The "Press"

[jdubs30]

The light bulb finally went off for me last night (I'm sure everyone else has noticed this by now). Our press isn't good - we rarely get a trap, rarely get a steal (the one last night was big), and never even come CLOSE to a 10 second call. Yet it has been crucial in a few comebacks dating back to UVA in the E8 last year. 90% of the time that we press, the other team ends up in a 3-on-1 or 3-on-2 fast break towards our basket.

So why has it helped? UVA and Clemson have a very methodical game plan against the zone - they use most of the shot clock, pass around the perimeter, to the foul line, then back out, etc. I wouldn't say their "comfortable" against it - but you can tell it doesn't bother them too much.

So what does the press do? SPEEDS THEM UP. They have guys going full steam to the basket with no real game plan - they have guys in the corner rushing a 3 because the zone isn't back yet - they also have most of their ball handlers in the backcourt - so if they use the pass to beat the press, more often than that it will end up in the hand of a big in the paint feels hurried and rushes his shot. Clemson had 2 missed layups last night in it - both were contested by Lydon (my favorite was when the kid did the behind the back and I think in his head just wanted a top 10 play so decided to try to score instead of passing). They got sped up and nervous. We were pretty much inviting them to go 3 on 1. Most college players aren't great in transistion when there's a defender back.

It's a bad press - but I'll be damned if it doesn't get the job done. Brilliant by JB.

 

[Dave85]

The light bulb finally went off for me last night (I'm sure everyone else has noticed this by now). Our press isn't good -

It did not have to be good. All it had to do is take 5 to 7 seconds off them getting up the court and Clemson would not have enough shot clock to get off a good shot. Which is exactly what happened. I think it really rattle Clemson the first few times.

I just noticed I repeated your 3rd paragraph. It's early.

 

[JoeSU]

The light bulb finally went off for me last night (I'm sure everyone else has noticed this by now). Our press isn't good - we rarely get a trap, rarely get a steal (the one last night was big), and never even come CLOSE to a 10 second call. Yet it has been crucial in a few comebacks dating back to UVA in the E8 last year. 90% of the time that we press, the other team ends up in a 3-on-1 or 3-on-2 fast break towards our basket.

So why has it helped? UVA and Clemson have a very methodical game plan against the zone - they use most of the shot clock, pass around the perimeter, to the foul line, then back out, etc. I wouldn't say their "comfortable" against it - but you can tell it doesn't bother them too much.

So what does the press do? SPEEDS THEM UP. They have guys going full steam to the basket with no real game plan - they have guys in the corner rushing a 3 because the zone isn't back yet - they also have most of their ball handlers in the backcourt - so if they use the pass to beat the press, more often than that it will end up in the hand of a big in the paint feels hurried and rushes his shot. Clemson had 2 missed layups last night in it - both were contested by Lydon (my favorite was when the kid did the behind the back and I think in his head just wanted a top 10 play so decided to try to score instead of passing). They got sped up and nervous. We were pretty much inviting them to go 3 on 1. Most college players aren't great in transistion when there's a defender back.

It's a bad press - but I'll be damned if it doesn't get the job done. Brilliant by JB.

Yes, this is it exactly. I can recall at least 3 instances when Clemson milked the clock with their methodical offense , then hit a long 3 just before the shot clock expired. Those are killers when you're behind and trying to catch-up. Our press really changes the pace of the opposition offense.

 

[ROCorange]

When we started pressing, we got lucky that they missed two open threes and then had a turnover on an attempted drive. After that, they stopped trying to score early and instead slowed down after breaking the press to let us set up our zone. If 1 or 2 of those 3 possessions turned into points, the game would have been broken open and the board would be self-destructing right now. A little luck never hurts...

 

[tbonezone]

clemson broke the press rather easily with one diagonal pass thus trapping 3 defenders backcourt. we actually got lucky they missed some chippies. press was totally ineffective last night imo. surprised JB stuck with it that long.

 

[iommi]

Yes. I was calling for the press last night in the chat room, just to up the tempo. Last night, it was awful but effective just because it upped the tempo, which is what we needed. We needed it for us as much as for them, so that we jump-started ourselves. It woke us up while making them lose their composure. They broke the press easily most times but it made them play faster than they wanted to.

 

[OttoMets]

Yes. I was calling for the press last night in the chat room, just to up the tempo. Last night, it was awful but effective just because it upped the tempo, which is what we needed. We needed it for us as much as for them, so that we jump-started ourselves. It woke us up while making them lose their composure. They broke the press easily most times but it made them play faster than they wanted to.

It's almost always worth a try, even if we can't force a turnover, for the reasons you note.

When a team is carving us up slowly, let's see how they react to a change.

Butler and Vermont could've gone differently...

