BETTER BASKETBALL

To get started learning about the Read and React, we highly recommend you begin by watching the official video preview of the Read and React System, which explains everything from the ground up. To view it, click here.

Nowhere in the Read and React DVDs will you find the phrase, “you must have these types of players…” If a type of player is required as a prerequisite, you can be assured that the offense is NOT the Read & React. To say it another way, a team of any level, age, or gender can benefit by running the Read and React Offense.
   As an example, at the highest levels, a coach of a college or pro team could implement all 17 layers of the R&R, and their team would have a diverse offense that would incorporate basically every effective method of attacking any defense. On the other hand, at the beginning levels, a youth coach could install just the first few layers of the R&R, which would give the young players a simple yet workable offense that doesn't give players sets to memorize, but TEACHES players HOW to play.

Perhaps the single most unique benefit of the Read and React is that it is completely customizable, allowing the system to produce any style of play. It can be adjusted to promote the strengths or hide the weaknesses of any team’s personnel. It can be customized to the philosophy of any coach. It can be adjusted to any tempo of play. It can be used with or without set plays. And it can even imitate other popular offenses.

The system’s creator is Rick Torbett. After his playing career and then 25 years in coaching, Coach Torbett retired from coaching in 2003 to work exclusively on the Better Basketball videos. At that time, he began to formulate and experiment with the Read and React principles, using Better Basketball as a platform to speak with other coaches from all levels and from all over the world. He began sharing the original version of the Read and React with his friends in coaching, and coaches who heard him talk about the system at clinics. Many of them began running the system, and their feedback allowed him to fine-tune the offense to the groundbreaking system that it is today. To learn more about the origins of the system, we recommend you read the Read and React Written Articles by clicking here.

Yes. As mentioned in the previous answer, Coach Torbett has been sharing the system with many coaches over the last few years. In fact, he spoke at the last two NCAA Final 4 Coaching Conventions about the Read and React Offense. As a result, many coaches have “thrown away their playbook” to run it, while others have incorporated it into what they already do. To watch and listen to thoughts and feedback from some of the coaches running it, please visit the Testimonials Page by clicking here.

Great question. Here’s the answer: none of the above!
   As for plays and patterns: We all know the three problems with plays, sets, and a patterned or continuity offense. (1) They tell players exactly where to go, even if the defense is already there, waiting for them. (2) By tournament time, good teams will have plays and patterns scouted, so they may be rendered useless. And (3) many coaches spend more time teaching plays and patterns than teaching their players HOW to play. (In fact, Coach Torbett did a study on his own team years ago that showed he was spending 80% of his offensive practice time on plays and patterns, yet 80% of his made baskets in real games came from individual execution. He thought about it, considered this totally illogical, and it became a contributing factor to him developing the Read and React System.)
   As for motion: The Read and React is not a motion offense. In motion, the player without the ball can usually do almost anything, including screen away, screen the ball, cut to the goal, rotate, etc. With all these options in a motion offense, it takes an incredibly intelligent basketball player to do the right thing. As a result, some players suffer “paralysis by analysis” and do nothing, while other players do the wrong thing and create a turnover.
   So what is the Read and React? In the Read and React System, the player without the ball is given one specific assignment based on what the player with the ball does. These varied and unique assignments (which are the layers of the offense) allow every player without the ball to have a chance to score while giving the player with the ball either space to operate or relief from defensive pressure. When these “reads & reactions” are linked together, they create practically every good attacking option in offense: single, double, and triple staggered screens; opportunities for dribble penetration; give and gos; European 3s; dribble handoffs; etc. And perhaps most importantly, these attacking options do not create just two or three man games, but a full, 5-man coordination (despite being based on a 2-man read).
   And by the way, most coaches running the Read and React still run their favorite plays and quick hitters, as the system is perfect for starting with a quick hitter and moving into the Read and React if the play is stopped.

Yes! In fact, this is one of the more special aspects of the Read & React System: it can work against any defense.
   In order to maximize the Read and React against zones, you may want to incorporate a minor adjustment or two. These adjustments are outlined in disc 2 of the set, and explained further by the coaches already running Read & React in disc 5. Here’s an example: “Players should modify their basket cuts into seam cuts. In other words, rather than cutting all the way to the goal (where there is most likely a defender waiting in a zone), a cutter should look for the ball while cutting through the seam of the zone.”
   But these “zone adjustments” may not be necessary for some teams. As an example, youth teams need very few (if any) “zone adjustments.” On the other hand, top-level teams who are using the advanced layers of the Read and React will automatically have advanced zone adjustments built into their arsenal, based on the R&R’s progressive layers.

