Memphis Dribble Drive Basketball Offense

This is part 1 of my series on the Memphis Dribble Drive offense.  In the following animation and video I'll attempt to show you the basic principles of Coach Calipari's offense.  You'll see from the animation that the Dribble Drive is actually an offense within an offense.  Memphis will start out in many different formations and transition into their Dribble Drive set from these various formations.  This makes their offense very dynamic and unpredictable.

Throughout this series you'll see how Memphis uses quick hitter type plays to begin their offense.  Coach Calipari has designed these quick hitters to transition smoothly into the Dribble Drive set which means the defense is spread out and the lane area is clear.  With the lane area clear Memphis can drive to the basket with the dribble, thus the Dribble Drive Offense.

In the following animation Memphis starts their basketball play from a 1-4 box set.  They run a well designed play which gives them a few scoring options and puts them in their Dribble Drive set after the initial play is executed.  Memphis runs a lot of plays like the one in our animation.  The plays are designed to not only score but to also put them in their Dribble Drive set.