The point guard passes to the wing and cuts to the ball-side block, going over the top of a back screen set by the player at the elbow. He sits on the block for a beat, then clears out. It is the standard entry from a 1-4 high alignment, and the name is ordinary coaching vocabulary, from the high post offense John Wooden ran at UCLA.
Why coaches use it
It is two plays in one pass. If the cutter’s defender trails the screen, the lob or the bounce pass to the block is there immediately. If he does not, the cut still drags him and usually a helper down below the free-throw line, which empties the strong side for whatever comes next.
That second job is the real reason it survives at every level. Once the guard clears to the corner, the elbow big turns and sets a ball screen on the wing with nobody left to help — a two-on-two in an empty half of the floor. Almost every 1-4 high and Horns package has a UCLA entry in it somewhere for exactly that reason.
How it is guarded
- Switch. Kills the cut, gives you a big guarding a guard on the block for a moment. Seal him before he settles.
- Jump to the ball. The cutter’s defender steps above the screen and forces the cut behind, away from the rim. You still get the spacing, you lose the layup.
- Top-lock the screener. Some teams take the elbow away before the pass, which is why the counter out of 1-4 high is a backdoor to the rim instead.
Teach the cut with a change of pace. A guard who jogs through it gives the defense a free rest.