Who needs the 35 second shot clock? These ten teams have made a habit out of flying up and down the court looking to score as quickly as possible. All ten teams do it differently looking for the open court three, a thunderous dunk in transition, or a quick stop and pop.
10. Memphis
Coach John Calipari calls his offense the "Princeton Offense on Steroids." It's a pretty appropriate name for an offense that scored at will last year and will do so again in 2009.
The Tigers will back cut opponents to death to create easy scoring opportunities. Memphis's ability to create turnovers and score at will in transition makes the Tigers lethal in the half court and the open court.
9. UTEP
The Miners like to get up and down at the tune of 73 possessions per game, 17th best in the country. If they could shoot better than last year's 43.3-percent, 211th in the country, UTEP would be unstoppable.
The Miners are first in the country in
preventing steals and seventh in the country in not getting their shots blocked. The Miners also return Conference USA's top scorer, senior Stefon Jackson.
Senior guard Josh Akognon shoots the lights out. The front-runner for Big West Player of the Year hit 116 three-points a year ago. The Titans lost five productive seniors from a team that ranked 13th in the country in tempo.
CSU-Fullerton has ranked near the top of the country in tempo the last three seasons and should move the ball freely behind Akognon's three-point shooting prowess.
7. Tennessee
Freshman phenom Scotty Hopson won't make Volunteer fans forget about graduated seniors Chris Lofton and the Smiths--JaJuan and Ramar-- but Hopson will continue Tennessee's up-tempo pace.
The most notable example of UT's high strung nature from 2008 is its win over then number one Memphis where a frenetic pace forced the Tigers into numerous bad shots and decisions.
6. Baylor
The Big 12's best offense returns five of its top six scorers including four players who hit at least 40 three-pointers in 2008. Coach Scott Drew has quickly turned around a Baylor program sunk by tragedy and violations into a high scoring machine.
Drew employs a three guard offense using upperclassmen Tweety Carter, Henry Dugat, and Curtis Jerrells to perfection, but his best player might be the Big 12's Best sixth man sophomore LaceDarius Dunn.
5. Duke
With a surge of young players, Coach Mike Krzyzewski had his team pick up the tempo causing the Blue Devils to jump from 200th to 16th in pace of play in just one year. Duke will likely continue to push the ball and try to force turnovers on the defensive end in order to create easy points in transition.
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3 months ago
you are missing Gonzaga's up tempo offense
from 3 months ago
Not up tempo enough: 120th in the country in tempo and doesn't force a ton of turnovers to get out into transition and move the ball.
3 months ago
Louisville should be on this list. They jack up so many 3's and put up 80 points a game.
from 3 months ago
If I had an honorable mention, UL would have been on it. Without Padgett, I think its hurts them offensively a lot, but they'll get things figured out quickly. There's too much talent there. Without Padgett, they can no longer give it to him in the high post early in the possession and then have him pass it to find an open look immediately.
3 months ago
Doesn't Long Beach State have this style of play to? They did two years ago, not sure if they changed their style though. Having seen VMI play a game last year, and allowing a horrendous PSU offense to score over 110 points, I voted for them.
from 3 months ago
LBSU actually runs a pretty slow offense and ranked near the bottom of the country in scoring.
Yeah VMI is crazy. It will be interesting to see if they can continue what they do with the three point line being moved back and their top scorer from last year gone.
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