain why Weber often instructs one of his players to stand on the opposite free-throw line when opposing teams are at the foul stripe.
Eliminating easy points takes a burden off any offense. Weber said former Illinois star Deron Williams was the best basketball safety he has coached.
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