Why doesnt anyone use fastbreak anymore?  I have always wanted to try it with my Minnesota team but then I look through all the ranked teams in the world and NONE of them use the fastbreak.  I have won three National Championships with MInnesota running Triangle  and I want to try something new.....any advice on the fastbreak would be greatly appriciated.....pros? Cons? Lets hear from the fastbreak users out there...

My former D3 Bethany team ran FB and I loved it.  The problem is that, while IQ is important in any system it *seemed* to me to be even more important in my FB/FCP scheme.  It also put a higher emphasis on STAM and BH including your bigs.  So it's sexy and all, but it's not quite a "roll it out and let 'em run" offense.

About the time I took over that Bethany team, there was some discussion on this board about the FB/FCP combo and the general concensus was that there have been a few seasons where the NT was dominated by FB teams.  Not sure if it's division-dependent or not, but I do know that if you don't have the players to execute it, it'll blow up in your face.  I'd run it because I liked it, not because it gave me any advantage.

Thanks Ethan...I know stamina , passing and ball control are important...but I also heard that you can get away with lower shooting ratings because of the break...dont know if thats true or not.  Im not looking for an advantage either....Im just BORED to death with the triangle and want to try something new. I used to run the press many seasons ago and it worked great...then they changed it so I went to m2m and it seems to be ok so I'll stick with that. Dont want to confuse the "kids" to much..LOL

Posted by kevthekidd on 9/5/2011 11:08:00 AM (view original):
Thanks Ethan...I know stamina , passing and ball control are important...but I also heard that you can get away with lower shooting ratings because of the break...dont know if thats true or not.  Im not looking for an advantage either....Im just BORED to death with the triangle and want to try something new. I used to run the press many seasons ago and it worked great...then they changed it so I went to m2m and it seems to be ok so I'll stick with that. Dont want to confuse the "kids" to much..LOL

I changed my off/def scheme back when I started with Abilene Christian/Smith and it set me back at least one season - I did it in a year when I only had a couple of freshmen and took a lot of heat from the assistant coach for practicing the new scheme but playing the old one :)  Eventually I was able to scrap the old zone completely and go M2M.

I found with my FB/FCP team that if I had enough ATH and SPD I won a lot of games at the FT line.  I had a guard who couldn't shoot worth a damn, but led my team in scoring because I had him driving the lane and getting fouled.

My advice is if you want to change, go for it.  If it's not fun, what's the point?  Ideal timing is when most of your roster is at A or B IQ with your current scheme.  Play your old scheme and practice the new one until you're up to around a B, and be prepared to take some losses while you transition.

One more point.  The concensus from other coaches here is that you cannot opt for a "Slow Down" setting when you're playing FB.  You can pick it, but in the game it will simply reset to "Normal".  That makes sense since I've never heard of a "Slow Down Fastbreak".

If you're up against superior ATH/SPD teams, that can hurt.  You'll have one less viable option in the Team Game Plan.

1st round NT I'm up agains #22 Princeton, 24-5, FB/press. So someones using it!

Princeton running fb/press seems blasphemous to me. Lol.

beloit runs fb/fcp in wooden d3...seems to work pretty well, considering it just blew out its elite 8 and ff opponents by 39 and 35 points, respectively

The unexpected wins/losses seem to happen at a higher rate when using this combo.  It can be maddening.  You don't really run the opponent into the ground as much as you'd think.

Posted by udm_mike on 9/6/2011 11:10:00 AM (view original):
The unexpected wins/losses seem to happen at a higher rate when using this combo.  It can be maddening.  You don't really run the opponent into the ground as much as you'd think.

This is true.  But it's a lot like other Off/Def schemes - if you're up against an opponent with equal or superior ATH/SPD/DEF it comes down to precise game planning.  If you're running FB, that means you have to find other ways to compensate for not being able to slow the game down.  Double Teams, lineup switches and Distro alterations become more important.  Are you equipped to bomb from the arc, or can you tell your team to take it inside and draw the foul?

I don't usually double team, but I've been DT'd and if you don't have balanced scoring it can ruin your day more than the particular set the opponent is playing.

I wouldn't encourage anyone to go Uptempo unless you have a clear ATH/SPD/BH advantage over your opponent, but it's another option that can work in the right circumstances.

I'm not an expert.  I just pretend to be one on the internet  :)

IQ is vastly important in FCP (As I see mentioned above) I have not run FB but one season... So I can't say how important IQ is for that.

Posted by zhawks on 9/6/2011 12:35:00 PM (view original):
IQ is vastly important in FCP (As I see mentioned above) I have not run FB but one season... So I can't say how important IQ is for that.

Since FB is supposed to create more possessions per game, I would think that any IQ difference would also be magnified.  Add in FCP on top of FB and its importance probably doubles.

Posted by ethan66 on 9/6/2011 12:05:00 PM (view original):

Posted by udm_mike on 9/6/2011 11:10:00 AM (view original):
The unexpected wins/losses seem to happen at a higher rate when using this combo.  It can be maddening.  You don't really run the opponent into the ground as much as you'd think.

This is true.  But it's a lot like other Off/Def schemes - if you're up against an opponent with equal or superior ATH/SPD/DEF it comes down to precise game planning.  If you're running FB, that means you have to find other ways to compensate for not being able to slow the game down.  Double Teams, lineup switches and Distro alterations become more important.  Are you equipped to bomb from the arc, or can you tell your team to take it inside and draw the foul?

I don't usually double team, but I've been DT'd and if you don't have balanced scoring it can ruin your day more than the particular set the opponent is playing.

I wouldn't encourage anyone to go Uptempo unless you have a clear ATH/SPD/BH advantage over your opponent, but it's another option that can work in the right circumstances.

I'm not an expert.  I just pretend to be one on the internet  :)

And that's the drawback for the FB/FCP combo.  There's not a whole lot of gameplanning you can do since you can't double team and switching defenders around doesn't really do anything to focus on a guy (unless someone knows differently?).

Yes switching players around would have a small affect both ways... since they play a motion on o after fb fails (again this is why FB needs to go and become an add-on like Press is / should) and it would somewhat dictate who was trapping who on the press halfcourt d as well.

I run FB/FCP on both my teams: Sewanee(Wooden 3) and Clayton St(Smith D2). Sewanee got to the Sweet 16 this past season and Clayton St is currently ranked #9. I've converted both schools and both are in the 4th season under new IQ's. Two drawbacks I've seen so far......1) Not much on gameplanning.....sort've 40 minutes of hell and 2) Some nights they just SUCK! It's weird but even against certain sims, its looks like a totally different team.

I'm real curious to see how Clayton St finishes this season and a real athletic team too.......we lost to Mississippi but 2 in an exhibition(Miss is run by a sim though) and lost to the #1 team by 3 in OT. Hopefully next years team will be better.