With head coach Juwan Howard deep into his second season at the helm, now is a good time to look at some of his more frequently used sets on offense. With six years experience as an NBA assistant with the Miami Heat, one would expect a heavy NBA influence and that is exactly what we're seeing. 

Overview/Spain PnR in the NBA

Spain Pick-and-Roll (PnR) is a set commonly used at the NBA level. The primary goal in Spain PnR is to free the roll-man for an lob/easy finish after setting a ballscreen for the guard by via a backscreen by a teammate.

This action starts with your typical 1-5 ballscreen action, but the aforementioned backscreen on Mason Plumlee is what places the defense in a real bind. You'll notice I froze the above clip at the precise moment the backscreen was set for Anthony Davis, which creates the space/passing window for a clean lob from Rajon Rondo. 

This Anthony Davis version of Spain looks easy, because well, Anthony Davis. But AD level bigs don't exist at the college level, so we'll take a deep dive into the various options/progressions that Juwan Howard runs for Michigan below. 

Spain PnR - The Post-Up Option

Hunter Dickinson doesn't have the quick-twitch athleticism of Anthony Davis, so catching lobs out of Spain PnR probably isn't in the cards for most possessions. But this set still aims to optimize Dickinson as a post-scorer, and it very much does.

Much like the Lakers' Spain clipped above, the same action unfolds here in the first 3 possessions of the clip above. A 1-5 ballscreen followed by Franz setting a backscreen for Hunter. With Franz setting the backscreen, McCaffery has to tag Dickinson until Garza can recover. That is where the advantage is created. The split second in which McCaffery + Garza must exchange spots allows Hunter to get deep position just outside the restricted area. The defense is in a no-win position, either allow Dickinson to post-up an undersized McCaffery or cede position to Hunter during the exchange period. The identical action for the next 2 possessions against Indiana and Purdue demonstrate the defensive dilemma. It's well established at this point that allowing Hunter Dickinson deep position or defending him with an undersized big is going to result in a layup or a foul. That is precisely the case here.

So what happens against better defensive teams that know the tricks of the trade? Juwan goes deeper into the progression to achieve the same result. Wisconsin had this action well-scouted, but it didn't matter because Juwan Howard is the chess-master.

On the fourth possession in the above clip (starts at the :40 mark), you'll notice Brad Davison literally cross-check Dickinson (surprise) after he receives the backscreen from Chaundee Brown in an effort to slow Hunter down until Potter can recover. This minimizes the exchange time referenced above in an effort to combat Dickinson establishing deep position. So Juwan extends the play by bringing Johns up to give Smith another ballscreen, while simultaneously having Livers set a cross-screen to free up Hunter as he comes across the lane. Dickinson gets the ball as intended, backs Potter down and converts on a beautiful jump-hook over the right shoulder. 

The final possession clipped above against Purdue is nearly identical to the aforementioned Wisconsin possession. The new wrinkle? Juwan Howard has Eli Brooks set another backscreen on Trevion Williams to ensure Dickinson gets either a mismatch or very deep position. This play was literally perfectly schemed and should have achieved the intended result in much cleaner fashion but for a hickup from Mike Smith. Smith should have delivered the ball at the exact moment I freeze the clip (1:05 mark), but proceeds to dribble twice more before throwing an errant pass. Since Dickinson has a huge catch radius, he's able to pull-in the pass and score relatively easy. 

The big takeaway here is that Hunter Dickinson's gravity as a roll-man/paint-scorer places the defense in a stressful position where being in scramble mode is inevitable as coaches try to prevent Hunter from getting easy baskets. Well aware of this, Juwan Howard goes deeper into his bag below.

[Hit THE JUMP for Franz working on the heels of the Post-Up Option]

Spain PnR - Exploiting Dickinson's Gravity

A good set allows the defense to pick among 2 poor choices, but a great set compels the defense to choose between 3 bad options. When the opposition is consumed with stopping Hunter Dickinson, this is exactly the scenario at play in the clip above.

Gard's approach is simple on the first possession, he's simply not going to allow Hunter to get an easy one. That said, he has Wahl stay with Dickinson until Reuvers is able to get behind Hunter (:04 mark), which is functionally a brief double. Remember, Iowa's approach was similar, but McCaffery didn't stay attached to Dickinson quite this long. Hunter's gravity as a post-option compels Wisconsin to prioritize stopping him, but that frees up other options. 

Franz has 8 feet of space as he pops-up and receives the pass from Smith. Wahl is in full scramble mode to prevent an open catch-and-shoot triple, so he's out of control on the closeout. Wagner attacks the front foot on the closeout and easily finishes over a backpedalling Wahl.

Remember, a great set mandates the defense picks their poison with three bad choices. Here, Wisconsin must pick between the following:
 

 A) Dickinson a post-up against mismatch/deep position as Reuvers recovers

B) Open catch-and-shot triple for Franz or

C) Wagner attacking an out of control closeout as Wahl scrambles.

The second possession above is the same action, but Indiana is much less disciplined in relation to Wisconsin. Jerome Hunter tags Dickinson until Jackson-Davis recovers, but then both proceed to closeout to Franz when he receives the ball. At this point Michigan is in a three-on-two situation, as Wagner hits Eli on a baseline cut, but Brooks can't convert the layup. But Jackson-Davis was forced to rotate over to contest the layup, and Dickinson gets an easy put-back when nobody helps-the-helper. 

The third possession against Maryland is a carbon copy of the first possession clipped (Wisconsin). Morsell stays attached to Dickinson for a bit too long and Franz attacks an out-of-control closeout. While Wisconsin basically lived with Wagner attacking Wahl on the closeout, Turgeon has Scott rotate over to cut off Franz' driving lane. With Eli wide-open in the corner after the Scott rotation, this is an easy read. Wagner hits Brooks, splash. 

So the final possession represents a defense being forced to choose from 4 bad options. This is what you call great coaching and optimizing personnel. Using Dickinson's gravity to allow Franz to excel at attacking off the bounce in a straight line, exactly what he's best suited to do given his size + length + touch.

You love to see actions that build off multiple options to exploit the defense for taking away one option while forcing the opposing coach to concede an equally bad option. Checkmate.