From: Ben Wertenberger

I love coaching with this offense. One thing that really helped our girls’ varsity team, and may help some others, concerned seam cuts against a zone. We worked very hard on setting up cuts against both man and zone and making those cuts “seam” cuts against zones, but we had trouble switching gears between the man and zone. We also often found that our players weren’t accurately reading where the seam was until they were already through it. One adjustment seemed to really help; we called cuts against a man to man a “lightning cut” because you took the defense away and then cut hard. We called the zone cut a “banana cut”.

To give you an example:

Point passes to right wing against a 2-3.
She goes around the girl playing the top of the 2-3 to her left.
She then comes into the ’seam’ space.
If nothing is there, she fills out.

Here are the benefits as we saw them:

• The seam cutter is always coming from behind the defense which makes it more difficult to defend.
• She is always coming towards the pass.
• She gets a chance to see the seam develop and then hit it.
• The passer doesn’t have to anticipate the opening as well, she sees it coming to her.
• We don’t call man or zone from the bench, which forces the player to interpret what to do, we say lightning or banana and they know the cut to run.
• The terminology reminds the player of the technique to use.

The main point of this is to say thanks. You have given me renewed enthusiasm and my girls love it.

Rick’s Response:

I’m greatly encouraged when I hear you say that you love coaching with this offense, that it has renewed your enthusiasm, and that your girls love it. I really appreciate you letting me know - it keeps me as enthused as yourself!

I think your terminology is great! I’m always looking for a single word or single phrase that communicates a clearly understood action for the players. Lightning Cut vs Banana Cut not only differentiates between Man-to-Man and Zone, but also communicates the speed, angle, and where to look for the ball. Also, your list of benefits is just excellent.

You can bet that I’ll use your terminology at the next Read & React Clinic. I’ll refer to it as “Wertenberger Terminology” or “The Wertenberger Cuts”. After I’ve referenced you 3 times, though, I’m going to call them my own! That’s the rule in the coaching community - reference it 3 times and then you can call it your own!