full court press

what happened to us using it? Seems to me we used to do it most of the game and now we rarely use it. any explanations??????????????

Our half court offense is so efficient that we do not need it anymore.

You know again, I learned something from that Ill/Ind game yesterday. Mr. Anthony stated that Illinois seldom presses, but found themselves way down in the game at NW and were forced to. They overcame a double digit deficit as a result.

Tubby has stated he doesn't want to give up easy baskets at the other end, but wee do have the shot blockers back there with plenty of fouls to give.

I would be all for it.

leftyslefty said:

You know again, I learned something from that Ill/Ind game yesterday. Mr. Anthony stated that Illinois seldom presses, but found themselves way down in the game at NW and were forced to. They overcame a double digit deficit as a result.

Tubby has stated he doesn't want to give up easy baskets at the other end, but wee do have the shot blockers back there with plenty of fouls to give.

I would be all for it.

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Don't bet on it. Tubby is a stubborn dude. If you see him change his starting lineup after a dozen consecutive slow starts then maybe there will be hope for some more pressing as well.

bga1 said:

Don't bet on it. Tubby is a stubborn dude. If you see him change his starting lineup after a dozen consecutive slow starts then maybe there will be hope for some more pressing as well.

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That's funny. It's like if we're going to look this bad and lose, let's at least do it a different way. Maybe it will work. Maybe it won't, but how can we look worse?

It's time to put in the backup QB, Tubby!

Saturday was the first game where I really questioned Tubby's in-game coaching. Continuing to rely on the 1/2 court offense and defense seems ridiculous at this stage of the season. How many times do they have to lose games in this manner before the lineup and strategy changes?

I'm not sure there is a team left on the schedule that they can "out-execute" to a win. Play to your strengths, Tubby! Force tempo and pressure the hell out of 'em.

I won't be holding my breath, though.

Tubby has gone to the press many times in the past 5 games, it hasn't been as evident because you need to score in order to implement the press. You can't even begin to press without having something resembling a half court offense. The quicker teams we played have dribbled and passed around the press. It's not a matter of strategy, it's execution.

>>It's not a matter of strategy, it's execution.<<

It's also a matter of personnel...both ours and theirs.

Gold Vision said:

Tubby has gone to the press many times in the past 5 games, it hasn't been as evident because you need to score in order to implement the press...It's not a matter of strategy, it's execution.

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The Gophers have attempted some passive m2m pressure over the course of the last month, but not the full-court 1-2-1-1 (or 2-2-1) zone trap that they ran earlier in the season. Obviously, pressing like that is high-risk/high-reward, but at this point what's the difference? We have the bodies, give it a shot. It's better than dying a slow death in the 1/2 court, as demonstrated over the last month.

IMO, they do not have the skill set to hang with the best in the conference in a 1/2 court game.

Full court press

The press can be used to mix things up or as an all-encompassing philosophy. In my opinion, Tubby is not prepared, nor will he ever be prepared to fully commit to the full court press. Tubby can certainly do whatever he believes in. I have often wondered though, where the 40 minutes of He** or Pitino style pressing teams have gone (I guess Tennessee is the closest thing to it today). Think of the success that N. Richardson and Pitino had with that style. Wooden's Bruins also ran a 2-2-1 FCT throughout his tenure.

I always thought that the style was a huge recruiting advantage. Who wouldn't want to play in a high scoring, up-tempo system? Who wouldn't want to come to a program and have a good chance to play quality minutes right away (because that system, obviously, requires a lot of players)? The system also seems to instill a high level of confidence in players too. If you were a coach in a major conference such as the B10, PAC 10, etc and at a school like Wash. St., Penn St., MN etc. couldn't you bring a lot of excitement and attention to your program that way?

An earlier poster called this style high risk/high reward. I must disagree. For teams that press only sparingly or out of desperation that's true, but those who are truly committed to the style throughout the game its not. If the Wooden teams were high risk they certainly wouldn't have won 88 straight games or won so consistently with so many different types of players. Its a style that wears the other team out and forces them into mistakes. Its also one that requires great discipline from the opponent. Many times I saw opponents jump out to big early leads against Pitino's teams taking quick jump shots--shots that never seemed to fall in the latter parts of the game. By the way, I always found it interesting that Pitino would say that the better the PG the worse he would play against their system. Bobby Hurley always (with the exception of the tourney game his senior year when Laettner hit the last second shot) played horribly against them.

I also have to disagree with Gopher4Life that it depends on your personnel. Pitino's Providence teams never had great personnel. His best player on those teams was the immortal Delray Brooks! His early Kentucky teams had superior athletes like John Pelphery and Richie Farmer and were very successful. Its about being committed to a philosophy and getting your players to buy into that philosophy. In fact, the full court approach can hide a lot of individual weaknesses.