Another great question with an easy answer: All of the above!
   This is another fantastic element of the R&R System; it can easily morph into a 5-out set, a 4-out 1-in set, or a 3-out 2-in set. Incredibly, the reads and reactions of the players don’t change based on the set! The set can be changed deliberately by a call from the coach, or it can discreetly change without a call, as players respond to the defense with their Read and React habits. Click here to view the official video preview in which a few coaches and Hall-of-Famer Rick Barry express their amazement at this aspect of the R&R.

The Read and React has four direct methods (and many more indirect methods) to counter a high-pressure, aggressive defense that denies passing lanes. These four types of “pressure relief” ensure that any player under pressure, particularly those with a lower skill level, have an easy way to escape a turnover and effectively get the ball to a teammate. In fact, the Read and React is designed to flourish against an aggressive, denial defense, as the counters to pressure are automatic. No hand signals, no verbal signals, and no need for a high basketball I.Q!

This concept is potentially the most powerful aspect of the Read and React System. It could apply to a high school varsity coach, the head of a club program, or the head of an AAU/YBOA program. Here it is: You institute the basic layers with your youth/church/rec teams, giving them a workable offense in which they’ll learn proper spacing and get good movement without the ball. Most importantly, they wouldn’t just be running plays, they’d be learning HOW to play. Then, with your mid level teams such as junior high, 9th grade, and junior varsity, you implement the next few layers, adding things like screens to their fundamental base. By the time players get to varsity, you institute the final few layers, giving your best team a full arsenal of weapons to attack any defense, with your players having run the same foundation for years.
   At the highest level, this team will flow together like a school of fish, as they will have been running the R&R for so long it won’t be “an offense” to them, it will simply be “offense.” Some R&R coaches are already doing this; they’re seeing results and reaping the benefits!

Let’s say a coach has his or her whole program running the Read and React System. All the varsity players have been running it for years, and they know it inside out. Then one year, a star player unexpectedly transfers in for just his senior season. This star is too good to keep off the court, but doesn’t know the R&R system as well as the others. What happens? Is this “Read and React ROOKIE” able to play with the “R&R VETERANS?” The answer is yes, because no layer in the Read and React Offense contradicts another layer! So the star could learn just the first few layers and fit in fine with his new teammates.

Particularly in American basketball, coaches are not allowed to work with their entire roster in the off-season, restricted to just two players most of the time. This means that most coaches can only work on individual skills with their players, not their team’s offense. But this problem does not hold true for the Read and React coach! Thanks to the two and three player drills on the third DVD of the set, a Read and React coach with just two players in the gym, could install almost the entire Read and React Offense - with just two players at a time. By the time the season began, every player who participated in the off-season drills would have the Read and React habits down cold! And the best thing is that the Read and React drills don't just teach movement, they are designed to also improve almost every fundamental a player needs, including shooting, dribbling, passing, and triple threat work.

The system develops players from three standpoints:
   1. It teaches them how, where, and when to apply the skills of basketball. We all agree that players need skills like shooting, dribbling, one-on-one offense, passing, etc. Unfortunately, when these skills are applied at the wrong time or in the wrong situation, they can be detrimental to the player and the team. In other words, what do you call a pass made at the wrong time? Answer: a turnover.
   2. The Read and React also develops players indirectly. When players see how much more effective they can be with certain skills, they’ll be motivated to work at acquiring these skills.
   3. Sheer repetition. Running The Read & React System guarantees tremendous repetition of basketball’s essential fundamentals. Any player will experience significant improvement with the amount of repetition they’ll encounter in the Read & React System.

