http://www.jsonline.com/blog/?id=308
TC's quotes at the end sure sound like we are going to press a lot more. Great use of personnel. Can't wait.
and Murf is busy in the superbar.
Unless a team has a FULL compliment of UAB type athletes, reliance of a full court press isn't wise. Barro, Fitz, Burke, and Hayward are not UAB types.
Secondly, teams get better at protecting the ball as the season matured into its most important phase-----also pressing generally means that you beat the teams that you would beat anyway----but you beat them by more points.
Finally there are some excellent PGs in the BE next year on the better teams-----I can't see us containing them pressing-----then too Barro & Co will never be able to front an outlet breaking up the floor for the high pass from the PG.
Let's play a conventional half court containment base defense and play it well be it man, matchup, or conventional zone----pick one defense as that "base defense" and master it!
You should know best considering the level of coaching you have done, or not.
Yea Nova brought up their outlet to the center of the floor and Reynolds gave the ball up alright-----but passing to him only to get the ball back from him breaking down the floor for the transtion hoop or to set up the half court offense where he handled the ball at will.
I repeat----you need UAB type athletes to press effectively!
Yea Nova brought up their outlet to the center of the floor and Reynolds gave the ball up alright-----but passing to him only to get the ball back from him breaking down the floor for the transtion hoop or to set up the half court offense where he handled the ball at will.
I repeat----you need UAB type athletes to press effectively!
If I remember correctly, Reynolds lit up MU for 25 or more. Might not be the best example.
The "allout style" or the interim press----is always on balance more successful early in the season rather than later-----you don't see too many teams pressing in the NCAA tournament----even Pitino has eased up on that.
TC works our guys to death enough already----no need to add anther dimension to thw wear and tear that pressing presents. Please recall that in 7 of the last 8 years we've swooned starting with the first loss in February.
We need fresh bodies in Feb/March not sleepwalkers!
There are two good reasons to press. 1. To expose weaknesses and wear out the other team. 2. To cover weaknesses on your own.
There really is no down-side to having 13 players, using them, and at least having 40 minute pressure in our arsenal.
tower----who is going to wear out whom?----we already fade at the end of each season playing a half court game!
bilsu is correct about the very limited effectiveness of presses----that is unless you have talent like UAB/Arkansas which allows their main MO to be the press!
Makes no sense to me to practice hard on something all season long that will be ineffective when you need your best defense against the better teams in the last 1/3 of the season
We tried half court zone pressure last year and it didn't work----i don't think Acker will put that over the top. I had the impression from watching that press that TC doesn't know how to teach it---it's just not a big part of his coaching acumen----that's not a bad thing as IMO a containment defense taught properly is better----that is unless you have UAB talent and know how to teach pressure!
Teaching pressure is a specialized part of the game----very few coaches understand how or have the UAB type talent to make it effective!
We don't have the talent to use it-------we saw that last year when we tried it----couldn't even gain anadvantage from it against the cupcakes. So what you're saying is Acker makes the difference-----hardly-----a 5' 6" coming from the middle can be passed over easily-------then too Barro is too slow to deny or even challenge the outlet pass high, which by itself makes a press ineffective-----the defensive center is a key elemnet in a successful press!
Arkansas & UAB used the te same type of press and had the same type of quick athletic talent. The UAB coach coached under Richardson.
A good example of a team run amuck full court pressing is Louisville----last year Pitino didn't press and finally his team overachieved expectations.
You have to have a very special type of talent to make a full court press work against the quality teams.
As I say ( and bilsu too) each year Crean starts out imbracing the full court game on offense and defense-----with inconsistent results-----and by January has reverted back to the half court game on both sides of the court!
When you press aggressively which is what you people are suggesting, you have to be damn near perfect or the opposition gets by those first wave defenders getting numbers (3 on 2) on you while the ball moves rapidly down the floor for a high percentage score opportunity.
