Chasing a team around the floor for 30 seconds only to have them score an easy layup on a back door cut can be demoralizing for any defense, but that is what the Princeton offense is designed to do. Perfected by former Princeton coach Pete Carril, the Princeton offense uses constant motion and patience to frustrate teams.
Setting Up the Princeton Offense
The offense begins by spreading the court. This is accomplished with four of the five players starting outside the 3-point line and usually above or even with the free throw line. The offense is initiated by a series of picks and cuts to the basket, but that is as structured as it gets.
From there, the offense relies on savvy players to be able to read the defense and make the appropriate cuts. The main goal of the Princeton offense is to get a back door cut leading to a layup, but if the opponent gives up the 3-point shot, that also is one of the main weapons.
The basic offensive element in the Princeton offense is the give-and-go. The give-and-go element is where a player passes the ball to a teammate and immediately cuts to the basket, hoping to catch his defender looking away or flat on his feet. If the layup is not there, the cutting player continues through the lane, and returns outside the 3-point arc to maintain spacing and keep the lane open.
The player with the ball first reads the cutting player to determine whether the pass should be made, then either passes the ball and cuts, or dribbles the ball to set up another back door option.
The Dribble Setup
The give-and-go is not the only way the Princeton offense can set up the chance for an easy layup. Players in the Princeton system need to have three qualities to be successful: 1) the ability to shoot the 3-point shot; 2) basketball savvy to know when to cut and where to pass the ball; and 3) the ability to handle the ball effectively.
The final point is important because of another way the offense generates scoring opportunities-the direct dribble. In the direct dribble, the player with the ball will drive directly toward a player defending a teammate.
This forces the second defender to choose between stopping the drive or covering his man. At the same time the player is dribbling toward the defender, the offensive player that he was covering cuts to the basket for the back door cut and the layup. If the layup is not there, the player with the ball checks for a drive opportunity, a shot, or passes it out to the top of the key.
Keep It Moving
What is happening away from the ball is just as important as what is happening with the ball in the Princeton offense. While at times it may seem that the Princeton offense is a two-man offense, it relies on all five players to be moving to create secondary cuts to produce scoring opportunities.
After the initial backdoor cutter clears the lane, players off the ball can set back screens to free up teammates to cut down the lane for easy baskets. The secondary cutter usually comes from either the wing opposite side of the court from the ball or from a player at the top of the key.
Where ever the cut comes from however is not as important as the fact that all players on offense keeps moving. This does a couple of things. First, the constant movement of the offense forces the defenders to be chasing the offensive players and tires the defenders out. Second, the movement forces the defender to play his man and not help out on the backdoor cuts leaving the lane open for the layup.
Against the Zone
Many teams may be reluctant to run the Princeton offense against a zone, but the Princeton offense can be run against any type of defense.
If teams decide to pack in tight zone defense to take away the back door cuts, players in the Princeton offense should be proficient at shooting the 3-point basket and will quickly shoot the defense out of their zone.
For other types of zone defense, the constant motion of the Princeton offense makes it difficult for defenders to pick up which players are in their area of responsibility. Also, with a zone, the offense can cut through the gaps in the zone leading to opportunities along the baseline and even in the middle of the zone itself.
Spreading the Offense
While the offense started in Princeton and got its name from the school, several programs now run the offense. The most notable team to run the offense is Georgetown under John Thompson III. Other notable college programs to run the offense include Northwestern, Arizona State, Air Force and the University of Colorado.
The offense is also run in the professional ranks, as Sacramento, New Orleans, New Jersey and Washington all run a version of the offense.
