The More Passes That Are Made, The More The Defense Is Broken Down

One of the day's drills is meant to emphasize the importance of sharing the basketball and working for good, even great, shots instead of jacking up the basketball at the first opportunity.  Williams hands the Blue team a 20-point advantage and announces that the team will scrimmage for ten possessions.  If the starters score on every possession, they could tie the score, but just one Blue basket will put the game out of reach.  Then the coach introduces the catch: for every pass the White team makes before a basket, they get one point.

Suddenly, the Tar Heels are a team of glad-handed passers.  They rack up 10 points before one basket, 9 before another.  No one goes one-on-one at the expense of his teammates.  The ball is quickly worked around the perimeter, dumped inside, fired back out, and reversed across the court.  It is crisp, up-tempo offense, but it is also patient offense- exactly the kind that Roy Williams favors.  The message seems to be getting through: the more passes the starters make, the more the defense is broken down, and the better scoring opportunities are created.

Pg 64