This team needs to press

[JTG]

I think when things are not going well we need to press. Making a team use 10 seconds to bring the ball up, cuts down on what they want to do. Throw in steals and turnovers, and you can wear a team down. I think we have the depth to do it. It sure helped tonite to cut into EVV lead. The press can really wear teams down. Some of Pete and Skip's teams would force guys to give up late in games because they were so tired of struggling to bring the ball up.

[XU 87]

I think the press changed the game around today. The game was way too slow and the press sped things up.

[ammtd34]

Even if you don't get turnovers, you get bad, quick shots. At the very least, they have to start their offense from a different point than they're used to. It throws of rhythm. It definitely helped us tonight.

[XUFan09]

I think a press is one of the most overused strategic suggestions in today's game (along with a motion offense geared toward jump shooting, especially when a team isn't full of shooters). Today's game, though, has solidified my opinion that this team's personnel are better geared to press at least some of each game rather than sticking completely to the halfcourt defense. Their halfcourt defense actually works better too after a disruptive press.

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[danaandvictory]

Yeah, Evansville really only turned it over once directly as a result of the press, but there were a number of errant passes and ballhandling mistakes caused by their guards being heated up. It changed the game, especially when X was able to get some momentum.

Given how poor we are at creating opportunities from the half-court set, maybe pressure is the right move just to speed things up, get the ball in transition, and give Semaj some changes to attack on the secondary break.

[Masterofreality]

I'd like to see it more and thought that CMack took too long to use it against USC. However, please do not go back to an all game press like Skip used to run.

With Stenger and Amos back, we'll have the full 11 men available. I'd like to see a press used for about 20 of the 40 minutes in spurts depending on the opponent. It definitely had an eroding effect on Evansville's stamina last night.

[Lloyd Braun]

A press is fine for the Evansvilles of the world but good teams will beat a press and score with ease. It's certainly good to sprinkle in from time to time, it seemed to get them pumped up enough to play with intensity which seems to be the biggest problem. MOR may be able to attest to this but it reminds me of the Cavs first couple years with Lebron - stand around and watch him go 1-on-1. I would like to see Semaj off the ball some more cutting and slashing. And dribbling left.

[ammtd34]

A press is fine for the Evansvilles of the world but good teams will beat a press and score with ease. It's certainly good to sprinkle in from time to time, it seemed to get them pumped up enough to play with intensity which seems to be the biggest problem. MOR may be able to attest to this but it reminds me of the Cavs first couple years with Lebron - stand around and watch him go 1-on-1. I would like to see Semaj off the ball some more cutting and slashing. And dribbling left.

With Semaj off the ball for 28:00, we were down by 13 points to Evansville.

[Fireball]

A press is fine for the Evansvilles of the world but good teams will beat a press and score with ease. It's certainly good to sprinkle in from time to time, it seemed to get them pumped up enough to play with intensity which seems to be the biggest problem. MOR may be able to attest to this but it reminds me of the Cavs first couple years with Lebron - stand around and watch him go 1-on-1. I would like to see Semaj off the ball some more cutting and slashing. And dribbling left.

Agreed. A press is great when we can out-athlete the other team, but once we start playing really good teams in the conference schedule, I don't see it working nearly as well.

[ammtd34]

You don't have to be more athletic than another team in order to press. You have to be more disciplined defensively than they are offensively. If a team gets layups off of our press, it won't necessarily be because they are more athletic than us, it would be because they knew how to attack it.

[Milhouse]

Our Offensive is give the ball to Maj. better get used to it.

[XUFan09]

A press is fine for the Evansvilles of the world but good teams will beat a press and score with ease. It's certainly good to sprinkle in from time to time, it seemed to get them pumped up enough to play with intensity which seems to be the biggest problem. MOR may be able to attest to this but it reminds me of the Cavs first couple years with Lebron - stand around and watch him go 1-on-1. I would like to see Semaj off the ball some more cutting and slashing. And dribbling left.
t
Yeah, I'm with you in thinking it would be good to throw in sometimes each game but to not use it consistently.