You people haven't addressed that risk-----all you're doing is focusing on the possible reward----there's a damn good reason why the vast majority of teams don't press-----how many teams in the final 4 the last 10 years have pressed----maybe at crunch time when they need the ball to get back into the game (desperation)----but as a strategic tactic----teams just don't use it!
Pitino learned a lesson the hard way on this----all he did was beat his players into the ground pressing practice after practice and game after game! Last year he didn't press much----and guess what----very few injuries and finished very strong for the first time in years!
When you press aggressively which is what you people are suggesting, you have to be damn near perfect or the opposition gets by those first wave defenders getting numbers (3 on 2) on you while the ball moves rapidly down the floor for a high percentage score opportunity.
You people haven't addressed that risk-----all you're doing is focusing on the possible reward----there's a damn good reason why the vast majority of teams don't press-----how many teams in the final 4 the last 10 years have pressed----maybe at crunch time when they need the ball to get back into the game (desperation)----but as a strategic tactic----teams just don't use it!
Pitino learned a lesson the hard way on this----all he did was beat his players into the ground pressing practice after practice and game after game! Last year he didn't press much----and guess what----very few injuries and finished very strong for the first time in years!
| 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 | Wade Jackson Diener Novak Merritt Chapman Townsend Sanders Bradley Grimm Freund Sichting | James McNeal Matthews Barro Fitzgerald Cubillan Hayward Acker Mbakwe Hazel Sanders Christoperson Burke Blackledge (?) |
how many teams in the final 4 the last 10 years have pressed----maybe at crunch time when they need the ball to get back into the game (desperation)----but as a strategic tactic----teams just don't use it!
How did we stop Reynolds? He had 25 points against us!
Why gamble on a double team press when you don't have the athletes to play it?--------teach a half court containment defense properly and you're way ahead!
To win, Texas A&M will have to overcome the Louisville press that forced Stanford into 21 turnovers during a 78-58 first-round victory.
"We haven't faced anybody who pressures the ball like that all season," said A&M point guard Acie Law.
Said Gillispie: "I'm not happy to be going against their press, but I'm happy to have Acie Law. … He's been a great player is every sense of the word for us this season."
Wrong----according to the game log at "go Marquette"-----Reynolds had 13 of his 25 points in the first half----furthermore he had 4 of his 5 TOs in the first half!
What does Law expect Louisville to give? Relentless effort with their press.
"The biggest thing I saw on the film last night was they continue with it," Law said. "Usually a team will press you, but when you break the initial front, they tend to back off a little bit. Louisville continues to press you throughout the whole possession. You've got to always be under control and know what's going on."
Gillispie expressed nothing but respect for Pitino and Louisville's personnel. But he believes Law can control the ball and hopefully the tempo Saturday.
"I'm not happy to be going against the press," Gillispie said. "But I'm happy that we have Acie Law."
Well sure in the second half they hacked Reynolds to death (anyone can be slowed down that way)---and he went to the line-----9 points in a half works out to 18 points for a game-----I don't call that "shutting someone down"!
Then too, if a press was so effective on Reynolds why did he have 4 of his 5 TOs in the first half without a press (only 1 TO in the 2nd half against a press?----hmmmmmm!)
SJS----check out the link below (NOVA game notes) and please show me where it talks about MU pressing NOVA at all much less the times you cite above!
http://gomarquette.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/recaps/021907aaf.html
Wednesday, March 23, 2005
Louisville riding success of zone defense
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By Andy Katz
ESPN.com
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- Rick Pitino is right on schedule for getting Louisville back to the Sweet 16 and possibly the Final Four.
But the way in which Pitino has the Cardinals here wasn't always in the cards.
Louisville's landing Pitino gave fans across the Commonwealth reason to shout.
He planned on having a trapping and pressing team. He tried that for the first three years, but injuries and illnesses led the Cardinals to fade in February and March and bounced Louisville out of the second round two seasons ago, done in round one last year.
So what had to change in Pitino's fourth season for the Cardinals to reach the Sweet 16 for Thursday night's matchup with No. 1 seed Washington here at The Pit?
Pitino had to use a 2-3 zone and pull back the press.
