Our man-to-man offense used to consist entirely of a series of set plays. However, since Coach Boeheim has been involved with Team USA, it has evolved into a high ball-screen offense that occasionally sprinkles in a set play. Unfortunately, both offenses have exhibited similar concerns over the years.
Our set-play offense would often struggle when the defense took away our first scoring option. The players would often miss or give up on second and third options, and the offense would bog down as a result. Additionally, the plays we ran were often designed to isolate our best scorer in one-on-one situations. That works well when the best scorer is Carmelo, but not so much in seasons that this player isn't a fully developed stud with a bevy of moves.
Our ball-screen offense, ironically, suffers at times from the same problems. If the initial screen-and-roll doesn't produce a good shot, the offense crumbles into a lot of standing around as one player pounds the ball into the floor. A pass may be made only to have another random high ball-screen set, often with players improperly spaced and the defense in great help position. The fundamentals of strong ball-screen offenses--multiple screening angles, screen/re-screening action, ball screens integrated into a motion offense as an "automatic play," etc.--have largely been missing. Furthermore, the offense still seems to rely on one-on-one skills rather than teamwork and design to produce shots.
The last two games, though, our players have executed more set plays, and they have also demonstrated some of the facets of an effective ball-screening offense. For example, Roberson set a ball screen for Gillon against Pitt (I think--I don't think it was against Miami), and then he immediately set a down screen for White. White read the screen well, and he straight cut the screen for an open three-pointer. These two screen-and-roll fundamentals properly performed together, two screens set in succession and replacing the roll man, led to a great scoring chance. It was the first time all year I remember one of our players setting two screens in succession. Such a play puts the screener's defender into a tough spot. He has to hedge on the ball screen and then recover fast enough to help his teammate defend the down screen. Either he will be late (which he was in this case) to help his teammate, or the defense will have to switch, which can cause mismatches that can be exploited. In short, this action should be a staple of the offense, not an anomaly.
Ultimately, our offense is more of a "motion" offense than it was a decade ago. I'm sure the coaching staff has rules for our motion. However, given the year-after-year half-court troubles, I wonder how emphasized certain fundamentals are. The players often don't keep the spacing or perform the screen-and-cut actions the way a motion offense should to occupy the defense and create scoring opportunities. Instead, we often see the apparent randomness that breeds inconsistency. This inconsistency is only exacerbated by teams that play physical man-to-man. I'm hoping the team's execution the last two games will become the foundation upon which the program can create more half-court efficiency. It would be nice to see more backdoor cuts like the one White made against the Pitt defender that overplayed him, and more proper passes like the bounce pass Gillon made to get White the lay-up.
Edit: The Roberson play was against Miami, but they re-showed it during the Pitt broadcast.
