Counting the passes: The secret behind No. 1 Bellarmine’s smooth offense

Bellarmine’s half-court offense is as deft as it is difficult to describe.

It’s far from flashy, but it’s a well-oiled machine of five players all on the same wavelength, weaving the basketball through each others’ hands and slowly crafting scoring opportunities. That unique half-court offense was on display during No. 1 Bellarmine’s 65-60 home win over No. 18 Missouri-St. Louis Thursday night.

On the evening, the Knights totaled 16 made field goals… and 406 passes, according to an unofficial tally from The Courier-Journal.

Bellarmine’s offense is unorthodox and efficient. The Knights pass the ball along the perimeter incessantly, work it into the middle often, and tend not to settle for anything but open looks. For the game, they averaged 6.8 passes per possession — a number that would be significantly higher if fast break possessions were excluded.

The NCAA doesn’t keep such a stat, but the NBA does, with the average NBA possession totaling 2.78 passes per possession. Adjusted for the longer college shot clock, that’s 3.48 — roughly half as many passes as Bellarmine executes.

It’s a systematic approach, and it’s helped the Knights to a 13-0 start (6-0 in conference), the last remaining unbeaten in Division II.

More: Here's how the NCAA's new 3-point line is affecting college basketball this season

After Louisville edged Bellarmine in an exhibition earlier this season, the first thing Louisville coach Chris Mack mentioned was the Knights’ eagerness to move the ball.

“We are talking about 11, 12, 13, passes before a guy drives the ball,” he said at the time.

And in the half court, that’s precisely what the Knights do. On 14 different possessions Thursday, the Knights passed the ball at least 10 times as they patiently sought an open look. It’s a driving reason behind the Knights’ outrageously efficient offense — they entered Thursday with the leading field goal percentage (54.1) and free throw percentage (82.1) in DII.

But is the secret simply having good shooters?

“I know we work at shooting, but it’s not,” Bellarmine coach Scott Davenport said. “You can’t tell me we’re the only (team) that has great shooters.”

Bellarmine began Thursday's game with a 12-pass possession that resulted in a made 3-pointer, and often notched more passes than dribbles during a single trip down the floor.

“Well, if you move the ball, you move the defense,” Davenport said.

Pass-heavy. Maybe that’s the best descriptor of the nation’s most efficient offense.

Davenport stresses numbers and statistics. One manager on the Bellarmine bench counts deflections on defense, and the team tracks plenty of ball movement stats on offense. But not passes.

“No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. It’s ball reversals and it’s attacking inside-out,” Davenport said.

On possessions when the team did not reverse the ball at all on Thursday, Davenport’s data showed it shot 1-of-7 from the field. However, when it reversed it two or more times, it was 8-of-16. That’s important, and it’s what leads to open shots; Bellarmine shot 13-of-23 off open looks, and only 3-of-15 on contested ones.

Davenport says to be a great offense, a team needs not only great ball movement, but great player movement, too.

“For the most part, it’s a lot of cutting,” starting wing Pedro Bradshaw said. “It’s a lot of cutting and a lot of movement, man. It gets repetitive, but it definitely works.”

Perpetual motion. That might be the most apt descriptor the nation’s most efficient offense.

More: It took a village to transform JJ Traynor into a talent worthy of Louisville basketball

Bradshaw, who previously played at Division I programs Belmont and Eastern Kentucky, said the biggest distinction between Bellarmine’s offense and others is the constant off-ball movement. He described himself as a cutter, but he said he previously cut in hopes of scoring. Now, he cuts even more, knowing that even if he doesn’t receive a pass, it opens up lanes for teammates.

“Honestly, man, it’s just the movement,” Bradshaw said. “Everybody is constantly moving. Whether it’s a cut, whether it’s a back screen, a middle screen. It’s just constant movement, and I think that’s what makes our offense so hard to defend.”

After a Bellarmine player passes the ball, there is no standing around, no time for consideration. Players pass, then immediately dive into the lane, cutting or screening, before making themselves available to receive yet another pass.

“I’m sure sometimes it looks like everybody is just kind of running around out there, and sometimes it is, but everybody knows what they have to do, and they know how to play within the flow of the offense,” Bradshaw said.

Senior co-captain Ben Weyer says that this style of basketball is natural to him now, and he described it as “the epitome of free-flowing.” On one 15-pass possession Thursday night, he sank a 3-pointer late in the shot clock.

The Knights do run set offense, but the motion also happens organically. There are rules that offensive players follow, providing parameters on where and when to cut and pass. That makes the offense unpredictable, in a way.

“We try to keep it as simple as we can, and we try to be un-scoutable,” Weyer said.

Unscoutable. That’s potentially the most suitable word to describe the nation’s most efficient offense.

Defenders are forced to play heads-up defense for the duration of the shot clock. Fall asleep for a second, and a back cut — like the alley-oop attempts Bellarmine tries multiple times a game — is coming.

It’s tiring for a team to relentlessly defend, and that opens up the Bellarmine offense further.

“We just put a lot of pressure on the defense,” Weyer said. “We call it pressing the defense. On defense, you pressure the offense. On offense, we also pressure the defense.”

High-pressure. Could that be the most accurate way to describe the nation’s most efficient offense?

The half-court offense takes patience and trust, and it’s what’s enabled Bellarmine to annually rank among the nation’s top in field goal percentage. On Thursday, it helped the Knights snap UMSL’s 13-game winning streak behind 14 points from Alex Cook, 13 points from Weyer and 12 points each from Dylan Penn and CJ Fleming.

You may like: A half-century of losing: What’s it like to play against the Harlem Globetrotters?

The passes — 6.8 per possession — might be the more telling stat, though.

Bellarmine’s half-court offense is hard to describe. It’s constant and both meticulous and organic. It’s pass-heavy. It’s perpetually moving. It’s unscoutable. It’s high-pressured.

“How would I describe it?” Davenport said. “Effective.”

Hayes Gardner can be reached at hgardner@gannett.com; Twitter: @HayesGardner; Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/subscribe.