An alley-oop in basketball

Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

 is an offensive play in which one player throws the ball near the basket to a teammate who jumps, catches the ball in mid air and immediately scores a basket, usually with a slam dunk

Slam dunk

A slam dunk is a type of basketball shot that is performed when a player jumps in the air and manually powers the ball downward through the basket with one or both hands over the rim. This is considered a normal field goal attempt; if successful it is worth two points. The term "slam dunk" was...

. The alley-oop combines elements of teamwork, pinpoint passing, and timing.

History of the alley-oop

Al Tucker

Al Tucker

-External links:* *...

 and his brother Gerald at Oklahoma Baptist University

Oklahoma Baptist University

Oklahoma Baptist University is a co-educational Christian liberal arts university located in Shawnee, Oklahoma, and owned by the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma. Established in 1910, OBU is ranked No.2 among baccalaureate colleges in the western region in the 2010 U.S...

 are sometimes credited with being the first to use the alley-oop in the mid-1960s. Others credit David Thompson

David Thompson (basketball)

David O'Neil Thompson is a former American professional basketball star with the Denver Nuggets of both the National Basketball Association and American Basketball Association , as well as the Seattle SuperSonics...

 as the first player to execute the classic alley-oop play while at North Carolina State University

NC State Wolfpack men's basketball

The NC State Wolfpack men's basketball team represents North Carolina State University in NCAA Division I men's basketball competition. The Wolfpack currently competes in the Atlantic Coast Conference, of which it was a founding member....

, with his teammates Monte Towe

Monte Towe

Monte Corwin Towe is an American basketball coach and retired player.Towe attended Oak Hill High School in Converse, Indiana...

 and Tim Stoddard

Tim Stoddard

Timothy Paul Stoddard is a former Major League Baseball pitcher. He is one of only two known men to have played in both a World Series and an NCAA basketball national championship game....

 performing the necessary lob passes. NCSU's Thompson popularized the play during the early 1970s, exploiting his 44-inch vertical leap to make the above-the-rim play a recurring staple in the Wolfpack's offensive attack. Because dunking was illegal in college basketball at that time, upon catching the pass, Thompson would simply drop the ball through the hoop - never dunking one until the final play of the final home game of his career. During the 1990s NBA

National Basketball Association

The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...

 stars turned the alley-oop into the game's ultimate quick strike weapon. North Carolina State also won a national championship on what could be considered the most famous alley-oop of all time against the University of Houston

Houston Cougars

Houston Cougars is the name given to the sports teams of the University of Houston. Informally, the Houston Cougars have also been referred to as the Coogs, UH, or simply Houston. Houston's nickname was created by early physical education instructor of the university and former head football...

. With time running out and the score tied in the 1983

1983 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament

The 1983 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 52 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 2, 1983, and ended with the championship game on April 4 at The Pit, then officially known...

 championship game in Albuquerque, New Mexico

Albuquerque, New Mexico

Albuquerque is the largest city in the state of New Mexico, United States. It is the county seat of Bernalillo County and is situated in the central part of the state, straddling the Rio Grande. The city population was 545,852 as of the 2010 Census and ranks as the 32nd-largest city in the U.S. As...

, Dereck Whittenburg

Dereck Whittenburg

-Notes:...

 shot short of the rim, which effectively functioned as a pass to Lorenzo Charles

Lorenzo Charles

Lorenzo Emile "Lo" Charles was an American college and professional basketball player.Charles was a graduate of Brooklyn Technical High School...

, who caught the ball and stuffed it through the net to win the title.

The Alley Oop was made famous in college basketball by the Michigan State Spartans of the late 70s. Magic Johnson to Greg Kelser was the premier combination for years. Michigan State has been an innovator of the planned alley-oop ever since, a famous example being the game changing alley-oop from Mateen Cleaves to Morris Peterson in the 2000 Elite Eight vs. Iowa State. The 2008 National Champions Kansas Jayhawks had several designs for alley-oops, including some thrown from inbound sets, and could execute them interchangeably with almost all of the players being able to both lob and finish the play.

Examples

Normally, an alley-oop involves having a player other than the dunker throw the ball into mid-air. The play can be difficult to execute during a game because it requires unspoken communication between the passer and the recipient of the pass. A player charging toward the basket may point upward, signaling that he is ready to receive an alley-oop. The passer must be able to anticipate the recipient's movement toward the basket and then time the pass appropriately.

