Harvard offense switches over to Flex

The Harvard offense underwent a makeover in the offseason, and the effects are already showing.

Coach Kathy Delaney-Smith believed the Harvard offense from the past two seasons—the famous Chicago Bulls’ “triangle”—was not getting the most out of her team. But all that is changed now that Delaney-Smith has brought in a new, dynamic offense—the “flex.”

The flex offense is geared toward a team that has many players capable of knocking down a mid-range jump shot with a few players who can penetrate hard to the basket. Delaney-Smith feels that she has the right cast of players to make the switch.

“Triangle wasn’t suited for our personnel,” Delaney-Smith said. “I thought it was too easy for teams to take away our inside game last year. I thought our post play was too stagnant in triangle and it was too easy to double inside, so we’re running something where we slash a lot more.”

One of the immediate advantages to using the flex is that it expands the combinations of players that Delaney-Smith can play on the court, because with the flex, it’s positions on the court that matter, not “I’m a guard or I’m a forward.” That makes room for Delaney-Smith to utilize all 14 players on her roster in any game.

“With the flex, I can play any combination of forwards and guards,” she said. “I can go with a very tall lineup. I can go with a very short, quick lineup. It just gives me a lot more flexibility with the range of plays we can run.”

While the triangle offense often slowed down the pace of games last season and often led to predictable passes to Harvard’s post players, the flex is based on a set of picks and screens all generated by quick ball movement. This season, Harvard’s forwards, such as freshman Reka Cserny, sophomores Hana Peljto and Tricia Tubridy, junior Kate Ides and seniors Sharon Nunamaker and Katie Gates have all demonstrated their ability to shoot the ball from the outside. The flex allows these players to move around on the court, slashing inside and outside to set up open perimeter shots for three-point shooting guards, mid-range jump shots by forwards and lay-ups in the post.

“I think the flex is great because it suits our entire team really well,” Peljto said. “We have a lot of players who can do a lot of things that the flex promotes. [Its main advantage] is that it’s harder for our opponents to double our post players with all of the motion that we are running.”

Delaney-Smith has not been entirely pleased with how the team has run the flex in some of Harvard’s early contests, which perhaps is a good sign, given the Crimson’s 3-3 record. She feels that there is still much work to be done.

“It’s a difficult offense, and we’ve made a lot of early mistakes during the course of a game,” Delaney-Smith said. “Is the offense too new for us right now? I don’t know. But if we are able to stick to the game plan, it makes us a better team. We are certainly a faster team with the system in place already.”

The offense is preferred up and down the roster. Sophomore shooting guard Jennifer Lee, who moves over to the two-slot after playing the point last season, has had experience with the flex during her high school career. Lee will share playing time with co-captain Gates this season, a natural small forward who will play shooting guard when Delaney-Smith uses a bigger lineup.

Senior point guard Jenn Monti enjoys the new offense because it relies on passing. Monti is regarded as the team’s best passer, which sometimes can be a flaw, Delaney-Smith said.

“I’m Jenn’s biggest fan and I think she’s a tremendous point guard, but sometimes I think she loves the new offense too much,” Delaney-Smith said.

Monti, Gates and Lee will all be pivotal members of this year’s team. The seniors Monti and Gates will be relied on for leadership, and Lee proved herself last season as a go-to player who can make clutch shots with the game on the line.

The biggest benefactors of the new offense, however, should be sophomores Peljto and Tubridy, two forwards who love to shoot from the outside.

“[Flex] is suited for people like Tricia, who can be a guard or a forward,” Monti said. “When we were running triangle, we were stagnant, but there’s so much more movement now.”

Tubridy agrees.

“The flex doesn’t pigeonhole anybody,” she said. “I know my role on the team is to be a strong rebounder this year, but I will also be counted on to take the open shot. The flex allows me to do both. I don’t have to do as much thinking.”

Peljto, the team’s leading scorer, has shot 54.8 percent this season. The flex has allowed her to slash toward the basket, picking up easy layups while still taking the occasional three-pointer. At 6’2, Peljto has the size and the speed to take full advantage of a multi-faceted offense.

As the Ivy season approaches, Harvard will benefit from its non-conference schedule to iron out the kinks in a complex system. If all goes to plan, the system will be running on all cylinders for the start of the Ivy League season on January 5, when, according to Lee, “the real season begins.” against Dartmouth.