Just a few days after losing to Gonzaga with struggles on both ends of the court, the Virginia basketball team didn’t solve all of its problems Wednesday night at Notre Dame, but the Hoos took a step in the right direction in a 66-57 win. The victory kept Tony Bennett undefeated in ACC openers as well.

The Double Bonus is back for a closer look.

3-Man Motion

This edition starts on offense where the Cavaliers committed heavily to their 3-man motion or triangle motion scheme in this game. This isn’t a new concept – we’ve seen it in the past and in a few select instances earlier this season – but this is a great game to revisit what it is plus some new wrinkles the Hoos added to it.

So, first, what is it? The 3-man motion scheme is simple from a basic principles standpoint. The Cavaliers put three players in the middle of the floor; if you draw a pair of lines halfway between the free throw lane line and the 3-point line on the sides on each side, the three interior triangle players stay mostly in between that area and work together through motion to create offense. Typically, there are four basic actions happening between those three players – pass and cut, pin down screen, UCLA back/up screen, or ball screen. The remaining two players spot up outside the 3-point line on the sides. Those two players serve as spot-up shooters, pressure relief valves if the interior three are stuck with ball movement, or as side screen and roll options if one of the three interior players passes and then follows into a ball screen.

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