If you define a basketball curriculum as instructions for teaching with a systematic method, then by definition, the Read & React is indeed a curriculum! In fact, this was one of the ancillary goals of Coach Torbett: to build a layered, principled system of offense that is clearly and distinctly defined at each level and most importantly, is transferable from coach to coach and coach to player. The curriculum begins with the same layer for beginners as for pros. How far you make it through the curriculum depends on the level of your players. But unlike most developmental systems, you don’t need mastery of the whole to have an effective offense. You’ll see how most teams, regardless of their level, can begin to play with 5-player-coordination with only two layers from the Read & React curriculum. (In fact, Randy Evans, a very successful middle school and AAU coach, has done just that. Visit the Testimonials Page to watch his thoughts on video.)
The Read & React fits the idea of a basketball curriculum perfectly in the sense of building the players in a year-by-year or age-level fashion. It’s perfect for a coaching organization that has teams at various levels. All the coaches and all the players would be on the same page. And most importantly, they would be “standing on each other’s shoulders” year upon year. Each coach would know exactly what to teach and what to expect his or her players to know the following year. That’s what a curriculum does. It has a cumulative affect for the coaches and the players.
A great example of using it as a curriculum comes from Hall-of-Famer Nancy Lieberman, who runs a well-respected summer camp. She is using the Read and React as her camp’s offense, with the layers being taught to campers. The players won’t move onto the next layer until they have mastered the current layer. The Read & React could be used similarly in any K-12 school, club or AAU team, or even a basketball federation. As another example, envision a high school team. The varsity center sprains an ankle just before the big tournament. But the JV team’s center has been dominating JV competition all season long, and is just waiting for his chance. He gets pulled up to the varsity for the tournament, and immediately, he is on the exact same “mental page” as his new teammates.

Because the Read and React is a principled system, defenders can’t just “play the play” or “play the pattern” in practice. They have to defend honestly, thereby making them better defenders. And like iron sharpening iron, the offense will be forced to play better as well. In fact, coaches running the system have found that they can use the Read and React as their offense in shell defense! The R&R Offense forces their defense to guard screens, penetration, post-ups, and basically everything else the players might have to defend in real games. Milt Travis, a high school coach with 4 region championships, discovered this and has benefited from it. Listen to his video comments by clicking here.
   Another reason that a Read and React team’s defense improves stems from the untraditional implementation of the system. In other words, most traditional practice schemes begin with a fixed amount of time for the offense, and that allotment of time increases as the season goes on. Why? Because additional practice time must be spent to teach players the counters and options they’ll need against opponents who scout their offense. That leaves less time for defense.
   Compare that traditional season to what happens with the Read & React team. At first, the team might use 70% of practice time in order to learn the Read & React Offense. This only leaves 30% for defensive development. This might cause concern to you coaches who prefer to spend the majority of their time on defense. But this ratio quickly flips as the season progresses. Here’s how: with every practice, the players get more efficient with the habits of Read & React Offense, which has its counters and options built into the system. Once the layers are learned, there’s nothing more to add (other than repetition). Slowly but surely, the practice time ratios for offense and defense begin to change. Soon, you could easily be using 70% or 80% of practice time on defense. So entering the post season, you’ll be sending an unmistakable message to your players about the importance of defense.

This important question is answered in great detail earlier in this FAQ, as the first question in section 3, titled, “Questions on the Xs and Os.” Please scroll up to read it.

All Read and React teams peak at the end of the season - tournament time! This is because the Read & React is an offense of habits; and habits only get better with time and repetition.
   Compare this to the traditional team running plays and patterns: Plays and patterns typically work best in the beginning of the season, or with non-conference opponents. As the season progresses, plays get scouted and can be stopped. By tournament time, your team is forced to play by principle, but they’ve not been playing by principle all season, they’ve been running plays. But if you’re running The Read and React Offense, a principled offense, every practice and every game is preparation for the post season!

With most other offenses, the answer is yes. For example, the Read and React is perfect for quick hitters and set plays, as your team can run your favorite set plays at the start of a possession, and if you don’t get a shot from the quick-hitter, your players will simply play by their Read and React principles. So they won’t have to pull it out, stop attacking, and “set it up.” By the way, Coach Bill Self gave a great coaching tip on disc 6 of the set regarding when he implements plays.
   In addition, the R&R’s adjustable nature allows it to easily function exactly like many of basketball’s most popular offenses including the UCLA high post, a dribble penetration offense, or a simple version of the Triangle offense made famous by Tex Winter and Phil Jackson.

They won’t just like it; they’ll love it! One of the biggest complaints star players have with patterns and plays is that when they see a possible hole in the defense, the star is unsure what to do. The common thought process is, “If my deviation from the plan doesn’t work, I’m going to screw up this whole pattern.” But with the Read and React, the player with the ball is encouraged to use his skills to attack the basket and score points. And he or she will know exactly where his or her teammates will be, thanks to the 5-player-coordination built into the Read & React Offense.
   Further, the players who have the ball less have a sense of “equal opportunity,” in terms of their chance to contribute or score, because the system has ways for less talented players to get involved. Carter Wilson, a former NCAA Division 1 head coach now running the Read and React with his high school team, was surprised that the offense not only helped his stars, but created unexpected baskets from his team’s less-skilled players. Click here to view video of his comments.

