28-30 on Press, 20 on Flex.

I can't tell you how much the new engine changed my world.  I had a few coaches who taught me a ton and I really studdied games and stats.  Then everything I knew didn't work any more.   Like I said, I think I finally have it figured out but it didn't help that I got a big promotion when it changed and I just haven't had as much time as I like to work on WIS.  These last couple of days have been nice.  I can actually get on here and post. 

The next 4 seasons will tell if I really have this figured out or not.  I'm hoping to get Behrend back where it was.
4/18/2011 8:08 PM
I will tell you the one thing that I have really noticed are the grades.  I went three years, not seasons, years, without losing a player to grades.  I have lost a couple in the last two seasons.  I am seeing SRs with a 3.5 GPA suddenly having problems.  And I had a FR with a 1.9 at mid-term that I put 20 minutes into for SH and he ends up with a 1.7.  How does that happen?  I have seen 7 players on the yellow list at mid term and the next semester almost all are over 3.0.  I don't know what they changed but it seems they made up their minds that they randomly want kids failing and their GPA, HS Grades, and SH don't make a difference if they are the lucky one pulled out of the hat. 
4/18/2011 8:17 PM

I am in the camp that defense matters more than most people think for the press. It dramatically affects fouls, which is very important for press teams, and even more so for fb/fcp since you are already behind in stamina. An early foul trouble puts you in more of a jam.

And given the new individual position rebounding, I think press teams are putting themselves at a huge disadvantage by not having at least 1 big man with 90+ rebounding and gain at least a rebounding edge at one position.

4/18/2011 10:56 PM
I still haven't had it happen to me save once in all of my seasons.

4/18/2011 11:09 PM
Thanks 2bounce for the response on the practice times. I actually switched to practice press defense all of last season and was planning to switch over from M2M sometime this season. I tried press in my two exhibition games and saw a huge amount of fouls and then saw York, Chapman and Hood (who all have much better teams than me) get hit with a lot of fouls and chickened out on switching over to press. Admittedly, my starters only had a B IQ in press and I know you've said A- minimum, so maybe I should have stuck with another season of practicing since I've got two recruits from this season that should be perfect for the press being high/high on both ATL and SPD. 
4/19/2011 3:22 AM
Happy to help Magneto!  My buddy Al taught me a ton about this game and my Buddy Vic taught me a lot about the Press.  There have been a lot of other coaches that helped me along the way in the last 5 years, so I am happy to share with anyone who asks.  There are great coaches like Tianyi7886 and others on here, and many of us have found things that work.  Asking is the key to developing your own winning formulas.
4/19/2011 5:33 PM
I would like to give a hat tip and nod to 2bounce for helping me -- a lot. Especially with his thoughts on the interconnectedness of the flex and fcp. Any success I owe to his help, and failings are my own.
4/19/2011 6:16 PM
Too much credit Headpirate, but thanks!  You are figuring this game out quickly.  I just passed on some of the insight others have passed to me, with maybe a little of my own experience.  Do me a favor:  just make sure you pass it on and help other new coaches when they ask questions.  I love this game and the more we can help new coaches, the more coaches we keep around. 
4/19/2011 9:10 PM (edited)

Here is a question regarding the Full Court Press and Home Court Advantage at DIII.  Do you guys feel that FCP is more subject to the vicissitudes of HCA than other defenses, being that FCP is mainly about creating turnovers and, hopefully, not commiting too many fouls?  HCA tends to raise turnovers and fouls for the road team and reduce them for the home team, so it would figure that HCA helps FCP more at home, and conversely, hurts it more on the road, than it does for M2M or Zone defenses.  Would you guys agree with this?

4/19/2011 9:34 PM
So I took a look at my two teams, both D3 and both run the Press: 26 games total, 13 home 13 away.  We force 20 TOs per game at home, 21.5 away; we commit 21 fouls per game at home and 19 per game away; Opponants shoot 24 FT per game at home and away; Opponants shoot 70.2% FT% at home (I am the home team) and 74.3% away (on their home court). 

I was amazed how even everything was.  I was even more shocked that we don't force more TOs at home.  The only real difference I am seeing is that the opponants shoot 4% better from the FT line when we are on the road. 
4/20/2011 11:28 PM
Did you check the quality of the opposition?  Are you playing, say, better teams at home and easier teams on the road?
4/20/2011 11:31 PM
They are very similar in strength, home and away.
4/21/2011 7:43 AM
NOt doubting you, but can you like to the teams, just because I want to do some number crunching myself on press teams, starting to play one myself?
4/21/2011 8:04 AM
Posted by sol_phenom3 on 4/16/2011 10:29:00 AM (view original):
I agree with court about stamina being important.  Having run a DIII press team for nearly 20 straight seasons back in Knight, I always valued the ratings in this order: SPD, ATH, ST, DEF.  But it came down to position.  At PG/SG I value SPD much higher than any other rating.  At SF I tend to desire a balance at ATH/SPD.  At PF/C I tend to prefer better ATH, but nice SPD is always a bonus.  My only issue is that I have not played the press at any level since the most recent engine change, so my advice might be out-of-date.
This is pretty much how I recruit.
4/21/2011 8:54 AM
Ive had fairly good success ever since switching to the press. For guards, SP is more important than ATH but don't neglect ATH. I wont even look at a recruit with less than 25 ATH. For bigs, you want ATH over SP but don't look at ones that are really less than 15-20 on SP especially not ones who can't improve there. SF need to be hybrids. I look for SF who will end up at least 50+/50+ on SP/ATH. To have a great team, I feel like you need your overall team ATH and SP to be at or above 50. Those are the teams that have the best results for me.

Also IQ is so important in the new engine. Don't be scared to put up to 30 minutes on the press. Also, ST was important at the first release but is much less important once the tweak was made. Still more important than the old engine but not nearly as big a deal as before.

Finally, the biggest tweak I made was recruiting better defensive players to get team D in the mid 40s or better. That makes a huge difference if coupled with good SP/ATH numbers.

Also, I really look at my overall BH/PASS numbers. I used to have all kinds of problems beating pressing teams with turning it over but now I have one of the best BH/PASS teams in D3 in my world.
4/21/2011 11:15 AM
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