Indiana Basketball: Lack of playmaker the silent killer for Hoosiers

Cassius Winston

A playmaker, like Michigan State’s Cassius Winston for example, takes his own success and uses it to help those around him. He anticipates how the defense will react and is able to get his teammates easy points. Since he’s the best playmaker in college basketball right now, let’s walk through a play to see how Winston shows this ability that Indiana so desperately needs.

Take this pick and roll with Winston and Xavier Tillman against Minnesota in last year’s NCAA tournament.

Winston receives a pick and roll on the wing going left. The screener’s man is playing out high to prevent Winston from shooting his deadly pull-up. Winston’s man is on him like glue, not relying on the screener’s defender to handle Winston one-on-one. Winston’s man gets around the pick and the screener quickly re-screens right.

Winston knows his man is giddy to get around screens to stick with him, so he makes a quick move off the re-screen to attack inside the three-point line. His ability to score has caused Minnesota to key in on him and he’s left with two options: hit the shooter sliding up from the corner, or hit the rim runner with a strike.

The weak side defender chooses to cover Matt McQuaid sliding up to the wing because of his A-level shooting ability, and leaves the rim runner open for a pass. Winston reads it perfectly and throws a nice touch pass over the top, resulting in an easy two points.

This is just one example of many, of how Winston creates instant offense for his teammates.