There are now less than 50 days until the 2022-23 college basketball season begins.

For Hoop Vision, it’s been a quiet off-season as far as college basketball is concerned. We published three NBA YouTube videos over the course summer, but — apart from a July newsletter on Virginia and free throw rate — I simply have struggled to formulate new off-season ideas when it comes to college research and analysis.

That will all change when the season gets started in November and there is once again a daily schedule of games to analyze. I’ll be bringing back The Starting Five — our subscriber-only newsletter that features five actions, stories, or thoughts from the previous week of games.

In the meantime, the first episode in a brand new season of the Solving Basketball podcast was released this week with Bellarmine head coach Scott Davenport — which is the topic of today’s newsletter.

Solving Basketball… presented by Hudl!

This season, Hudl is once again the presenting sponsor of the Solving Basketball podcast. With Hudl’s support, new episodes will be airing every other week leading up to and during the season.

As I’ve stated in the past, I’m especially proud to partner with Hudl. I already use their software to make Hoop Vision content better.

If you’re a coach looking to enhance your video and scouting workflow, I highly recommend Hudl’s suite of products. Click/tap here to learn more.

Additionally, if you are already Hudl user, check out our Sportscode Secrets and Tips tutorial video from last May.

Episode #49 — Scott Davenport, Bellarmine

It’s been about 10 months since I published “The Team That Doesn’t Dribble” — a 12-minute YouTube video on Bellarmine’s offense that has now collected over 1.7 million views.

So with the success of that video, it was only right to ask head coach Scott Davenport on as the first guest for the brand new season of the Solving Basketball podcast.

The conversation with Davenport included:

The aftermath of "The Team That Doesn't Dribble" video going viral on YouTube
Bellarmine’s “pressing on offense” philosophy
Why Davenport believes passing is underrated in today’s game
Why Bellarmine uses fewer ball screens than any team in the country
Ball reversal statistics
How playing in the Bellarmine system translates for players with NBA/professional aspirations

You can also find the episode on all apps where podcasts are available.

Pace versus Speed

Another topic of discussion during the conversation with Davenport was Bellarmine’s pace of play.

Despite finishing just 327th in average offensive possession length, Davenport explained that the Knights emphasized advancing the ball up as fast as possible last season on the offensive end.

So how can a team emphasizing pushing the ball ahead on offense rank towards the bottom of the country in pace?

First let’s remember how we define pace.

The consensus definition of pace (in basketball terms) is simply possessions per 40 minutes. The number of possessions a team uses over the course of a game.

Turnovers, offensive rebounds, and fouls all affect pace. They end or extend the possession.

Bellarmine’s average possession length last season was 19.1 seconds — hence why they ranked 327th in offensive pace.

On the other hand, speed is slightly different than pace.

Speed, or at least my personal definition of speed, is more about what the offense does within those 19.1 seconds. Are they holding the ball out on the perimeter? Are they moving the ball side-to-side with passes? How much off-ball movement is occurring?

In Bellarmine’s case, their possessions are long, but their ball movement and player movement within those long possessions are fast.

So the Knights play with speed on the offensive end. It just doesn’t necessarily translate to quick possessions.

For more on the topic of pace, check out our “Should Offenses Play Faster?” newsletter from January 2020.

Hoop Vision

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