Posted by chapelhillne on 10/14/2014 10:35:00 PM (view original):
Has there ever been a champion at D1 with that combo? I like the press a lot, but I am starting to think it's not an optimal defense if you are in a more isolated area of the country, like Colorado, which has fewer prospects. With Fastbreak and the press, you would really need 12 solid players in my opinion year in and year out.
im almost positive lostmyth won in d1 back in the day with fb/fcp. but, its lostmyth, so that really doesn't say anything about how feasible the set is. also, it was pre-new engine, so that really says nothing about today, with how different fatigue and to a lesser extent, foul trouble, are.
i have a similar issue as kansas, as you do, chapel. i played at colorado and was very successful with the press back in the day, but you could run 10 men deep with no problem, and now its totally different. so i run zone OR press at kansas. i have run mostly press lately, but of the 2 titles i won in the last several seasons, one came with zone, and the other, with press. anyway, i think press only could be done, but i definitely feel the pressure, no pun intended, its hard to get 12 consistently.
to me, its definitely a viable set on its own - no doubt about it. last year at kansas, i built the first truly great team i've had in almost 5 years, it seems to me. we played like 15 games against top half NT teams or something crazy like that, maybe it was only 12 games, from the start of conf play on. we won them all by like a 22 point average margin. that means your like 15th best in the country team was over 20 points behind us... which is pretty huge. anyway, that was running press. i think the best team you can build in d1, is definitely a press team. i do not think you could build a team that had SUCH a big lead over high end teams running any other set. you can definitely win titles and be the best with other sets, but i don't think you could be like 90% or so against the next best teams in the country, not in d1, that is.
that said, while press can build the best team, it is really hard. stamina is SUPER important. for an elite player in press, stamina is actually the most valuable rating, IMO, at least in general. its pretty crazy. anyway, you have a couple options at a place like colorado (running straight press - you could always run zone OR press but i have the luxury at A+ baseline kansas to only go for players who are awesome and don't need that many individual practice minutes - its harder for you to put as much in team practice as i do - but not much harder). you have the ability, as a high prestige school, to find those guys who aren't that great now but develop into good upperclassmen, who usually b- bcs schools and down are taking, and you could take the best of those guys with high stamina, for some of your players. the high stamina goes so far, if you can get really good stamina, it could allow you to tolerate the occasional walkon or two. alternatively, you can just not be as good in the years you can't put together great depth, and just build for your championship years.
but fb/fcp is a lot different. the best d1 team possible probably not only runs press, but also fastbreak. stamina is possibly the most important stat on a high caliber fb/fcp team it seems to me, at least right up there. running 10 deep in press doesn't work great for like, winning titles - but really, you can run 10 deep and be a title contender and a high end team. its not like you HAVE to have 12, but it definitely helps. but with fb/fcp, you'd lose the ability to slowdown with low depth, and you'd basically have to be 12 deep perfectly distributed by position, with no redshirts or ineligibles. i mean, you could survive a 10-11 deep season, but if you had tied for the most talent in the country, and were 10 deep, you'd have a much lower chance of winning than your evenly talented counter parts. you'd really just be trying to scrape by in many of yours seasons, going purely for occasional seasons where you could have really good chances at winning the title. generally, i would definitely not recommend fb/fcp to any d1 coach except experts (such as yourself) who knew it was a major challenge, and wanted that challenge - but i certainly wouldn't want to do it at colorado! much better to do it on the east coast where you make less of a sacrifice in talent when you have to get that 12th player and he has to be say, a guard, no matter what - because there are more players and more chance of a "decent" option.