The Swing Offense was developed by former University of Wisconsin’s Bo Ryan, who is considered as one of the all-time greats in the college coaching ranks. He won 747 games over the course of his career as a head coach that included stops at UW-Platteville and UW-Milwaukee before spending his last 14 years with the Badgers.

The Swing Offense is an interchangeable offense where spacing, screening, cutting, and passing are key components to its success. As the name implies, the offense is designed to get the ball from one side of the court to the other side - and back again. In this offense, you literally want to “swing” the ball and test the defense to be able to guard you with this much ball movement involved.

In this article, you will learn the strengths and weaknesses of implementing the Swing Offense along with the basics of the offense to determine if it’s the right fit for your team.

• Repetitive Offense. The Swing Offense is a continuity offense which means the same actions repeat themselves. This can lead to difficulties when the defense learns the pattern and start making stops. Your offense must be able to read the defense and use counters to create new scoring opportunities on offense.
• Dribble-Drive Mentality. If your team’s strength is attacking off the dribble, you should consider a different offensive strategy. Unlike other offenses, the focus in the Swing Offense is passing, screening, and cutting.
• Basketball IQ. The success of this offense relies on your players being able to read the defense and make counter-moves to their defensive adjustments. If your team isn’t able to execute these types of game-time decisions then you may want to rethink using this offense as part of your game plan.

The Swing Offense is best suited for a team where every player on the floor excels at the basics: passing, cutting, screening, and spacing. This is extremely important to the success of the offense because it’s what allows the offense to be positionless, players to develop their skills, and a high-scoring opportunity every possession.

I highly recommend this offense if your team places value on each possession and has the patience to not settle for a good shot, but a GREAT shot every offensive trip. If your team can buy into this true, team offense then there will be GREAT rewards on the offensive end.

Lastly, a team successful in the Swing Offense must be able to read the defense and make offense moves and counter-moves accordingly. With the continuity within this offense, each player must be able to understand what they’re looking for and what to do if the defense takes that away.

The Swing Offense is designed to create a versatile offensive attack. Many Bo Ryan teams feature big players who can step out and knock down the outside shot or smaller players who can take their man into the post and score.

Can you imagine being able to put a team on the court who can all play inside and outside and patiently work the offense for the best match-up and scoring opportunity? If your team can execute this type of offense then you’re going to torment the defense.

Check out Bo Ryan breaking down the initial set up for the Swing Offense position by position.

Here are the steps for the basic foundation of the Swing Offense. Every trip down the floor may not look exactly like this because your offense will be reading the defense, but with these steps, you'll be able to teach your team what the basis of the offense to use when you're not running set plays.

RULES FOR SWING ACTIONS

Remember these 3 rules when you're running the Swing Offense:

1. Top to Wing Pass: weak side players interchange
2. Wing to Top Pass: weak side wing sets flare screen for the top spot
3. Top to Top Pass: flex cut on the 3-man side

Here is a full video breakdown of the continuity for the Swing Offense.

The only way to truly learn the Swing Offense is to practice, practice, practice. In order to be prepared to run this offense in a game, you must practice. An obvious way to drill the Swing Offense is 5-on-5 full-court, but a better way to drill this is to break it down and focus on different segments and reads within the continuity.

Here are a few practice drill recommendations...

Flare Screens

In the continuity, flare screens happen when there is a pass from the wing spot to the top spot on the 3 man side. When you see this pass being made the weak side wing sets a flare screen for the top spot. This is an important segment of the continuity to isolate and drill.

Flex Cuts

Another important part of the continuity is the flex cut. The flex cut happens when the ball is passed from top spot to spot. When this happens, you have to use the flex cut to create the 3-man on the ball side. This is a great drill to work on the transition of your 3 man side to the other side of the court.

Post Moves

The Swing Offense is designed to expose all positions on the court, especially the guards in the low post. During practice, make sure every player works on post moves. In the video below, Bo Ryan outlines the different post moves they drill in practice.

The Swing Offense has the potential to be a force to be reckoned with for any defense. If your players excel at passing, cutting, reading the defense, and making smart decisions with the ball then you have found the perfect fit.

We have given you the foundation to implement this into your game plan, but there’s always more to learn. A great tool for any coach is learning directly from the coach who put the Swing Offense on the map - and that’s Bo Ryan. His DVD, The Swing Offense, thoroughly breaks down everything you need to know. In this short instructional video, Ryan gives you step-by-step instructions on the whiteboard.

Another one of our favorite Swing Offense videos is with Greg Gorton. In his video, Specializing the Swing Offense, he goes into detail about his version of the offense along with a deep dive into their reads and counters. On of that information, this video is a great option if you’re looking to take the Swing Offense a step further and want ways to counter a sagging defense, pressure releases, or use this offense with your post player never leaving the post. It's basically the complete package for the Swing Offense!

If you want to learn even more about the Swing Offense, check out HoopsKing.com for DVDs you can download or rent.

Some of the pros of the Swing Offense is that it is a positionless offense meaning that players are interchangeable and free-flowing. The Swing Offense also develops strong fundamentals resulting in high-scoring opportunities from your players. Check out the other benefits of running the Swing Offense here.

The cons to the Swing Offense is it being a continuity offense meaning repitivity of the same actions. Opponents can learn the patterns and start making stops. Learn more cons of the Swing Offense here.

Teams with a high basketball IQ and all-around skills benefit most from the Swing Offense. If the five players out on the court have strong fundamentals this gives you the opportunity to be hard to stop from scoring in the Swing Offense.

Bo Ryan is the creator of the Swing Offense. The Swing Offense is designed to get the ball from one side of the court to the other. The key components are passing, spacing, screening, and cutting. Learn more about the Swing Offense here.