The Virginia basketball Blue-White Scrimmage provided 30 minutes of running clock action and plenty of first impressions for Cavalier fans to comb through while waiting for tipoff. While it was a mostly simple scrimmage, there were some hints of what’s to come when it comes to what may have been the most popular offseason topic: changes on offense. So the Double Bonus is back in two parts to take a closer look. (For Part I, click here.)

Virginia – Lane Wide

UVA tends to use three main offensive concepts with multiple sets to get varying one-time looks. The three main concepts to me are sides motion, three-man motion, and four-man motion. The most recognizable to fans is probably the sides motion offense that has featured a baseline screener, a high post area screener, and three cutters using those screens throughout most of Tony Bennett’s tenure.

TV broadcasts of the Hoos will call this offense anything from sides to pairs (two screeners working with two cutters away from the ballhandler) to blocker-mover. Any name is fine. The point is that Cavalier fans likely can spot it quickly and keen observers might even see pieces of it during other teams’ games in college and the NBA.

One variation that the Hoos broke out in the past is a widened version where the high post screener never screens inside the lane line extended (the free throw lane opposite of the ball). The first name that comes to mind here is usually Evan Nolte, who played that high post screener role fairly frequently in a pseudo small ball lineup. That was always labeled as Nolte playing post vs. a four-guard lineup when someone like Malcolm Brogdon or Devon Hall moved over. I digress.

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