[Cracked Sidewalks] Should Marquette Press More?

[CrackedSidewalksSays]

Should Marquette Press More?

Written by: noreply@blogger.com (Rob Lowe)

In Blackheart's guest post about pace and defensive efficiency, he looked at how the book is out on Marquette.   In a follow-up post on MUScoop, I mapped out a simple model of pace to defensive efficiency, ending up with a preferred pace of 70 possessions or more.

The most recent game against Villanova helped bear these ideas out.  The pace for the game was 65 possessions, which was slower than their average (68) as well as ours (69).  The net result was that Villanova scored 1.15 points per possession (either at or slightly higher than expected).   Again.... slow Marquette down and you can beat them.

However, Buzz made a decision in the course of the game that prompted us to start thinking.  Down by fourteen points at Villanova with about ten minutes to go, Marquette brought out the full court press.  Over the course of the next seven minutes, Marquette managed to whittle the Nova lead from fourteen points down to three.  The performance was impressive, Buzz' gambit paid off.  What did those stats look like during this period?




During this stretch Marquette scored 1.61 ppp vs Villanova's 1.01, handily winning the eFG% battle (68% vs 44%) as well as the turnover battle (8% vs 31%) convincingly.  MU gave up more free throws during this period.  (Well, that was happening the whole game.)  Played at a full 40 minutes, the press would have resulted in a pace of 71 possessions per game.  Not only did the team drastically improve their efficiency, but MU held Villanova to an efficiency far less than the game average.

Is this a strategy the team should use more often? We think they should.

First, when a team is attempting to slow down Marquette, the press helps increase the pace of the action.  Marquette can counter the "burn" offenses with press defenses to force a quicker pace.  Second, although the press can give up quick easy baskets, one needs to ask "compared to what?"   If a slower game is already hurting MU's defensive efficiency, then it's not like the opponent isn't already getting relatively easy buckets.

We'll note that one stretch of seven minutes is a pretty small sample size.  In addition, we do not believe that the press is an effective complete game strategy.  Over the long run, quality teams will consistently beat the press. Further, the press is a poor strategy against inferior opponents.  Besides, Buzz's bench is too short to press regularly.

However, we'd like to see Marquette break out the press for longer stretches during the game (like timeout to timeout) as part of the ongoing work the team does to change defenses.  Not only could it help MU set the tempo of the game, but it could also provide another defensive wrinkle for opposing coaches to contend with.

http://www.crackedsidewalks.com/2011/02/should-marquette-press-more.html

[downtown85]

i didn´t see the nova game.  what type of press did mu run?  was it the 3/4 court zone press or a full court man-to-man?

[Tugg Speedman]

You mentioned my concerns above but I think they deserve highlighting ...

* I fear our bench is too short to play much more uptempo (press) than we do now.  Since we never see them, could Ewill and/or JJ play a few minutes if we press more (to give the regular rotation a breather)?  VB and JF's  minutes would have to go up.

*  Also I fear that leaves the 4 or 5 (Otule/Ox ans possibly JC) alone under the basket when the press is quickly broken and these already foul prone players could get whistled at an even greater pace.  You noted that the other team shot more free throws during this stretch.  Did those fouls come from the 4 or 5?

[willie warrior]

You mentioned my concerns above but I think they deserve highlighting ...

* I fear our bench is too short to play much more uptempo (press) than we do now.  Since we never see them, could Ewill and/or JJ play a few minutes if we press more (to give the regular rotation a breather)?  VB and JF's  minutes would have to go up.

*  Also I fear that leaves the 4 or 5 (Otule/Ox ans possibly JC) alone under the basket when the press is quickly broken and these already foul prone players could get whistled at an even greater pace.  You noted that the other team shot more free throws during this stretch.  Did those fouls come from the 4 or 5?

Our bench is not too short to play uptempo. Cadougan, Blue, Fulce along with DJO, Buycks, JFB, Crowder, play well i9n that style. To do it Buzz would need to spell Otule/Gardner every two minutes and he could do that with Fulce, Crowder, and EWill. We make good runs when we go small, but it can only be done against some teams and in spurts.

[warrior_rugby15]

They should do the press that they were doing against Louisville for the first 30 minutes of that game. Not really a full out press, but enough to slow down the opposing team, so that by the time they get their offense ready they have 20 or so seconds to do something. If Marquette would have kept doing that and not go into a that "offense" they did, we would have a different score

[Marquette84]

The biggest challenge is whether we are disciplined enough to get back on defense if the other team breaks our press.

We have been challenged at times in running a half-court defense without giving up an open shot--and thats when we have all five guys back on defense before the play happens.  Now take a couple of our guys out of normal defensive positions--its great if we get a steal.  But if not?  I doubt it will be a good thing for the half-court set that follows.

I would say limit the half or 3/4 court press to those situations where we really need a steal--not as a routine defense.
  

[Silkk the Shaka]

I think the answer is yes.  Not as much as this game (their guards were pathetic), but the half-court slowdown game is not our friend.  Gotta get teams out of their comfort zone.  We play good half court D for 32 seconds, then break down at the end for a layup.  If we can force teams to start their offense at 20 or 25 seconds left on the shot clock, it would do wonders for our defense.