We do run plays. But JB's sets tend to be rather simple - he tries to stay out of the way and let his talent make the plays. We have a small handful of different inbounds plays, we run some staggered screens at the top of the key for our point guards, and we run some off-the-ball stuff if we have a special shooter (GMac/Rautins/DNich). High-low sets used to be pretty common in the late 80s but JB has gotten away from them, maybe because we haven't had the right combinations of players/personnel. JB tends to run more sets when we have less talent, and less sets when we have better freelancers (like 08-09 with Devo and Johnny).
Another thing that I would point out, that might be missed by the casual fan, is that there is actually quite a lot of structure to our fastbreak/transition basketball. In a way this is like a set play because each player has a specific assignment in transition, even if it looks totally chaotic. A lot of those GMac and Rautins transition 3s over the years came off designed transition plays. I used to go to a lot of practices when I was a grad student and at the beginning of the year, JB always focused on putting in his transition offense first.
Another thing is that many of the alley-oops we see against a zone defense are from a set play. The receiving forward comes out to one corner, then passes the ball to a guard on the wing - the guard then reverses to another guard at the top of the key (timing and quick reversal across the 2 guards is key). Meanwhile the receiving forward slips baseline as the center steps up to back-screen off the opposing wing defender. Now you have a forward going to the basket hard and his defender is trapped in the corner... we just throw the ball over the zone. If we have the right personnel for this play, you can almost guarantee you'll see it within the first 3 possessions against a zone. A lot of small teams don't like to zone us because they're afraid we'll just throw it over the top of their defense (see: at West Virginia, 2003 when Hak and GMac successfully ran this like 5 times).
A Big East assistant coach once said that JB's system is the easiest to prepare for (because it's not particularly complex), but the hardest TO PLAY against, because he does a great job at getting the right type of guys for his system.
Sort of reminds me of an interview with Bob Lanier, former PG of St. Bonnies. He was asked about playing against Syracuse in the late 80s, and he said something to the effect of "We spent all week watching film and my coach told me that we could win if I forced Sherman Douglas left every time. After the first timeout, coach got on me about forgetting about the scouting report, and I told him - I know what I'm SUPPOSED to do, I just can't do it because he's too damn quick going right."
