Week 7 Filmroom: Pick-&-Roll Ballhandlers

After a week-long break from the film room, we’re back, this time looking at pick-and-roll (PnR) ball handlers. In Wisconsin state hoops, an offense heavy in PnR action--or any kind of ball screen--are rare, but oh there are some guards who feast on this, the most well-known basketball play. Let’s get to it: <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="156066" first="Julianna" last="Ouimette"] | Lakeland | Class of 2023 | #6 Overall Prospect</strong> It’s impossible to write an article about ball screen ball handlers without talking about Ouimette and the Lakeland offense. One of their main principles for bigs at the top of the key is to swing the ball to the wing and set a ball screen for the recipient. And Ouimette has become proficient in navigating these actions to reliably get great shots for herself and others. Take these two clips against Pius XI in the Watertown Holiday Shootout for example: https://youtu.be/jN1DgmV0LVc https://youtu.be/pto-F7O_jZY The latter of the two is a classic example of Ouimette’s PnR decision-making. She attacks the heart of the paint off the ball screen in the corner, forces the help to show on the drive, and kicks it out to the open shooter for an easy look at the elbow. Simple stuff turning in great results for Lakeland. But the subtle explosion and awareness to see where the help was coming from and attack that space with a pass is part of what makes her such an effective PnR operator. The second of the two shows Ouimette in attack mode. So often in the game, she would take that ball screen and run with it, but this time she used that knowledge against the Pius defense. Ouimette throws the jab step to get her defender to commit to going over the screen and quickly rejects the pick to attack the open space on the baseline. This gets her a clean look, and while she didn’t hit the middy, she bounced back for the offensive rebound and putback. Ouimette’s opportunity to play in a system that emphasizes ball screens is a gift in its own right, but her ability to manipulate the defender’s decision-making to reliability get Lakeland open looks is one of the reasons she’s one of the top guards in the state. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="206699" first="Sylvia" last="Fox"] | Edgerton | Class of 2023 | #36 Overall Prospect</strong> Fox is one of my favorite players to watch simply because of her understanding of passing windows and angles. She’s very rarely rushed in the half-court, playing and creating at her own tempo rather than trying to force her way to her spots. Her creativity and vision make her a lethal passer, and her on-court chemistry with her teammates shines through in her creation. Instead of looking to attack downhill off of ball screens, Fox mixes in different movements to change up her passing angle, looking to create space rather than attack it. The play below exemplifies this mentality: https://youtu.be/Jm7KyxLPFBw Fox takes the ball screen at the wing and rounds it wide. Now look at the space between her initial defender, her screen-setters defender, and the defender tacking the cutter. The triangle Fox created is the perfect passing window to sling that one-handed pass, and she does so with pace and accuracy. Not many point guards can be so patient at the point of attack, while adding movement to their actions, and consistently create great looks for themselves and others. Fox, along with some of the other guards on this list, belongs in the rare and dying breed of pure point guards. <strong>Alexis Freiboth | Mosinee | Class of 2022 | Unranked</strong> Freiboth is a technician when she gets the opportunity to run pick-and-roll. Her handle and aggressiveness allow her to put the defense on notice without sacrificing control, making her a deadly threat in the limited PnR opportunities she gets. She attacks the space a screen creates aggressively and forces the defense to make a quick and often rushed decision. She reads this decision in real-time and punishes incompetence. This play in the Auburndale Holiday Tournament showcases that: https://youtu.be/QmwI1O7bFDs A simple dribble hand-off into a ball screen at the slot confuses the defense. The on-ball defender and defensive big get switched and rather than letting the defense get reset and potentially realigned, Freiboth attacks the mismatch and puts the ball only where her big could catch it. Result: three-point play opportunity. That bucket was entirely set up by Freiboth’s ability to read defensive decisions and attack with speed and accuracy. As of this writing, Freiboth is sixth in the state in assists with 6.4 per contest and a big reason why Mosinee has a perfect record through 12 games. <span style="font-size: 1rem;"><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="209595" first="Taylor" last="Stremlow"] | Verona | Class of 2024 | #3 Overall Prospect</strong> </span> Stremlow had leg surgery in late November and isn’t likely to appear at any point in what would be her sophomore season, but she’s arguably the second-best pure point guard in the state when healthy. She has fantastic vision and feel for the game, and the creativity to manufacture abstract passing angles. Her absence is one of the biggest bummers of the 2021-2022 season, but let’s not forget the kind of passer off the pick-n-roll she is. Take this play below against Franklin last season, for example: https://youtu.be/S803HjS2HkQ She adds a between-the-legs into a left-to-right crossover to maximize the efficacy of the hammer screen to create as much space as possible to run downhill. And once she notices the cutter hitting the opposite block, she switches hands mid-dribble to find the angle and hit the low-man. Had that been teammate [player_tooltip player_id="206577" first="Paige" last="Lambe"] on the block, that’s a layup for two. Verona still ended up getting a good look at a three out of this, but regardless of the shot, Stremlow created acres of space by adding a simple and lightning-fast dribble move into her movement. Let’s take a look at another example: https://youtu.be/2Qt0nsjw8Bk This one’s against Janesville-Craig, who boasts one of the best backcourts in the conference. Stremlow takes the high ball-screen and rather than attacking the low block with a straight-line run, she throws in a full-body in-n-out dribble before finishing off the move with a lightning-quick step away from the basket to align herself with the help defender and sling a one-hand wrap-around pass to the opposite block. Again, the creativity and feel that Stremlow demonstrates on ball screens is pure joy. Saying that Verona (and fans of the game) miss her this season is an understatement. &nbsp;