A BLOB is a play run from the baseline under your own basket. Four players start on the floor, one takes the ball out, and you have five seconds to get the pass off. Because the rim and the backboard sit between the defense and the ball, more BLOBs end in a layup than any other kind of set.
One rule worth knowing before you draw anything: after a made basket the inbounder may move along the baseline, but after a dead ball the throw-in is from a designated spot and he has to stay there. That is common ground across FIBA, NCAA and NFHS, but the details around timeouts differ, so check the book you play under.
Why coaches use them
It is free offense. You start with the ball, in a set alignment, against a defense that is standing still and has to decide in one count whether it is switching. Most teams practice their BLOBs for ten minutes a week and defend them for none, which is why the good ones keep working all season.
The four alignments
- Box. Two players on the elbows, two on the blocks. The most screening options and the alignment most sets are drawn from.
- Stack. All four in a line in front of the rim. No defender can see the ball and his man at the same time, which is what makes the slip work.
- Line. Four across the lane facing the inbounder. The easiest to teach and the hardest to switch cleanly.
- 1-4 low. Four spread along the baseline. It pulls the defense wide and gives a shooter room to run the baseline off a stagger.
Whichever you pick, remember the inbounder is your fifth player. He steps in after the pass, and he is your safety valve when the first look dies.