Dusty May had his best schematic performance as the leading man in Ann Arbor during the second half against Maryland. I log how often Michigan runs structured offense in half court settings, and the volume was at a season high. Additionally, Coach May ran a plethora of different sets and attacked in unique ways. While we don't have time to cover each individual action, we'll dive into an NBA-centric tactical move that paid major dividends as Michigan was able to pull out an impressive road victory in College Park.
Gortat Screen
As guy that watches a lot of NBA hoops, Gortat screens have been a staple of NBA offenses for the last decade. Teams use it as a counter to drop coverage and/or a sagging big. But you don't see a ton of it at the college level, and I've often wondered why. So what exactly is a Gortat screen? Named after retired big-man Marcin Gortat (made famous during his years with the Wizards), a Gortat screen is functionally an off-ball seal that creates a path for an easy score. It often follows a ballscreen, but is not limited to such instances. You can get a detailed and easy-to-follow breakdown (with visuals) via Mind The Game.
Michigan opened the second half with a great set that I label as 45 Cross Punch. Wolverines start off in a Delay base that flows into a Lendeborg/Mara ballscreen. As Aday sets the screen for Yax, we have Cadeau simultaneously setting a cross-screen for Johnson. With 15 left on the shotclock, Morez is wide open under the rim and Nimari is wide open in the corner. When a set provides two equally outstanding options/release valves, that is the epitome of superb scheme. But college players don't have the spatial awareness + processing time that we see in the NBA, and sometimes we need more progressions. And this is where the Gortat screen comes into play.
[After THE JUMP: The Intersection of Gortat Screens and Spain Action]
Spain
The Wolverines held a slim lead midway through the second half when Coach May started spamming Spain action on three consecutive possessions. But this wasn't Spain in the traditional sense. Look at the clip below, as Tschetter doesn't even come near Mara to set the backscreen subsequent to Aday's ballscreen for Yax. Instead, Will is stationed just outside the restricted area as he sets a Gortat screen that completely erases Turkson and provides Mara a massive window.[embedded content]This should've been much easier, but Lendeborg is a nanosecond late getting the ball to Aday, and more importantly, the pass was 5-6 feet behind Mara (should've been an easy lob). Again, college players. That lack of precision from Yax allows Turkson to recover and Mills (#7) to double Mara. But the double provides a massive passing window to Tschetter and Aday finds him with a nifty wrap-around pass and Will pays it off. Gortat in Spain.
Next offensive possession and Maryland blitzes the Mara/Lendeborg ballscreen with an interesting wrinkle. Rather than blitzing with the opposing big (Mara's man), Buzz Williams decides to blitz with Coit (#8). In short, Buzz Williams thinks Cason is a complete non-threat as a shooter and is willing to concede the open look to him (LJ came into last night's game 28.6% from deep and is now 27.9% during his career so I get it). Yax processes this well, immediately finding Cason and he knocks down a practice shot.
Coach May dials up Spain yet again in the clip below. Rather than blitzing Lendeborg, Buzz Wililams opts to go with simple drop coverage from Turkson. The tweak? This time Williams has Saunders (#13) icing the ballscreen to prevent Aday from screening altogether. In short, Maryland wants to keep everything on the right side of the court to control the options/variables at play. So what is the response from Dusty May?