On occasion, the passer will throw the alley-oop off the backboard to a trailing recipient for the dunk. This is often a more difficult alley-oop to complete, and it tends to occur outside of officially-sanctioned basketball games, in which the downside of a missed dunk is lower. The move is often used in slam-dunk contests. For example, at the 2005 NBA Slam Dunk Contest

Slam Dunk Contest

The Slam Dunk Contest is an annual National Basketball Association competition held during the NBA All-Star Weekend. The contest was inaugurated by the American Basketball Association at its All-Star Game in 1976 in Denver, the same year the slam dunk was legalized in the NCAA...

, Steve Nash

Steve Nash

Stephen John "Steve" Nash, OC, OBC is a South African-born Canadian professional basketball player who plays point guard for the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association . Nash enjoyed a successful high-school basketball career, and he was eventually given a scholarship by Santa Clara...

 used the soccer move of a header to place the ball in the air near the rim for teammate Amar'e Stoudemire to catch and jam.

Rarely, the dunker himself will throw the ball, often bouncing it off the floor or backboard; this does not count. During the flow of a normal game, this is difficult to accomplish without either committing a traveling violation

Traveling (basketball)

In basketball, traveling is a violation of the rules that occurs when a player holding the ball moves one or both of his feet illegally. Most commonly, a player travels by illegally moving his pivot foot or taking too many steps without dribbling the ball....

, or simply creating the needless risk of a turnover

Turnover (basketball)

In basketball, a turnover occurs when a player from one team gives possession to a member of the opposing team by losing the ball. This can result from the ball being stolen, the player making mistakes such as stepping out or throwing the ball out of bounds, or committing a violation or committing...

. Consequently, this move tends to be restricted to slam-dunk contests or the end of the game when the outcome is already decided.

An alley-oop is often combined with other tricks, such as a tomahawk or a 360° spin. Many halftime show

Halftime show

A halftime show is a performance given during halftime, the period between the first and second halves, or the second and third quarters, of a sporting event. Halftime shows are not given for sports with an irregular or indeterminate number of divisions , or for sports that do not have an extended...

s feature trick slam dunk

Slam dunk

A slam dunk is a type of basketball shot that is performed when a player jumps in the air and manually powers the ball downward through the basket with one or both hands over the rim. This is considered a normal field goal attempt; if successful it is worth two points. The term "slam dunk" was...

s, which involve spins, flips and alley-oops.

Origin of the term

The term "alley-oop" is derived from the French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

 term allez hop!, the cry of a circus

Circus

A circus is commonly a travelling company of performers that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, unicyclists and other stunt-oriented artists...

 acrobat

Acrobatics

Acrobatics is the performance of extraordinary feats of balance, agility and motor coordination. It can be found in many of the performing arts, as well as many sports...

 about to leap. The term "Alley Oop

Alley Oop (football)

The Alley Oop play was developed in the 1950s American football games by San Francisco 49ers Y.A. Tittle and R.C. Owens. Tittle, who played as quarterback, would throw the ball into the end zone high like a jump ball, and Owens would jump up and catch it. The play was named after V. T. Hamlin's...

" was first used in the 1950s by the San Francisco 49ers of the NFL to describe a high arcing pass to wide receiver R.C. Owens, who would outleap smaller cornerbacks for touchdown receptions ("The Catch", the famous Dwight Clark

Dwight Clark

Dwight Edward Clark is a former American Pro Bowl wide receiver for the San Francisco 49ers from 1979 to 1987...

 touchdown reception from Joe Montana

Joe Montana

Joseph Clifford "Joe" Montana, Jr. , nicknamed Joe Cool, Golden Joe, The Golden Great and Comeback Joe, is a retired American football player. Montana started his NFL career in 1979 with the San Francisco 49ers, where he played quarterback for the next 14 seasons...

 by which the 49ers gained entry into their first Super Bowl was also an "Alley Oop" pass) and later became more well-known from its use in basketball.

Popular culture

In the 2008 film Semi-Pro

Semi-Pro

Semi-Pro is a 2008 American sports screwball comedy film from New Line Cinema. The film was directed by Kent Alterman and stars Will Ferrell, Woody Harrelson, André Benjamin and Maura Tierney. The film was shot in Los Angeles near Dodger Stadium , in Detroit and in Flint, Michigan...

, protagonist Jackie Moon, played by Will Ferrell

Will Ferrell

John William "Will" Ferrell is an American comedian, impressionist, actor, and writer. Ferrell first established himself in the late 1990s as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, and has subsequently starred in the comedy films Old School, Elf, Anchorman, Talladega...

, invents the alley-oop after being knocked unconscious and speaking with his deceased mother in a depiction of Heaven. The crowd and announcers are left nearly speechless, unable to comprehend what happened, and the referee is at first unsure if it's legal. The play allows the team to rally back and eventually defeat the San Antonio Spurs

San Antonio Spurs

The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio, Texas. They are part of the Southwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association ....

.