Thoughts.

Individually, cutters today may give themselves two options and make a hot read, but it’s not that hard to pick up from the sideline who the first and second downfield cutters are going to be from the way they set themselves up (or the way the others take themselves out of the way). When not in the play, I often try to mix it up by acting as if I am the primary cutter, but definitely not every time.

Simple, but potent. This is similar to something I’ve done as a cutter for a while now. Cutting is as much about fooling your defender as it is about flat-out beating him, and one man’s cut is enabled by the work of six others making space for him to have a play.

The value of confusing the defense’s expectations is rather large for the offense. Wiggins gets the value of a predictable offense to the defense:

…[Truck Stop has] an extremely efficient offense, but one that basically keeps their players in their strongest positions for the entire game. Advantage; they are always using their strengths (Moldenhauer going deep, Morgan cutting, McComb handling, etc). However, this does make it easier to match up in important, late-game points; you can adapt your matchups to focus on the places on the field that they are going to be.

(And you can poach intelligently if you know who the playmakers are and aren’t).

One strategic notion that I think is very undervalued and underutilized is to use variety in offensive options to keep a defense guessing and continually exploit their weaknesses. Seigs was (and is–any Dartmouth O guys from last year read my blog?) probably the best play-caller I know because he takes efforts to use the variety of options an offense has and uses–just varying the 3-4 (in terms of who’s cutting in a given 7, which 7 are on the line in the first place, who’s the 3 and who’s the 4) on a semi-regular basis allows you to put rested legs on display and potentially exploit the weaker defenders on the opponent’s team. What good does a stud defender do if she’s out of the play?

Similarly, if you’re being covered by Stud Defender or Lane Poacher, keeping her busy thinking you’re the immediate threat when you’re not is a big part of “making space” for your teammates. And the converse–making her think you’re out of the play–can be valuable for setting up opportunity cuts when the look to help elsewhere.

This is especially important in spread offenses, which are designed to create isolations and use the matchups advantageously. If you man knows you’re not in the play right now and can drop off to poach, it’s killing your team’s offense. If you’re not going to set up and act like you’re about to cut, at least force him to keep repositioning or looking to you instead of the play–things like a slow jog to his blind spot, with the occasional start-stop (like you’d see a base stealer do during pitches to throw off the pitcher/catcher)…demand attention, and if it isn’t given to you…go where they ain’t, and get the disc.