Why is our press bad? Coaching?

[jr4750]

I remember JB saying earlier in the year that we are a terrible press team. Last night was a mix of just a horrendous press and some solid plays by Ennis, et al. We are a team of 6'8 athletes that can run... Shouldn't that make for a solid pressing team... How can Louisville do it to increase pace and get their offense going, and we can't. A guy like Rak should have eaten Miller's lunch on a press...

 

[Marsh01]

I remember JB saying earlier in the year that we are a terrible press team. Last night was a mix of just a horrendous press and some solid plays by Ennis, et al. We are a team of 6'8 athletes that can run... Shouldn't that make for a solid pressing team... How can Louisville do it to increase pace and get their offense going, and we can't. A guy like Rak should have eaten Miller's lunch on a press...

Georgia Tech has a bunch of ball handlers and spaced it out well enough where they were able to get the ball across halfcourt and have 2 on 1 most of the time. I thought we did an ok job and were 1 second away about 5 times to causing a 10 second violation.

The play that upset me (standing next to Tomcat when it happened so he can comment) was with about 20 seconds left and us down 3 I believe there was a pass right in front of where the announcers sit where silent G and a GTech player went after a ball that was basically throw up for grabs in desperation and they called a foul on G where clearly it was 2 players going for the ball. I believe the ball would have been out on them Tough call.

 

[NineOneSeven]

Georgia Tech has a bunch of ball handlers and spaced it out well enough where they were able to get the ball across halfcourt and have 2 on 1 most of the time. I thought we did an ok job and were 1 second away about 5 times to causing a 10 second violation.

The play that upset me (standing next to Tomcat when it happened so he can comment) was with about 20 seconds left and us down 3 I believe there was a pass right in front of where the announcers sit where silent G and a GTech player went after a ball that was basically throw up for grabs in desperation and they called a foul on G where clearly it was 2 players going for the ball. I believe the ball would have been out on them Tough call.

I thought so too at first but he did foul him. My biggest issue was Keita leaving the hoop unguarded for a layup by the white Olajuwon.

 

[Marsh01]

I thought so too at first but he did foul him. My biggest issue was Keita leaving the hoop unguarded for a layup by the white Olajuwon.

Gotcha. I had a bad view of it and couldnt tell if he actually fouled him

 

[NineOneSeven]

Gotcha. I had a bad view of it and couldnt tell if he actually fouled him

Speaking of Baye, he's also been really disappointing of late. He plays for his hustle and his defense. He's been way too overzealous of late. Step slow on sliding his feet, which leads to him using his hands on D. Notorious for pulling his hands down on defenders instead of keeping them up, and often over commits and body bumps players while trapping. Since he contributes zero on offense, we cannot afford subpar defense from him. This is why he plays.

 

[Cusefan0307]

Speaking of Baye, he's also been really disappointing of late. He plays for his hustle and his defense. He's been way too overzealous of late. Step slow on sliding his feet, which leads to him using his hands on D. Notorious for pulling his hands down on defenders instead of keeping them up, and often over commits and body bumps players while trapping. Since he contributes zero on offense, we cannot afford subpar defense from him. This is why he plays.

Baye's not 100 percent, but ROC didn't give us much either. We don't play enough guys to press consistently Makes them more tired than they already are. If we were playing 10 guy's i think we'd be a better defensive pressure team.

 

[NineOneSeven]

Baye's not 100 percent, but ROC didn't give us much either. We don't play enough guys to press consistently Makes them more tired than they already are. If we were playing 10 guy's i think we'd be a better defensive pressure team.

But the potential for offense is signifcantly different between Rak and Baye, which is remarkable considering how low on the list Rak seems to be in terms of offensive priorities.

 

[tbonezone]

if SU is trying to force tempo then pressing til half court and then collapsing into a zone is perhaps the worst strategy imaginable.
we have the athletes to press but we simply don't play the depth or energy to sustain it. the easy dunk : turnover ratio must be 8:1 imo.
now if we could only switch to MTM!!!

 

[jr4750]

I thought so too at first but he did foul him. My biggest issue was Keita leaving the hoop unguarded for a layup by the white Olajuwon.

You sure... I was watching on TV and it also look for that perspective like the no one had possession and it was just two players going after a lose ball...

 

[OttoMets]

Self-fulfilling prophecy. Jimmy says we're bad at the press, so we're bad at the press. Not a ton of fundamentals on display; it's not something that merits practice time and instruction. A little like free throws.

