College basketball just had the best offensive season in the history of the sport. Yeah, you read that right.
The 17.1% turnover rate was the lowest since KenPom started tracking it in 1997. Teams shot a combined 50.3% on two-pointers. That’s the best mark since data started being tracked in 1948. It was also the best free throw shooting season in college basketball history.
Even with rosters changing at a higher rate than ever, there’s reason to believe the arrow is only pointing up. The skill is improving at the lower ranks. Shooting is of utmost importance, and the processes for plenty of teams are elite.
Basketball X’s and O’s are a copycat sport. Teams steal concepts from everybody and anybody. Everyone is on the hunt for the next big thing that it can use to put opposing defenses in a bind. The sport has changed and will continue to evolve as offenses rapidly put up historic numbers.
There are terrific offensive coaches everywhere. Hofstra’s Speedy Claxton is an exceptional X’s and O’s mind. Princeton’s Mitch Henderson uses isolation brilliantly. New Michigan coach Dusty May has found ways to use space so creatively. Illinois’ Brad Underwood has been the architect of three top-10 offenses in the past eight years using three vastly different techniques. No one scored more points off handoffs last year than Nebraska under Fred Hoiberg.
Let’s dive into 10 of the top offensive masterminds in the country and what makes ’em so successful.
Buckle up.
(No particular order.)
Here’s where Alabama has finished in Shot Quality’s Rim & 3 rate since Nate Oats took the gig.
2020: 3rd nationally2021: 1st nationally2022: 1st nationally 2023: 2nd nationally2024: 5th nationally
Alabama takes and makes a ton of 3-pointers, as was well documented by CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander and Kyle Boone in a popular piece back in 2021.
How it generates those treys directly results from Alabama’s non-stop…
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