Pitt ballscreens
 | 1 Jamie Dixon Pitt guards ballscreens four different ways. a) Roll and replace 1 picks a side, the opposite big comes up to pick and roll in the slot, the other big will replace. |
 | 2 X4 hedges hard on the same plane as the screener, foot to foot, then takes one slide out to stop the dribbler. X1 forces 1 into the screen (don't let him go the other way) then goes over the top but under X4. As 4 rolls to the basket, X5 meets him at the foul line. Weakside defenders are key, X2 is the helper, X3 on the strongside can't help as much. See Defence - Procopio ballscreens. |
 | 3 X4 takes 5 replacing 4 (X4 and X5 switch). |
 | 4 b) Head-on ballscreen Go weak. X1 forces 1 to his weak hand, X5 hedges, X1 goes through (over the screen, under X5). It's sometimes hard to use the head-on ballscreen, X1 should be able to angle 1 away from the screen. See Defence - Van Gundy ballscreens. |
 | 5 c) Staggered ballscreen X5 fakes the first hedge so 1 can't split, then stays with 5 on the roll. X4 hedges hard on the second screen, will then recover to 4 popping. X2 helps. Herb Brown - usually X1 goes over the first screen and under the second as X4 jumps out to stop the ball, at times they might switch up the line, or force the dribbler away from the screens (first alerting weakside defenders), or the first screener can let X1 through then shrink to the lane to pick up the roll man. |
 | 6 d) Double ballscreen X4 takes whichever attacker rolls to the basket, X5 hedges hard and takes the attacker who pops. If they know the double screen is coming, smaller X4 will be the hedge guy. Herb Brown - X1 fights over both screens, X4 picks up the big who rolls, X5 gets the other big after stopping the ball. |
 | 7 e) Dribble hand-off Like ballscreens, Pitt will defend hand-offs different ways. Pitt will generally switch 1-2-3 hand-offs but hedge with a big in the hand-off. From an inverted box set, 1 passes to 4 and cuts to the ballside wing, 5 downscreens for 2, 4 dribble hand-offs to 2. |
 | 8 X4 hedges, X2 goes over top but under X4 to stay with 2. Ettore Messina - they go through (under) if 2 is cutting toward the middle of the floor, then down (ice) if 4 re-screens. X4 pressures 4 then lets X2 through at the last second (gaps), without pressure the offence is able to get a better angle of attack. If 2 is cutting toward the sideline, X2 tails the cutter to keep him on the sideline, if X2 goes under they are susceptible to a re-screen going to the middle of the floor. |
 | 9 On a dribble-weave (1-2-3) hand-off, switch under and switch to the gaps so the dribbler can't crossover and attack. When he switches, X2 does not hug 1 spacing away from the hand-off. Herb Brown - X1 steps back to let X2 go inside and under the screen, or they aggressively trap or switch the handoff and send the dribbler back to his defender, or at times they may overplay 2 to force him backdoor. Dean Smith - defend the weave by jump switching, when X1 sees 2 coming to take the handoff he jumps out into 2's path, ideally drawing a charge, X2 is responsible for stopping 1's dribble. John Calipari - guarding a weave, play the ball, X2 goes toward 2 as he sees 1 coming, forces 2 towards the ball (don't let him cut backdoor), yells "let me through", X1 releases (gaps) and lets him through, stopping 1 from faking a hand-off and going to the basket. Split the floor from weakside.  |
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