Breaking Down the Elite Eight
X's and O's and statistics from the past weekend of games.
Welcome back to another edition of The Starting Five. To read last week’s version, you can click/tap here.
And then there were four.
After a great weekend of basketball, there are two one-seeds (Purdue and UConn), a four-seed (Alabama), and an 11-seed (NC State) remaining.
In today’s newsletter, we’re taking a look at how those four teams advanced to the Final Four. More specifically, we’re looking at an X’s and O’s or statistical nugget from each of the Elite Eight games.
Here’s exactly what we’ll be covering from each team.
Purdue’s Spain Ball Screens
NC State’s Defensive Gameplan
UConn’s Rim Protection
Alabama’s Shot Selection
Purdue’s Spain Ball Screens
Yes, Purdue leads the country in points per game off of post-ups. However, I’ve been writing all season about how they have diversified their offense by running more ball screens for Braden Smith.
That was the case again in the Elite Eight against Tennessee. Of course, Edey’s work in the post was critical — he finished with a career high 40 points. But Purdue also had a stretch in the second half where they spammed Spain ball screens. The video below shows three instances of the Boilermakers scoring off of the Spain action.
During all three plays, Mason Gillis is the player setting the back screen while the ball screen occurs. That’s especially dangerous because Gillis is a 48% three-point shooter.
On the last play in the video above, Smith gets near the paint and then finds Edey sealing his man in the restricted area. Below is a screenshot of that play.
In my Purdue notes, I label this scenario as “THE ANGLE” — because when Smith pivots like this off of a ball screen and finds Edey in the paints, it’s pretty much over for the defense.
It’s an angle that Smith finds quite often after using a ball screen set by Edey.