Spacing is a critical part of successful offense, and clean ball reversals are important to put pressure on the defense as they transition from help position to ballside defense. Sometimes watching the NCAA Tournament helps me spot trends in play since there is such a heavy concentration of games, and this weekend I started to pay attention to how teams reversed the ball.
There are really only a few ways to effectively and safely reverse the ball, and they are dependent on how you space your offense. One of the surest signs of a team lacking offensive confidence and rhythym is long or weak ball reversals, especially those that travel from wing to wing.
I generally prefer to reverse the ball through a player at the point. If the defense is trying to keep the ball out of lane - and they should be - then I want to pressure the defender to stop that ballhandler at the point from attacking the rim in either direction. The point reversal also allows for safe passing distances when passing to either wing. One of the things I love to have my teams do against the zone is to do fake a ball reversal and pass back to the origin, which is safer and more effective with a pass that goes through the top of the key. Lastly, a disciplined defensive team will be forced to adjust positioning twice during a ball reversal like this, which can wear them down faster and open up opportunities for mistakes. An undisciplined or tired defense may try to adjust to the ball reversal ahead of the pass, which opens up opportunities to drive, hit cutters, or create passing lanes to post players.
All this isn't to say that a offensive formation with two wing players and an open point can't be effective. It just takes an awareness of the defensive help positions and a focus on clean, sharp passes. One of the ways you can force the helpside defense to back off from the ball reversal passing lane is to attack the key off the dribble regularly. In fact, a dribble attack to the middle with a kickout is a very effective ball reversal with multiple scoring options for the pass receiver.
There are few things more frustrating than a backwards pass or a weak reversal getting stolen in stride for a layup. Get your spacing right, force the defense to defend the paint and respect your dribble attack, and ball reversals can help your offense hum.
