UCLA High Post Offense
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The UCLA High Post Offense is an offensive strategy in basketball, developed by John Wooden, head coach at the University of California, Los Angeles. Due to UCLA's immense success under Wooden's guidance, the UCLA High Post Offense has become one of the most popular offensive tactics, and is commonly used on all levels of basketball including the NBA.
Though Wooden used to have great big men at UCLA (Lew Alcindor and Bill Walton), the UCLA High Post Offense is primarly an option for teams who lack a bona fide low post player. This man-to-man offense is designed to take full advantage of a center with good passing and shooting skills, but it can also take advantage of the post up abilities of a point guard and power forward. It is commonly run out the 2-3 set (also known as a two-guard front). The two-guard front keeps the pressure off a team's playmaker from having the ball in his hands all the time. Aside from Alcindor and Walton, Wooden's offense also produced many great players during his championship run at UCLA. Such notable players include Gail Goodrich, Walt Hazzard, Keith Erickson, Sidney Wicks, Curtis Rowe, Jamaal Wilkes, and Marques Johnson. After finishing their college basketball careers at UCLA, many of Wooden's players went on to have respectable careers in the NBA
The UCLA High Post offense can be run to both sides of the court, and has a variety of options or "reads".