 

[NineOneSeven]

You sure... I was watching on TV and it also look for that perspective like the no one had possession and it was just two players going after a lose ball...

He bumped him. If the roles were reversed and we didn't get that call I can't even fathom some of the reactions here.

 

[GoSU96]

Georgia Tech has a bunch of ball handlers and spaced it out well enough where they were able to get the ball across halfcourt and have 2 on 1 most of the time. I thought we did an ok job and were 1 second away about 5 times to causing a 10 second violation.

The play that upset me (standing next to Tomcat when it happened so he can comment) was with about 20 seconds left and us down 3 I believe there was a pass right in front of where the announcers sit where silent G and a GTech player went after a ball that was basically throw up for grabs in desperation and they called a foul on G where clearly it was 2 players going for the ball. I believe the ball would have been out on them Tough call.

JB is still harvesting what was sowed at Duke.

 

[jr4750]

He bumped him. If the roles were reversed and we didn't get that call I can't even fathom some of the reactions here.

I believe you. Just a bad TV angle I guess.

 

[Toga]

So we don't know how to press and last night's starting forward doesn't know what he is doing on offense or defense. Ahhh...

 

[Cheriehoop]

I thought that a number of the initial traps of the inbound pass were successful and served their purpose. The trap stopped them, slowing them down and forcing the ball out of the initial GT players hands.

It was the next pass where the problem continually arose and which is crucial to the success of the press . The defense has to position themselves to anticipate the trapped players' release and take advantage, stealing, deflecting that hurried pressured second pass. That wasn't happening - our defense was out of position allowing even cross court horizontal passes to succeed.

 

[tbonezone]

and rather than encamp the mooseman underneath to challenge the breakout (ala mcneil) baye was initially positioned in the front court.

 

[Doc5120]

I have no idea how much they practice their press, but...if it's going to be a weapon, they might want to devote more time to it. There were numerous times where we had 4 guys in the backcourt and GT had 3 guys over half court. That is not how you press and create turnovers. All GT had to do was throw the ball over the top and they had a 3 on 1. The lack of any semblance of an idea of where we're suppose to be, coupled with the fact guys are logging heavy minutes, is a recipe for disaster. If we had more healthy bodies to put out there and a better idea of where the traps need to come from, along with the proper rotations, a press could be more effective.

 

[orangepassion]

Our press has always been a brutal, all-or nothing endeavor. I remember reading somewhere that opposing coaches called it "Boeheim's panic press". I wish we'd press 3 and leave 2 back.

 

[tbonezone]

trunk monkey

 

[Briancuse]

I don't think it was that bad, we didn't really force any turnovers, but we forced gtech into taking some bad shots. We got back in the game, we just couldn't make any shots, or fts.

 

[ar inj]

The press was bad. The press is always bad. I know when it is really bad when the press comes out. Last night it was really bad.

 

[OrangeDW]

I remember JB saying earlier in the year that we are a terrible press team. Last night was a mix of just a horrendous press and some solid plays by Ennis, et al. We are a team of 6'8 athletes that can run... Shouldn't that make for a solid pressing team... How can Louisville do it to increase pace and get their offense going, and we can't. A guy like Rak should have eaten Miller's lunch on a press...

Presses need to be worked on like everyday, IMO, to be good at it. I would take a guess that we don't work on it that often, since we rarely use it.

 

[pfister1]

You sure... I was watching on TV and it also look for that perspective like the no one had possession and it was just two players going after a lose ball...

I thought it was a clear foul on MBJ as well...fwiw.

 

[Lil Rick]

Outside of 1-2 times, the press looked atrocious. As if no one knew where their positioning/assignment should've been after the initial in-bounds pass. Instead, we'd have 3-4 SU players all running after 1 GT player at times. Not to mention the fatigue factor (I know CJ plays 100%, and w/o Grant, needs to play the whole way, but just look at the difference between his jogging up n down the court late 2nd half, compared to someone with fresh legs i.e. - Roberson who sprints past everyone).. makes a big difference when pressing.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

The main problem with our press is the initial deny. If we were to allow the first pass in and then denied, we might actually be decent at it. All of that length can work. But when Cooney (especially) and Ennis face away from the inbounder trying to deny that first pass, they invariably end up behind the advancing ball. I don't get it though. It was terrible last night.