From the top of the key, history junior Torry Beaulieu passes the basketball to psychology senior Luke Zumo in the right wing of the floor and immediately cuts for the corner. Center Mario Faranda, finance senior, positions himself in front of his man on the right side of the paint, while on the other side general business sophomores Nick Tuszynski and Sean Bennett loom in the high post and wing, respectively.
The ‘Pack’s newest weapon, the triangle offense, springs into formation.
Zumo reads the defense and jettisons the ball to Tuszynski who stands with his back to the rim on the left corner of the free-throw line. Bennett begins a quiet descent on the basket.
Tuszynski lobs a perfect over-the-shoulder pass to Bennett who is now barreling towards the bucket. He dribbles once and tucks the ball in for the easy lay-up.
Just then an opposing defender who has been under the basket steps to disrupt his path and forces a missed shot.
“We are in the infancy stages of learning the (triangle),” explains assistant coach Joey Steibing. “We’re nowhere near where we want to be right now.”
WHAT IS THE TRIANGLE?
Loyola uses the triangle once the opposing defense has fully positioned on dead ball situations or second attempts from offensive rebounds.
Although there are several ways to set it up, the initial formation requires overloading one side of the court with three players while the other two occupy the weak side.
On the strong side, the “key spot,” which always starts with the ball, stands at the wing to form a triangle with the point guard in the corner and a post who stands midway up the paint. A “pinch post” stands just opposite the other post while a “top guard” stands just left of the key. Spacing is key to the triangle’s efficiency; generally, players maintain a 15- to 18-foot distance from each other to spread out the opposing defense.
There are no calls for set plays. Once the formation is established, the offense executes a series of cuts and screens based on the first pass from the key spot. Passes to the post, the corner or the pinch post all initiate unique patterns of cuts and screens.
The situation above describes the back-door swing option, where the overloaded side is supposed to shift the defense to create an opening for a weak-side cut from the top man.
The Corner Series Feed is another offense option from the Triangle. The first pass goes to the corner, who then has the option of shooting, passing to a breaking key spot or bringing it back up top for more options from screens. Loyola had moderate success using this to exploit weaknesses between the corners and basket against Tulane University in its hotly-contested 68-53 loss on Nov. 1.
HISTORY OF THE TRIANGLE
Although he refined it from an offense he learned playing for University of Southern California, Tex Winter is generally credited as the innovator of the Triangle.
As head coach from 1954 to 1969, he successfully implemented the offense at Kansas State University to achieve eight Big Eight Conference Championships and two Final Four appearances.
The offense remained dormant until the mid-1980s when the Chicago Bulls hired Winter as an offensive coach. With head coach Phil Jackson, Winter taught the offense that helped Michael Jordan and the Bulls win six National Basketball Association championships over the following decade. When Jackson left Chicago to coach the Los Angeles Lakers, Winter followed and assisted in three more championships.
The triangle was not the only common denominator in both Chicago and Los Angeles. Having some of the greatest playmakers in NBA history may have helped too – Jordan and Scottie Pippen in Chicago, while Los Angeles enjoyed Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal.
As head coach of the Qatar international team, Steibing took his squad to the FIBA World Championship for the first time in 2006 – just two years after implementing the triangle. After joining the staff as assistant coach this season, he thought it would be a good fit for Loyola because of the unselfish attitudes of the players and their smarts on the court.
Head coach Michael Giorlando, who played under the triangle in high school, said it was similar to the high/low offense they had run previously.
TACKLING THE TRIANGLE
Principally, the triangle is a reactionary offense.
Instead of creating opportunities, it finds opportunities already present in the opposing defenses. Thus, leading scorers will fluctuate from game-to-game depending how the other teams decide to cover. Players with big egos struggle with this aspect – as Kobe Bryant did with Phil Jackson.
This year, Loyola has a well-rounded core of players to utilize all the options of the offense. While retaining its shooting presence from last season with Zumo, Bennett and Faranda, Loyola also has an added inside presence with marketing senior Carter “Bear” Wurts, Tuszynski and newcomers Darrinton Moncrieffe, management freshman, and Robert Manson, marketing sophomore.
Many pro teams avoid the triangle because of the time it takes to firmly establish it, Steibing said. Jordan admitted the Bulls never got it down until after their third NBA championship.
But Loyola has the advantage of a young team with time to learn. Because of Hurricane Katrina, the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics allowed those on the team an extra year of eligibility. Of the three returning seniors, only Wurts confirmed that he will forego a fifth season. Faranda committed for another year while Zumo has not decided, Giorlando said.
Of the first four games this season, Giorlando and Steibing both said the team has a long way to go before mastering the triangle. Even after a lopsided 86-51 home-opening victory against Wesley College, Steibing said they put on an average performance. The ‘Pack’s first conference game is against LSU-Shreveport on Jan. 3.
Until then, Giorlando said, “We’re getting better at it … it’s a work in progress.”
Steve Heath can be reached at [email protected].
