Full court pressure! Alleluia!

[tower912]

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.   

[ozmetal71]

Excellent.  I've been waiting for this the past two years.

It will be nice to see us throw the press back in Louisville's face.  Also, I'd like to see us run a lot on offense and just be a very fluid team on both ends.

With DJ back this makes both possible.

[bilsu]

I would love to see the press and this will be the team's strength. The last two years MU pressed and ran prior to conference. Once conference starts Crean plays not to lose and goes conservative, which actually results in the team not playing as good. Unfortunately, I do not see Crean changing. We will start out an exciting team and end up being conservative at the end.

[augoman]

We can have a good full court pressure D if we can cover the opponent's big man in the middle and cut off the pass over DJ's head.

[muwarrior87]

If Ousman improves this offseason like he did last offseason I think that may be possible. And while Burke isn't going to get a huge portion of playing time I don't think, he has been getting a lot stronger and we may be able to utilize him at times when we are running a full court press.

[tower912]

countdown to Murf's post about being unable to win with full court pressing......5-4-3-2-1
As a pre-emptive strike, let me say that you have to use the personnel you have to the maximum advantage.   At least right now, this looks like an athletic, deep, not particularly big team.   I don't see us beating G-town if we allow them to get into their sets and get the ball to Hibbert all night.    Play to our strengths.

[muwarrior87]

Losing Green will make G-town closer to 4-6 I'm thinking.

[muwarrior87]

and Murf is busy in the superbar.

[ChicosBailBonds]

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.   

He has to....no brainer.  Should be a lot of fun watching them.  Helter Skelter...controlled chaos.

[Murffieus]

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!

[Virginia Warrior 77]

Yay! Full Court Pressure D!

[Niv Berkowitz]

You don't need to have a full court press for 40 minutes to be effective. Obviously, it will depend on the opponent, but I can envision a "pressing" lineup of:

two of the following four:
Acker/Cubillion/Fitzgerald/James
McNeal
Matthews
Barro

That's a fast group of dudes right there. Barro can run the floor w/the best big man (unfortunately, he still finds ways to be out of position every now and then, but I digress...)

[ZiggysFryBoy]

and Murf is busy in the superbar.

He's like one of the mailmen in Hegarty's at lunch....he just won't leave. 

[Murffieus]

We couldn't even half court press effectively last year when we needed the ball-----Barro is too slow to deny the high outlet pass from the PG !

[79Warrior]

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.

[Big Papi]

My guess is we will run a more controlled type of press (be it full, 3/4's) and use it in spurts where we dictate where the ball gets directed, i.e. trap the corners past the half court line or getting it out of the playmakers hands like what Cube and James did against Villanova and Reynolds.  They picked up Reynolds at full court and tried to keep the ball out of his hands with quite a bit of success.  

Try to make slow teams speed up a little bit and get out of their offensive game plan.  If you get them to do that a few times a game without giving up easy buckets, you should be able to steal a few extra possessions and that can be the difference in a close tight game.

[Niv Berkowitz]

MU never tried to press last year from what I can recall. I remember wanting Crean to try it every now and again, but he never did. Hopefully, w/all the athletic bodies he's got now, he'll do it more. Especially w/Cub and Acker as subs.

[Niv Berkowitz]

If I remember correctly, Reynolds lit up MU for 25 or more. Might not be the best example.

[Murffieus]

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!

[77ncaachamps]

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!

I agree totally with you.

However, I can only look towards the recruits Crean is bringing in to really apply the pressure in the coming years. These are the "Cincy" and "Cuse" recruits - tall, slender, athletic, and can run - that we always longed for (pun intended).

I'm not sure what the little buggers (i.e., DJ, Ack, Coobs) can really do to a taller PG.

I'll guess we'll wait and see!!!

Did anyone catch the little quip about LeBron James Nike Camp? Was that directed towards Crean as a coach or James as an assistant?

[Canned Goods n Ammo]

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!

While I will agree that MU might not have the pure athletes to play 40min of hell... I think they do have the depth and talent to play a more "all-out" style. I'm sure the guys are already working as hard as they can, but there is something to be said for a  relatively quick and consistent substitution pattern. MU will be able to run guys at teams all game long and hopefully wear them down by pushing the ball on offense, and picking up guys full court when applicable.

I don't think you have to have a great trapping team to press. Sometimes pressing is just a way to try and wear another team out and/or shorten the shot clock. Also, pressing can be a way to disguise a trapping situation. If you pick guys up full court most of the game, teams will never really know if you are trapping, or if its just full court man pressure or if you are going to fall back into a zone. Pressing can be used as a strategy to set up other defenses, not just as a way to create turnovers.

If the opposing teams PG has to bring the ball up against man to man pressure all game long, it will wear him down quicker. MU will still need to defend well in the half-court, and still need to do all of the other little things well. But, the added depth should allow for the coaching staff to sub in players to create match-up problems on both the offensive and defensive end.

[Big Papi]

If I remember correctly, Reynolds lit up MU for 25 or more. Might not be the best example.

Actually its a very good example because after we started using it, he was shut down for the most part.  He scored a huge chunk of his points in the first 10-14 minutes of the game until Cube started picking him full court.

And I just found the game summary where it states that he had scored 12 out of Vill's 14 points during a stretch early on.  I would like to say this stretched occured sometime around 4 or 5 minutes into the game when Vill built up their big lead.

[Murffieus]

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!

[ecompt]

Actually, the Villanova game is a perfect example. Reynolds had something like 16 points in the first 10 minutes (four threes, I believe). We applied pressure and he wasn't a factor again. As for Murff's transition hoops theory, sorry, it's just not true. Reynolds' bombs came off the half-court offense. I was there.
Somehow I knew Murff, who has NEVER attended an in-season TC practice, would take the point of view that the press would backfire. He's right that we absolutely can't full-court press for 40 minutes, but we should certainly have the athletes to make it uncomfortable for opponents to bring the ball up.     

[Canned Goods n Ammo]

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!

hmmm...

I know what you are getting at... but I think if coached and implemented properly, MU has the athletes to cause opposing teams some problems by pressing at different times throughout the game... I don't think it matters if it is in November or in March.

MU should/will be able to create some match-up problems by trying to wear some teams out and get key players out of the game as well as shorten the shot clock and not allow teams to execute cleanly in the half-court. Even good half court teams will have trouble executing if it takes 12-15 seconds to get into their offensive set.

The good news is that we will find out this season... the proof will be in the pudding... you might be right... but my gut tells me this team is going to run and gun on both ends of the floor whenever the situation is available.