Q: I have implemented the R&R Offense and had great success with it at the HS girls level. Now, have a head boys position. My question is this: in a 4 OUT set, would you recommend moving the wings down farther and possibly widening the top guards out to create greater space for driving lanes? The problem we have run into is that our top guards run out of real estate so we constantly penetrate and pitch.

That is not necessarily a bad problem, but I was wondering if altering the spacing would allow more penetration opportunities at the perimeter positions. Moving them, say, half way between the wing and the corner would create greater space, but would also possibly make the help and recover a shorter distance since when the guard penetrates and pitches, the wing would not be sliding nearly as far.

A: You are definitely correct that the more spacing you can provide for your guards the better, but I don’t know how far I would drop the wings toward the corner. In a 4 OUT set, I want to leave the corner spots open as much as possible. This gives the wings a spot to move to when the guard drives. If the wings are already in the corners (or close enough that they might as well be), they would have to Circle Move to the opposite corner which would conflict with the Post stepping down to the short corner.

I think you should try your spacing suggestion and see how it works with your team. Remember, though, that the more space you give to your guards, the more you take away from the wings (especially driving baseline). Also, as you mentioned in your question, if the wing to corner slide isn’t very far distance wise, and your guard gets stopped by the help defense, the pitch may become less effective.