Find a play for your coaching situation
Choose your level, the situation, the defense, your personnel and your prep time, and get a few approved plays that fit, with why and what each costs, or a plain answer that nothing does.
Find a playBasketball play selector
Tell it your level, the situation, the defense, your personnel and your prep time, and get a few approved plays that fit, with why and what each costs, or a plain answer that nothing does.
Result
2 approved plays fit what you told us.
Box Screen-the-Screener
Version 1
Screens that free a cutter to the rim, then a second action for the screener, with a safety outlet away from the basket.
Why it fits
- It is for baseline out of bounds.
- It suits man-to-man.
- You have the time to install it (one practice).
What it costs
- Needs an inbounder who can pass to a cutter under pressure.
- If the first option is denied, the second read has to be ready or you are close to a five-second call.
It assumes
- Your inbounder can pass over a defender.
- At least one screener can also catch and finish.
When to use it: Under your own basket against man-to-man, when you need a good two-point look and the defense is guarding the ball-side block. It works best when the post defenders like to help on the first cut.
Double Stack Cut and Seal
Version 1
Screens that free a cutter to the rim, then a second action for the screener, with a safety outlet away from the basket.
Why it fits
- It is for baseline out of bounds.
- It suits man-to-man.
- You have the time to install it (one practice).
What it costs
- Needs an inbounder who can pass to a cutter under pressure.
- If the first option is denied, the second read has to be ready or you are close to a five-second call.
It assumes
- Your inbounder can pass over a defender.
- At least one screener can also catch and finish.
When to use it: Under your basket, against man-to-man, when you want a rim look first and a corner three second.
Set aside because of your answers (2)
Overload one low defender: a shooter in the corner, a post sealing the middle, and a flash into the gap behind the top of the zone.
- It is for zone, not man-to-man.
Slips: the screener cuts to the rim as soon as the defenders switch.
- It is for a team that switches, not man-to-man.
Rules 2026-09-30.1: 11 of 11 in use, 11 reviewed by a basketball coach. catalog-a401c015-23.
How this works
A short table of coaching rules, each naming the situation it is for and what it needs, decides which approach fits; each approach points to plays Ball Coach has approved. It never makes up a play or a score. If you answer "not sure", the rule stays in with a note to check it; only an answer that rules something out sets it aside, and it says why. The table is a draft until a basketball coach reviews it. Nothing you enter is sent anywhere.
- 7 situations, 4 levels, 5 personnel traits, up to 3 plays
- Only plays Ball Coach has approved and that are available now
- A basketball coach reviews the rules before they are public
- Picks are not ranked by a score, and no result predicts winning
Worked out in your browser. Your answers are never sent to Ball Coach or to analytics, and no roster or names are involved.
A worked example
A high-school team with a shooter, baseline out of bounds against man-to-man, one practice to install. The plays below are invented samples so this example never changes; the tool above shows the real approved plays.
- Sample play: baseline screen for a cutter: Screens that free a cutter to the rim, then a second action for the screener, with a safety outlet away from the basket.
- Sample play: corner overload: Screens that free a cutter to the rim, then a second action for the screener, with a safety outlet away from the basket.