I just moved up to Division 1 at Mercer. I was researching the top 25 teams to see what kind of offense and defense were used by the best teams in D1. I noticed that there were 0 teams using the FB, and I was wondering if there is a drawback to using it in D1? I am also wondering what some of the veteran coaches at D1 think are the best offense and defense to use. Mercer is a crappy team right now, so I don't mind changing. Right now they have been using Triangle and Full Court Press.  This is my first venture into Division 1, so any help would be appreciated.

IMHO, you should stick with press. Recruit the most athletic and fast guys with D that you can. You'll run your conference no prob till u qualify for a big time job. Fast break requires too many stats for all your players to generally be workable. Also, last thing I read, the guys running the engine don't even know what offense is being run when you don't fast break. Not conducive for good game planning. All the other offenses really aren't that much different. Triangle is good since you usually only want 3 guys scoring anyway. You can specialize your other guys into defenders or rebounders. But really it's not that big a deal. Just recruit for whichever offense you choose.

FWIW the top 25 D I teams in Phelan break down thusly:

9 motion/man
4 triangle/man
4 flex/man
2 motion/zone
1 flex/zone
2 triangle/press
3 motion/press

None of them run fastbreak, and 17/25 run M2M...

there is no best

once upon a time press was very popular and the engine probably gave it imbalanced advantages

man is now popular

but one can win with any of the defenses or offenses - I have never run FB and would avoid it

what is best for you is more complex - need to think strategically - how long do you plan to be at this job - staying for a while or moving up as soon as you can?  what is the recruiting environment like - if you are in a place where recruits are few and you need to take the best players whatever their array of skills, maybe zone - think Hawaii for that - there is no one best

I was afraid of the zone because I felt like the outside shooting skills at D1 would make it easier to beat. I am probably going to move up fairly soon. I am thinking I will stay with the press, since I noticed in looking at a D2 world top 25, most teams ran the press. And this is a low level D1 team, so maybe it will work. I just hate the fact that you can't double team with it, so a team with a stud player can run all over me with him.

The best defense for Division 1 if recruited properly, in my opinion, is the press. Just fill all 12 guys, take a few that are career bench players (guards with a lot of ath/spd/def, sacrificing per/bh/pass if you have to) and don't recruit tanks for bigs. Particularly at big 6 where a lot of coaches are trying to run with 9-10 rotation players consistently. Stamina is obviously important as well. But it's okay to take a couple guys in the high 60's/low 70's for stamina as long as you have a full rotation. That's just what I've observed, other people most likely see it differently

Don't you need a SPD advantage to be successful that way? In the Big 6 all the guards are fast...

Motion/man.

Posted by dacj501 on 9/27/2011 3:13:00 PM (view original):
Don't you need a SPD advantage to be successful that way? In the Big 6 all the guards are fast...

Yes, but the idea is that a full rotation of BCS caliber players with a great emphasis on speed can turn over even the most talented teams a lot. Georgia Tech in Phelan is a great example of this. No players under 41 speed, and a few seasons, he's had the team speed average right around 73-74. I believe he runs mostly uptempo as well, pounding a lot of the schools in the eastern part of the country that always battle for the top tier talent and end up taking 2-3 walkons regularly. 

This is really interesting. I appreciate all of the input. I am wondering if most people use man, just because most of the other teams use it. I am thinking now I will stick with Triangle and Press, since that's what Mercer has used, but I am definitely going to recruit players that are fast and athletic. Hopefully coaches will keep adding their 2 cents worth to this thread.

IMO, zone is extremely useful at low D1.  You can take 2 walkons per year, redshirt a freshman, and have a developmental guy who doesn't play and still have a good rotation.  By not worrying about the last few spots on your roster, you are free to spend much more money on landing a potentially great recruit that could help you win your conference, boost your prestige, and bring in that next big recruit.  Worked pretty well for me.

EDIT: You also get 2 defenses for the price of 1, I love the flexibility that 3-2 and 2-3 give you.

Posted by chapelhillne on 9/27/2011 5:40:00 PM (view original):
This is really interesting. I appreciate all of the input. I am wondering if most people use man, just because most of the other teams use it. I am thinking now I will stick with Triangle and Press, since that's what Mercer has used, but I am definitely going to recruit players that are fast and athletic. Hopefully coaches will keep adding their 2 cents worth to this thread.

Man defense requires the least amount of thinking. Get your standard lineup with players that all have good defense ratings, that's it. There's a blueprint for success for man defense and that just isn't the case for the other two defenses.

Zone defense allows you to run many different types of sets and lineups, for example, a team could potentially run a 3-2 zone with 2 guards, 2 small forwards (one playing at PF having a ton of rebounding and blocking, the other can be more offensive), and a defensive center, or another variation of a 3-2 would be three guards who all have decent rebounding and then two tanks in the back to try to nullify the built in rebounding weakness with the stretched zone, or simply just a 2-3 with your standard rebounding 3. There's many different ways to go about it, although most people feel zone is the worst defense. I personally think it can be used successfully with the right players, but there are definite weaknesses that are more visible compared to the other defenses. 

I'm really just rambling here, so that might not make a whole lot of sense. Sorry if it didn't. My point being zone gives you the most versatility with potential lineups, and it is by far the least draining defense cardio wise, so you can ignore stamina for the most part or just run with 9-10 players. So, if you're Texas, and you basically get your pick of players in the state, zone might be the best way to go so you can take the best players every year (to an extent) instead of being forced to take a worse player simply because you needed a power forward instead of a small forward or a small forward instead of a guard. 

By the way, I'm mostly talking BCS level Division 1 here, but most of this would apply to midmajors as well. I just think all of the teams look the same in BCS that run motion/man and I don't understand why. The caliber of players at BCS schools makes the other defenses much more viable than most coaches realize.

This is how I view D1 recruiting in terms of the 3 defense.

Zone: Might be the easiest because zone can run on a 8 or 9 man rotation. When you lose battles and have to take walkons, you might still be competitive.

Press: Good in the sense your players can be one dimensional. Stack up ath/spd/def and you should have a good press team that is fairly competitive. You can take players that most of teams wouldn't want, such as a potential 90/90 ath/spd guard w/o any per/bh/passing skills. You can take bigs with mediocre rebounding and poor blocking, which makes recruiting easier. Run fcp/flex and you can get away with the deficiencies in alot of categories. 

M2M: Seems to be the most popular among top level teams. Probably need more rounded and generally better players. Need more depth than zone. 

Just my 2 cent, mostly from observation. 

wsut, how do you think my Bama team in Tark fits in with this model?

Posted by dacj501 on 9/27/2011 7:04:00 PM (view original):
wsut, how do you think my Bama team in Tark fits in with this model?

In what sense are you asking? Do I think you're running the right offense/defense?