Posted by gillispie1 on 10/21/2013 1:48:00 PM (view original):

Posted by guyo26 on 10/21/2013 12:53:00 PM (view original):

Amazing analysis here (as always) coach, but at the risk of sidetracking the discussion, do you think you still need solid rebounding at the 4 in a FB/FCP set?  I picked up a new D3 team in a different world with the express goal of learning FB/FCP.  Took my lumps this year, which was expected, but I was shooting to try for a smaller lineup.  One traditional C and playing a "good" rebounding SF at the 4 with 3 more traditional PG types.  I've read the board rumors about some successful coaches going very small in that set provided they can really push the attributes needed.

So rambling aside, do you think a very good SPD/DEF/STA/IQ team with 3 (maybe even 4) guards, maybe 1 good rebounding SF and a great rebounding C is giving up too much?  Not talking D1 here, my case is specifically D3, maybe D2.

d2 and d3 are totally different animals than d1. in d2/d3, especially in a fcp set, you can make up for lower rebounding with superior ath/spd/def. fb thrives off the ath/spd too so you can get enough bang to offset the lower rebounding. you still would want at least 40 or 50 at that position - which is TOTALLY different than having 40 or 50 in d1. i personally was happy with a 50 reb guy on a fb/fcp d2 team i briefly coached - but he had significantly better ath/spd/def than most bigs on wildcat's d1 team. so its all about tradeoffs. the reality is, in d1, so many guys have strong ath/def that you can't possibly get that much more than what is available, in those areas, by sacrificing rebounding. and speed doesn't really matter much in the 4, it does some for fcp teams and more for fb teams than other offense teams, so thats why i include it for my team but not really in wildcat's situation. 

so in this case, context is everything. you can absolutely do what you describe in d2/d3. in d1, you can still do it to some extent, but i would say in d2 id be reluctant to play a sf at the 4 who didnt have at least 40 and still thats a stretch, hopefully at least 50 rebounding. that leaves a much smaller rebounding gap (the rating itself) than doing so in d1, and you can build a bigger ath gap, the other significant component of rebounding, in d2/d3, than you can in d1 where baseline ath expectation at the 4 is already pretty high. so in d1, its more like you can tolerate a 60 to 80 rebounder, depending on where you are on the food chain, to get extra in other areas. beyond that, theres really just not enough to pick up over the other players available, to justify such poor rebounding.

Great Information throughout this thread. I love how difficult and complicated this game can be. Even though I've failed miserably so far, it is addictive in that I'm determined to succeed. Good posts from successful veterans like you give me hope and motivation to keep fixing things. Thank you