The primary answer can be found in the basic principle of the system. Players do not have to read the other nine players on the court like they do in a traditional motion offense. Nor do they have to memorize a playbook or a complicated pattern. Instead, they just watch the ball (which most low IQ players do anyway) and react with one specific movement. And to make things automatic for the less-skilled player, this movement can be drilled to the point of habit, thanks to the Read and React drills (disc #3 of the Read and React set).

To the eye of someone who doesn’t know the Read and React system, it can look very chaotic because there’s no set plays, no repeated patterns. And unlike a typical dribble drive offense, the players are doing much more than just penetrating and rotating - they’re getting down screens, back screens, multiple staggered screens, and pin screens; they’re executing give and gos, backdoors, European 3s, dribble handoffs, and much more! With all this unscripted movement, it looks like freelance basketball to some. But it’s not; it’s all very predictable to the Read and React coach and the players. In fact, despite the fact that R&R players are reading the defense and playing by principle, a missed assignment is just as obvious in the Read and React as in any set play!

The dribble drive is very popular right now, and for good reason: many of the principles make logical sense and are ideal for teams with good penetrators. However, the Read and React should not be classified as a Dribble Drive Offense. The best way to view it is that the “dribble-drive-4-out-1-in” is a truncated part in the Read & React System. Here’s why:
   Disc 4 of the R&R set gives a plethora of suggestions on how a coach can customize the Read and React Offense to take advantage of his or her personnel. One of those suggestions is for a team that has four good penetrators and a post player who is not a strong back-to-the-basket type of player. In that situation, it is suggested that the post player stay opposite the ball and score by reacting properly to dribble penetration. That simple adjustment is everything the R&R players need to know, and their “Read and React habits” will have them executing a “Dribble Drive 4-Out Offense.”
   But the Read and React’s adaptability and unique customization features allow the system to take TWO giant steps further. FIRST, what if you had two post players? Read & React enables your team to run a 3-Out 2-In dribble drive offense. Or, the Read and React could just as easily switch to a 5-Out dribble drive offense. And SECOND (and this is where the Read and React gets real special), the Read and React could be a 4-Out 1-In blocker-mover offense with very little dribble penetration. Or it could be a 3-Out 2-In double high post offense similar to Coach Wooden’s UCLA Offense. Or, it could even be a 3-Out 2-In offense where the posts worked off each other to create a power offense similar to Coach Bill Self’s. That’s why we had to devote all of disc 4 of the set to how these minor adjustments (which Read and React coaches are already making) could make the R&R system function like entirely different offenses, with only minor adjustments by the players.

Most coaches who have seen the entire DVD package seem to believe that it is revolutionary, groundbreaking, eye-opening, or however they choose to term it. Granted, Coach Torbett absolutely did NOT invent the screen, or the give and go, or any of the other methods of attacking the defense that make up the Read and React System. However, the completeness of the R&R System (and for that matter the DVDs themselves) is what makes the system special. Never before has a complete offensive system like this been produced, including layers ideal for youth players OR advanced players, drills to build all the habits, and interviews with coaches already running it, enabling a new Read and React coach to jump to the front of the learning curve.
   In addition, there are many aspects of the Read and React that are absolutely unique and you can find them in almost every layer of the offense. This includes, but is not limited to, the creation of a diverse offensive system based on each player without the ball reading the player with the ball, and reacting with a specific movement that can be drilled to the point of habit, resulting in a 5-man coordination "glued" together with 2-man reads and reactions.

First, we recommend that you visit the Testimonials page and listen to all of the feedback from these coaches, many of whom run the Read and React exclusively. If your question isn’t answered there, please call us, as we can answer most questions about the system. But if we can’t, we’ll put you in touch with a coach who is already running the system, or we’ll set up a call with you and Coach Torbett, the system’s creator.

If you have already purchased the Read and React 6-DVD set from us at full price, and you would like to get other copies of the system for your assistant coaches, we can offer a discount price. Please contact us for details by clicking here.

In September of 2008, most likely in Atlanta, Georgia, we are planning a clinic (more of an open discussion) for those coaches running the Read and React System, and for those considering running it. This will be a great chance for each coach to share with others how he or she has customized the R&R for their team, and for coaches ask questions about how to customize it or implement it with their team or throughout their program. If you would like to attend, please contact us by clicking here.