Matt Pogue was an assistant coach for me during the 1992-3 season. He was a great assistant- he had experience, he was invested in the players, and he had great insights. We were a lot like in that after the games, we liked to analyze and reanalyze the games. It was fun. On one occasion, my wife came downstairs at 3am and asked us to hold it down a little.
Matt was a coaches son, Buddy Pogue had been a legendary coach at Costa JH for years. And Matt had been an assistant in boys basketball for Mel Casper at Avon. Casper had been one of the most successful small school coaches in this area for years- first at Avon and then at Lewistown.
During the 92-93 season, Matt shared a play they had used at Avon that he thought was very successful. The concept of the play was to have a double high post, take the ball to one side, and then have the weakside post flash across the lane and back screen the other post. It was something that was successful for us in 92-93 but something we did not really use after that until 1997 season.
In the 1996-7 season, we resurrected Pogue’s play and tweeked it to fit into some things we already did. Our #1 was Molly Watson, and we did a lot of things with her coming off ball screens and with her dribble entering the ball to the wing. So we initiated Pogue’s play by having her dribble to the wing. The guards rotated and the posts came high.
The defense was used to Molly attacking on that side, so the defense needed to rotate toward Watson at the wing. #1 (Watson) then reversed the ball.
As the ball was in the air going from #3 (Galyean) to #2 (Pendergast’s). Our #5 came hard to set a ball screen on #4. For us, Jessica Thompson, Megan Pacheco, and Sarah Larson were interchangeable in those positions. In terms of execution of this play, we were at our best when #4 was Megan Pacheco (5’8” Freshman), and #5 was Sarah Larson (5’11” Sophomore). In the Supersectional at DeKalb HS, Megan Pacheco scored 8 first quarter points on this lob action.
If defenses decided to switch the back screen, our #5 (Thompson or Larson) would start across to screen and then slip the screen going to the basket- often for a layup.
In 1998, we had both Pacheco and Larson coming back so you would think that Pogue’s play would just keep going. Because of personnel, we moved Megan Pacheco to the perimeter as a #3. She had made the lob work because she really cut off the back screen well, and was excellent at catching the lob passes, as well as finishing. Our solution was to come up with a lob action for Megan as a #3.
In similar action, we had our #1 (Jaque Howard) dribble the ball to the wing.
#1 (Howard) would reverse the ball to #3 (M. Pacheco) and then to #2 (Michelle Flaar or Rachel Bicego). On the pass to #2, #5 went to the corner and #4 to strong side post, while #1 started to the basket.
On the pass to #2, #1 would back screen for #3 (Pacheco). For us what was nice about this action was that we got our great lob cutter- Pacheco going to the basket, the screen by our #1 was with a 5’4” player and their defender did not want to switch onto Pacheco. In the meantime, #5 (Larson) in the corner was going to where we tried to get her the ball often- so the defense went with her, and the defense had to guard #4 in the strong side post. In the Sectional vs Rock Island, Pacheco scored twice and was fouled on this play.
The counter actions to this play were good for us too. If they cheated on the back screen, Howard was wide open at the top of the key and she was a 40% three point shooter.
If #1 (Howard) did not have a shot at the top, she could take the ball to wing and look for #3 (Pacheco) on a post up, or look for #5 (Larson) flashing into the lane.
So a simple action that Matt Pogue suggested in 1992-3 season, became an important action that helped us win a Supersectional in 1997, and then helped us win a Sectional game in 1998. We were able to take his play and fit into our scheme. Thanks- Matt!!
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