So far, it's worked to the tune of 11 straight wins and 20 victories in the last 21 games.
"Our 2-3 zone has been very effective as you saw versus Georgia Tech," Louisville senior forward Ellis Myles said. "A lot of people don't understand that in the past we were a pressing team but now we're playing a 2-3 zone."
Louisville junior guard Taquan Dean said because of the depth issue facing the Cardinals, the switch to the zone was a necessity. The Cardinals are less likely to be in foul trouble.
"Guys are on the court longer and it's actually limited the injuries," Dean said. "When you're pressing and you're out there using every muscle in your body it takes a toll."
Myles said he gets an extra wind later in the game since he's sitting back in the 2-3 zone.
But Pitino isn't about to give up on the pressing style that made him famous at Kentucky, the last time he was in the Final Four in 1996.
"We had to change this year but it has changed by weeks," Pitino said. "Once Otis George got healthy we could press but then he got a stress fracture and Taquan had backs spasms, so we changed back again."
Pitino doesn't buy that the players' legs are fresher but does acknowledge that the players are playing fewer minutes -- and that could help.
Switching from zone to man to a press could catch teams off guard.
"Coach has been a master at mixing both and it keeps teams off balance because they don't know if we're going to press, zone, go halfcourt or trap," said Louisville assistant Vince Taylor.
Regardless, the Cardinals do have the pieces in place to make a Final Four run by getting past Washington and then Texas Tech or West Virginia. The Cards have the changing defenses, the scoring lead wing in Francisco Garcia, a shooter in Dean, a surging scorer in Larry O'Bannon (18 points a game in the last seven) and a few role forwards who don't mind doing the dirty work in Juan Palacios, Myles and George.
Pitino isn't one to make excuses. He said Xavier was better than Louisville last year in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
"When coach Pitino first got here they expected him to win the championship right away," said Taylor, who was the one holdover from Denny Crum to Pitino. "It just doesn't happen like that anymore because of the parity in college basketball."
The Cardinals had to get older and sprinkle in more "Pitino-like" players. Now, four of the five in the starting lineup are upperclassmen.
"We had a winning record the first year and had a winning record the next two years and now we've taken it a little further," Pitino said. "This year we are a much better basketball team than last year. It's all talent driven."
But Pitino has changed with the talent, too, making sure he maximizes their abilities by going with the flow and tossing in a zone. It's not classic Pitino, but he doesn't have to be anymore. His style may be changing, but the outcome is once again the same -- he's winning big in March.
Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com.
Readyto fly---playing a "pack it in defense" is a relatively easy concept to employ! Fits our personnel a lot better than a pick 'em up over the whole floor" and would be a great deal more effective.
Not rocket science to teach either!
mualum-----my philosophy as a coach on defense was to give them what they could get from the perimeter with a hand in their face but protect the inside at all costs. Now that was before the 3 point shot-----so i would modify that somewhat today.
Anyway----when you play a containment defense the rule is-----the farther the man you are guarding is from the ball the further you sag off your man into the middle. That by itself clogs the middle-----and another rule was to switch all screens & handoffs on the ball and screens away from the ball----this gives a zone touch to your man to man defense-----another rule was to put yourself in the prper position to keep your eye on your man and the ball at all times and all the time (peripheral vision) so that you can react to both the ball and your man's movements. Another rule is front cutters as the come across the middle----and front postups!
There is a common misconception and that is that you have to stel the ball to play good defense----that's nonsense-----containment is the best defense as by containing the offense you force low percentage shots and prevent high percentage shots, which should be the major objective of any defense!
Wasn't this discussed last year? I heard alot of "we're going to run teams off the court" because we had 3 great young guards but that never materialized. I just don't think full court pressing is in Crean's system. Occassionally we'd apply token pressure with cubillian or DJ guarding their man full court but never with a trap even though I always seem to recall the McNeal steal he had when he picked up his guy full court against Wiscy. I personally think we should do some sort of full court pressure but if we didn't do it last year I don't really see TC implementing it this year.