Okay, so I’ve been hearing a lot about this “Geno Auriemma Read and React Offense” lately. It’s supposed to be super effective, and, well, I wanted to see if the hype was real. So, I decided to give it a shot with my team – a bunch of high school girls who, bless their hearts, are more enthusiastic than skilled.
First Steps: Understanding the Basics
First thing I did was try to find everything I could. I watched some videos, read some stuff and I needed to find how to install it to my team. It seemed pretty straightforward in theory: constant movement, reading the defense, and reacting accordingly. Easier said than done, of course.
The Drills Begin!
We started slow. I mean, really slow. We began with the basic “Layer 1” stuff. Lots of passing and cutting. I emphasized the whole “pass and cut” idea, drilled it into their heads. I used to repeat them”Pass and cut! Pass and cut!” At first, it was a mess. Balls flying everywhere, girls running into each other…it looked like a chaotic dance-off, not basketball.
- Pass and Cut: We spent a ton of time just on this. Over and over.
- Dribble at: Then, I introduced the “dribble at” concept. If someone dribbles towards you, you back-cut. This took some getting used to.
- Reading the Defender: I kept yelling things like, “See where your defender is! Are they overplaying you? Cut backdoor!”
It was brutal. Honestly, there were times I thought, “This is never going to work.” They were getting frustrated, I was getting frustrated… But we stuck with it.
Small Victories (and Plenty of Setbacks)
Slowly, very slowly, I started to see glimpses of understanding. A good cut here, a nice pass there. Then we’d have five minutes of total brain-farts where they forgot everything. It was a rollercoaster.
We started adding in more layers. The “circle movement” stuff, the post-play options. The more we added, the more complicated it got, and the more mistakes they made. But I started to see them thinking on the court. They were starting to anticipate, to react, not just run pre-set plays.
Game Time! (The Real Test)
Our first game after a few weeks of practicing the Read and React was…interesting. It wasn’t pretty. We still turned the ball over a lot. But there were moments – beautiful, glorious moments – where it all clicked. They’d make a series of quick passes, a backdoor cut, and bam – easy layup. Those moments made all the frustrating practices worth it.
The Verdict (So Far)
It’s definitely a work in progress. We’re not suddenly a championship-caliber team. But the Read and React has forced my players to think, to react, and to play together. It’s made them better basketball players, even if our record doesn’t fully show it yet. We’re still learning, still growing. I am learning it and teaching them at the same time! It is taking much more time than I expected. And I’m definitely going to keep working at it. I believe it. Maybe next season, we’ll really start to see the full potential of this thing.
