(Rental)-Building Your Transition Offense

Tad Boyle: Building Your Transition Offense and Team Culture

This two-part video presentation from Colorado men’s head basketball coach Tad Boyle offers great insight into both an up-tempo offense as well as what it takes to build a successful basketball culture. Boyle has turned Colorado into a Pac-12 winner by emphasizing both values and the transition offense. Boyle is the first coach in Colorado history to lead the Buffaloes to four straight 20-plus win seasons. By the end of Coach Boyle’s presentation, you will have the tools necessary to build a winning culture and develop a transition offense that scores points and wears down opponents.

Transition Drills

The up-tempo offense has helped Boyle transform the Colorado program and it can help you do the same. For Boyle, running the fast break also takes advantage of the high altitude at which Colorado plays. All of Coach Boyle’s drills are designed to make players run the floor and make decisions on the go. The offense rewards ball movement over dribbling through a defense.

You will witness a number of drills including a Continuous Fast Break Drill that works on a variety of situations including 2-on-1, 3-on-2, 4-on-3, 5-on-4, and 5-on-5. Boyle teaches the Spread Offense and illustrates where players are to be on the floor in these different situations. He also goes into detail about good shots and bad shots in the transition offense.

Transition Games

Coach Boyle uses three different ‘games’ in practice to reinforce playing fast and taking good shots. These games place emphasis on always taking a layup in transition and how to reverse the ball in a half-court offense in less than 10 seconds.

• The 12-Second Game: forces players to get the ball up the floor quickly and shoot layup or get the ball inside to a post player.
• The 10-Second Game: similar to the 12-Second drill and teaches players the importance of ball movement.
• Nugget Drill: taken from former NBA coach George Karl, this teaches players to shoot either an open 3-pointer or a layup in transition.

Building Culture

The foundation of what Boyle built at Colorado comes from creating and developing a set of core values. Each successful program must define its culture both on and off the court. You will learn how Boyle built his program around the ideas of trust, character, and work ethic. He gets his players to buy in and always refers to these core values at the end of every practice.

In the end, Boyle teaches his players not only how to achieve success on the basketball court, but also in life. This 67-minute video is the best of both worlds – a great look at transition offense and team culture.