 

[UnderHisOwnPower]

The light bulb finally went off for me last night (I'm sure everyone else has noticed this by now). Our press isn't good - we rarely get a trap, rarely get a steal (the one last night was big), and never even come CLOSE to a 10 second call. Yet it has been crucial in a few comebacks dating back to UVA in the E8 last year. 90% of the time that we press, the other team ends up in a 3-on-1 or 3-on-2 fast break towards our basket.

So why has it helped? UVA and Clemson have a very methodical game plan against the zone - they use most of the shot clock, pass around the perimeter, to the foul line, then back out, etc. I wouldn't say their "comfortable" against it - but you can tell it doesn't bother them too much.

So what does the press do? SPEEDS THEM UP. They have guys going full steam to the basket with no real game plan - they have guys in the corner rushing a 3 because the zone isn't back yet - they also have most of their ball handlers in the backcourt - so if they use the pass to beat the press, more often than that it will end up in the hand of a big in the paint feels hurried and rushes his shot. Clemson had 2 missed layups last night in it - both were contested by Lydon (my favorite was when the kid did the behind the back and I think in his head just wanted a top 10 play so decided to try to score instead of passing). They got sped up and nervous. We were pretty much inviting them to go 3 on 1. Most college players aren't great in transistion when there's a defender back.

It's a bad press - but I'll be damned if it doesn't get the job done. Brilliant by JB.

If it's effective, it can only be considered a good press. It should be about the results. You are right about the unbalanced rushes it will allow, which is why it is at it's best when you have a legit shot blocker back there like McNeil, Fab or Etan. But even last night with TT back there it worked, because he did a nice job of contesting, by either fouling, causing a miss at least once that I remember, and forcing the guards back out because he made his presence felt. He still backpedals too deep under the hoop, which is of course the worst thing the anchor of the press can do, but he is getting more and more used to the contact and learning to throw his weight around better, so there is hope for TT. His impact, plus AWs steal along the sideline made it very effective last night, nothing to complain about. You have to expect a few layups, but if you balance that with the misses, steals and resets forced eating shot clock, it can have an impact.

 

[81South]

I actually thought the press looked good on a couple of possessions last night....good not great. And it did result in one huge turnover for us.

 

[Jasoncuse]

Our press isn't designed as much to get steals in the backcourt as it is in getting the opposition to make mistakes. Maybe they'll throw a bad outlet pass, maybe they'll rush an open shot, maybe they'll wildly drive. Teams that are sound with the ball and don't rush anything will generally have no problem against our press, but when players start doing things they shouldn't be or aren't used to, that's when we see it succeed. And since it's college kids, we do see solid success when we are forced into going to it. I don't think it works against a team like UNC though.

 

[FrancoPizza]

Butler and Vermont could've gone differently...

We didn't fall behind by enough points for JB to consider getting out of the zone in those situations. JB's sliding rule for trunk monkey used to be any deficit greater than 12-13 points under the 12:00 timeout. It changes a bit depending on time remaining of course, but in games where we've trailed throughout that was the general tipping point when he would go to the bullpen. Any midmajor coach should instruct their players to run out the shot clock at the expense of extending a lead to increase their chances of winning.

 

[Zelda Zonk]

The light bulb finally went off for me last night (I'm sure everyone else has noticed this by now). Our press isn't good - we rarely get a trap, rarely get a steal (the one last night was big), and never even come CLOSE to a 10 second call. Yet it has been crucial in a few comebacks dating back to UVA in the E8 last year. 90% of the time that we press, the other team ends up in a 3-on-1 or 3-on-2 fast break towards our basket.

So why has it helped? UVA and Clemson have a very methodical game plan against the zone - they use most of the shot clock, pass around the perimeter, to the foul line, then back out, etc. I wouldn't say their "comfortable" against it - but you can tell it doesn't bother them too much.

So what does the press do? SPEEDS THEM UP. They have guys going full steam to the basket with no real game plan - they have guys in the corner rushing a 3 because the zone isn't back yet - they also have most of their ball handlers in the backcourt - so if they use the pass to beat the press, more often than that it will end up in the hand of a big in the paint feels hurried and rushes his shot. Clemson had 2 missed layups last night in it - both were contested by Lydon (my favorite was when the kid did the behind the back and I think in his head just wanted a top 10 play so decided to try to score instead of passing). They got sped up and nervous. We were pretty much inviting them to go 3 on 1. Most college players aren't great in transistion when there's a defender back.

It's a bad press - but I'll be damned if it doesn't get the job done. Brilliant by JB.

Pretty low standard for "brilliance." It's pretty much just a sound basketball decision, that too often comes only when we're in desperation mode. If we were initiators rather than reactors, it would be closer to "brilliance." Wish we could speed up the game in other ways—it's scary how easily the press is beaten, and we end up with Lydon feebly trying to defeat an alley oop. I was hoping, before the season, that we'd have an 8-armed Chukwu at the back end.

I loved the jumping and trapping at the onset of the Fla State game. That was smart stuff. And now i'll be left to wonder how often we can do that and still have it be a shocker to the opposition.