Full Court Press vs NC State

[Jderf]

Yesterday’s game was tough to take in, so I figured I’d shift the focus to the main positive development from the matchup: the full court press. I didn’t see much discussion of it and the post-game thread was already pretty crowded, so it seemed like a good candidate for a spin-off discussion.

Late in the game, it was pretty clear that everything changed dramatically when Duke switched to the press. We started forcing turnovers and getting easy transition buckets all over the place, even cutting the lead to single digits before ultimately falling short. The brief performance was strong enough that I feel pretty confident in drawing a firm conclusion: This team can run the press and run it well. How well? It’s hard to say just yet. But I think that we saw was more than enough to merit some consideration going forward. I could see the scheme being very effective if employed as a short-burst gimmick defense for a couple minutes per half. I feel like it could really catch teams off guard.

That said, a lot of the posters around here know the game much better than I do, so I felt inclined to start a thread and get some general thoughts on the topic. Does this team have the right pieces to run a strong press? How much should the tactic be used, if at all? What are the downsides and risks? Etc. Etc.

Looking forward to your thoughts.

[FerryFor50]

Yesterday’s game was tough to take in, so I figured I’d shift the focus to the main positive development from the matchup: the full court press. I didn’t see much discussion of it and the post-game thread was already pretty crowded, so it seemed like a good candidate for a spin-off discussion.

Late in the game, it was pretty clear that everything changed dramatically when Duke switched to the press. We started forcing turnovers and getting easy transition buckets all over the place, even cutting the lead to single digits before ultimately falling short. The brief performance was strong enough that I feel pretty confident in drawing a firm conclusion: This team can run the press and run it well. How well? It’s hard to say just yet. But I think that we saw was more than enough to merit some consideration going forward. I could see the scheme being very effective if employed as a short-burst gimmick defense for a couple minutes per half. I feel like it could really catch teams off guard.

That said, a lot of the posters around here know the game much better than I do, so I felt inclined to start a thread and get some general thoughts on the topic. Does this team have the right pieces to run a strong press? How much should the tactic be used, if at all? What are the downsides and risks? Etc. Etc.

Looking forward to your thoughts.


I think it depends on the team.

NCSU doesn't have a ton of great ball handlers, especially not ball handlers with any size. So it worked. Probably should have tried it sooner, but hindsight and all...

Other teams (like Kentucky) have guys who can break the press on their own.

I think it's useful as a last resort. You don't want to press an entire game and wear your guys out.

[Wander]

Note that NC State also got easy buckets out of it, both by breaking the press and by easy offensive rebounds because our guys were out of position. Also, only 9 scholarship players and all that.

[roywhite]

I think it depends on the team.

NCSU doesn't have a ton of great ball handlers, especially not ball handlers with any size. So it worked. Probably should have tried it sooner, but hindsight and all...

Other teams (like Kentucky) have guys who can break the press on their own.

I think it's useful as a last resort. You don't want to press an entire game and wear your guys out.

Another downside to the unbalanced conference schedule -- we won't get a chance to try adjustments specifically against NC State since they don't come to Cameron; possibly catch them in the ACC tourney. @NCSU, @Louisville, and @UVa -- each without a return match in Cameron = pretty tough feature of the 2015 schedule.

[AIRFORCEDUKIE]

Another downside to the unbalanced conference schedule -- we won't get a chance to try adjustments specifically against NC State since they don't come to Cameron; possibly catch them in the ACC tourney. @NCSU, @Louisville, and @UVa -- each without a return match in Cameron = pretty tough feature of the 2015 schedule.

The other end of that is one team is going to have the revenge factor going into the ACC Tournament, oh I apologize the NY LIFE ACC TOURNAMENT. nope never mind I am never calling it that again. So we will have an advantage over NCSU if we meet them just by the fact that we get another shot at them. Hopefully Louisville and UVA get a shot at revenge against us, which would mean we won at their place most likely making us a top 1 or 2 seed in the ACC tourney.

At which point we can try that press out all day long, or in spurts to reserve energy.

see how I took it way off topic but then brought it back on topic without making a real point?... I am smooth:cool:

[jv001]

Another downside to the unbalanced conference schedule -- we won't get a chance to try adjustments specifically against NC State since they don't come to Cameron; possibly catch them in the ACC tourney. @NCSU, @Louisville, and @UVa -- each without a return match in Cameron = pretty tough feature of the 2015 schedule.

Does John Swofford have anything to do with scheduling? He is a former uncheater you know. :cool: GoDuke!

[MCFinARL]

I think it depends on the team.

NCSU doesn't have a ton of great ball handlers, especially not ball handlers with any size. So it worked. Probably should have tried it sooner, but hindsight and all...

Other teams (like Kentucky) have guys who can break the press on their own.

I think it's useful as a last resort. You don't want to press an entire game and wear your guys out.

This makes sense. Also, I feel like NCState was trying to burn a little clock at that point anyway, which got them out of their own rhythm a bit--a couple of times they backed off of what looked like pretty solid close-in scoring opportunities that were fairly early in the shot clock. That may also have contributed to Duke's run.

[devildeac]

This makes sense. Also, I feel like NCState was trying to burn a little clock at that point anyway, which got them out of their own rhythm a bit--a couple of times they backed off of what looked like pretty solid close-in scoring opportunities that were fairly early in the shot clock. That may also have contributed to Duke's run.

If they had kept shooting 3s at that accuracy, we might have lost by 20+:rolleyes:.

[UrinalCake]

The press was effective in that situation (being down late), but that's not really a fair indicator of how it would work in "normal" circumstances or for an entire game. I agree that it would be interesting to toss it in for a few possessions here and there, but then again if we're using it so rarely then it's probably not something we'll spend a lot of time practicing.

Usually pressing teams have quick guards who can pressure the ball handler and long, versatile wings to roam the middle of the court. We have neither of these, except for Winslow I guess. Then you need a shot blocker standing under the basket to clean things up if they break the press. Oak has had some amazing blocks this year, but is not an elite rim protector. So overall I don't think we really have the horses to pull off a Pitino-style full-court pressing defense. I thought that LAST year we would do this, having a number of 6'7-6'8 athletes, but I digress...