Do we press more on defense?
- Thread starter MrHotDice
- Start date
I do not understand why everyone is so enamored with playing zone and pressing. They are both used when you are not good enough to beat someone straight up. Zone defense is used if you do not have the athletes to play man to man, and the press is used when you do not have the offensive ability to score with teams and are trying to gain more possessions or get easy baskets. Yes it can be effective at times to switch up defenses but personally i would much rather have a lockdown man to man defense than waste time working on zoning or pressing and be average at everything. It's very similar to playing base defense in football, if you can shut someone down with your base defense why run blitz's and risk giving up easy yardage, same thing with basketball if you can play good man to man defense there is no reason to press unless you are down big because you are just giving the other team a chance to get open shots if they have a good press break
I'm sorry, but this is not always true. UK pressed under Pitino and UK was sure as hell good enough to beat teams straight up in 96 and 97...and other seasons. I can buy what you say on the zone defense though...I am a man to man guy through and through. Playing zone every once in a blue moon works if you want to freak out the other team and try something (ala UCONN in 2014 title game) but nothing regular.
Yeah may be a slight stretch on pressing, if run well a press can be very effective, however i think it is very hard to perfect the press especially with a new team every year, and if your press isn't perfected a good press break will shoot lay ups or open threes all day. But yes some of our late 90's teams would be an exception
Besides louisville a few years ago, who was the last pressing team to actually win a title?
as good as pitinos teams were in the 90's, he almost never pressed teams on the road
All things in moderation
as good as pitinos teams were in the 90's, he almost never pressed teams on the road
All things in moderation
i dont get why people think pressing is so great when 99% of coaches out there dont do.
what do fans know about pressing that coaches flat out reject?
what do fans know about pressing that coaches flat out reject?
One of the challenges with the one and done system is that there is very limited time to learn the schemes. Cal is right not to try to install multiple defenses in such a short period of time..
I think the fascination with the press is a leftover relic from Pitino's zone press when he was here.
Today nobody zones presses like that because the game has adjusted and now the 3 and 4 can handle the ball much better, leaving the zone press in the past. (and, no, Pitino does not zone press and trap all the time. Just occasionally. It's mostly a hip checking, grabbing, hack as you cross mid court MTM press)
Now using a man-to-man delay press to take a few seconds off a now shortened shot clock..... I think you will see this by a ton of teams to start this season.
Some will fall back into a zone after that. Kentucky will not be one of those teams.
To Cal, zone is a sign of weakness and gives the players a reason to cop out not to go hard in MTM. Plus, he has superior athletes, and only nine months to work with the team. Time enough to learn only 1 really good, tough championship level defense.
Today nobody zones presses like that because the game has adjusted and now the 3 and 4 can handle the ball much better, leaving the zone press in the past. (and, no, Pitino does not zone press and trap all the time. Just occasionally. It's mostly a hip checking, grabbing, hack as you cross mid court MTM press)
Now using a man-to-man delay press to take a few seconds off a now shortened shot clock..... I think you will see this by a ton of teams to start this season.
Some will fall back into a zone after that. Kentucky will not be one of those teams.
To Cal, zone is a sign of weakness and gives the players a reason to cop out not to go hard in MTM. Plus, he has superior athletes, and only nine months to work with the team. Time enough to learn only 1 really good, tough championship level defense.
A good reason to press is IMO the rule change on a time out not saving teams from a 10 second call is going to result in a lot of turnovers both by the ten second call being made and players getting shook up when it looks like they are not going to get the ball up court on time and throwing the ball away. It is going to force teams to become better ball handlers or suffer for not doing so.
I don't see why we wouldn't have Ulis get up in a ball handler for 94 feet. Nobody will blow by him, and he has 2 other elite guards to handle the point if he needs a blow.
It also helps negate our biggest defensive weakness. That being bigger guards who have time in the half court to get comfortable against Ulis and work him to a spot.
Ulis pressuring 60 ft. away = advantage Ulis
Ulis backed down to the elbow = advantage offense
It also helps negate our biggest defensive weakness. That being bigger guards who have time in the half court to get comfortable against Ulis and work him to a spot.
Ulis pressuring 60 ft. away = advantage Ulis
Ulis backed down to the elbow = advantage offense
I think there will be times this season just like last season when Ulis is getting abused by bigger guards and Cal will need to go bigger at the point. It seems he has several options to do just that. Briscoe and Murray can both be used at the point and that doesn't even include Hawkins. I think is unusual to have that many possible PGs on a team. This could be very good or very bad. Lets hope all do not feel they have to play PG and one ball doesn't prove enough for them.
Another one of these threads? I wish If the word "press" or "zone" is in the op that the site would automatically lump all of them together.
