UCLA Cut
John Wooden's high-post action that still works fifty years later.
The UCLA cut is one of the oldest named actions in basketball. John Wooden’s UCLA teams ran it as the entry to almost every set in their dynasty era. Five decades later, modern NBA and college teams still run it — often without naming it, because it has become baseline offensive grammar.
The action’s strength is its simplicity. A wing passes to the high post and cuts; the high post becomes a screener on the cut. The defense has to decide whether to switch (mismatch), trail (open cut), or hedge (open post action). All three responses create scoring opportunities.
Modern variations layer additional action onto the cut: a back-screen for the cutter, a pin-down on the weak side, a drag screen for the original passer’s defender. The original UCLA cut remains valuable as a teaching action — it forces players to learn read-based decision-making in a low-complexity environment before adding layers.
Key principles
- Wing passes to the high-post player
- Wing cuts off the high-post screen toward the basket
- Post turns and reads: pass to cutter for layup, or hold for next action
- Branches into pick-and-roll, post-up, or screen-the-screener