TL;DR - Does anyone know of a link to a thread and/or want to create this one to accumulate a list of perspectives on how best to gameplan? (I'm at D1 and not sure if the pinned thread applies to me)

Hi all! I'm a long-time player and while I feel like I'm relatively adept at the game, I know there is room to grow. I did relatively well at D2 (with some guidance) and just entered D1 and am in for an enjoyable rebuilding. I'll likely be favored only in maybe five games this season and I am confident there would be a way to surpass five wins outside of luck. I've gotten some advice elsewhere but gameplanning is still a bit murky for me; does anyone know of a great thread and/or want to make this one a thread where we can all share our perspectives on how to effectively attack your opponent's weaknesses and shore up your own? I haven't found a thread that does this yet.

Mine at the moment: I'll change my lineup to move my best defender to match their best offensive player and generally continue to make decisions based on defensive match-ups (I play a slow-down, motion offense). Perhaps I should do best offense against their worst defense, etc.? I then apply 15 dist to players whose offensive greatly outdoes the defense of the player opposite them, 10 if it's a solid advantage, 7 if it's even, 5 if a slight disadvantage, and 2 if they are greatly outnumbered. Finally, I check the position depth (only guards - PG, SG, SF and forwards - PF, C) to see if either group is thin/young and up distro for my players at that position by +2. In terms of team planning, I simply look briefly for how many threes the team shoots and change my positioning from -1 to +1 based on that. The rest of the team plan stays static.

Anything I'm missing or off-base about? Any other input/approaches?

There's a lot to discuss there. But the only thing I'll mention here, you likely want to use a lot more than just +1 to -1 scale. As time as gone on, I notice that I don't use heavy plus defense. But for example, in the past year, I know i've played as high as +3 and all the way down to -5 if need be. If many games have been played in the season, and your opponent has 0 3pt shots all season, -1 won't cut it.

I've heard otherwise from several experienced players; they claim anything below -2 risks foul trouble.

I have definitely gone -5 more than a handful of times, including 2 national championships. I would also be more inclined to do it with a rebuild and a nothing to lose mentality.

Posted by kaw_86 on 10/10/2018 11:46:00 PM (view original):
I've heard otherwise from several experienced players; they claim anything below -2 risks foul trouble.

As always, a lot of factors play into this. But I guess I'll say..... if you're team and your opponents team are in the same ballpark. Sure if you're a 550 OVR playing a 700 OVR team, it could be an ugly outcome regardless. But if you're opponent shoots no 3s, literally none, you're just exposing the paint more than necessary with a -1.

I'm very successful with all my teams in that +3 to -5 range. I'll say -4 to be safe. I don't play -5 very often.

Look at it this way.... if you play -1, watch your halftime adjustments in the second half (if you use that). I'm sure you've seen an adjustment to -3 at halftime many many times.

*edit..... I just looked at your team. And maybe you don't use the halftime adjustment setting much. Some people do and some don't. But look at some experienced coaches that use it. And you'll see that -3, 4, and 5 does happen. And it has a positive impact when it's needed.

I agree with topdogg. The +3 to -5 is where I stay. Yes, at -5 you could suffer a few more fouls. In a rebuild that could spell doom, however the fact remains fouls are part of the game, and to be scared of fouls means you are not trying to win, but trying to avoid losing. After you rebuild you will hopefully have a rotation that gives you some depth, and those fouls will not be as hard on the success of your effort.
And I go +4 and +5 against certain Coaches in late game, because they tend to go heavy on shooting three's when down. That causes fouls for sure, but can help as well. The game within the game, that is "gameplanning" is half the fun.

Yeah, all of that makes sense. I once lost a game because my halftime adjustment took me to -4 and I got into severe foul trouble and got smoked in the second half. Ever since then, I set it to only adjusting when/if I'm down 10+ at halftime. Duly noted, though! Thanks for the input. Any other thoughts on gameplanning in general?

As someone with 60+ seasons using press defense, I can say that I never go under +2 unless my overall athleticism and defense ratings are 70+. Even with a 67 overall athleticism and 67 overall defense, I still averaged over 20 fouls per game. Also the +2 helps to create more pressure on opposing guards which really helps if the opposing PG's don't have stellar ball handling.

Posted by mlitney on 10/11/2018 8:01:00 PM (view original):
As someone with 60+ seasons using press defense, I can say that I never go under +2 unless my overall athleticism and defense ratings are 70+. Even with a 67 overall athleticism and 67 overall defense, I still averaged over 20 fouls per game. Also the +2 helps to create more pressure on opposing guards which really helps if the opposing PG's don't have stellar ball handling.

First part.... are you saying that you only run +5 to +2 and never anything below that?!

Second part.... I have asked some fellow coaches about defending guards with plus defense. So I'll bring my thought here since you mentioned it. If you are playing against a team that shoots no 3s at all, but all points come from guards, what's the best way to defend that? Does the +2 put more pressure as you suggest? Or does it open things up in the lane more? Would it be better to play -2 since they aren't shooting beyond the arc at all, and it helps limit spacing in the area they will take most of the shots?

lots of input would be wonderful

Posted by topdogggbm on 10/11/2018 8:55:00 PM (view original):

Posted by mlitney on 10/11/2018 8:01:00 PM (view original):
As someone with 60+ seasons using press defense, I can say that I never go under +2 unless my overall athleticism and defense ratings are 70+. Even with a 67 overall athleticism and 67 overall defense, I still averaged over 20 fouls per game. Also the +2 helps to create more pressure on opposing guards which really helps if the opposing PG's don't have stellar ball handling.

First part.... are you saying that you only run +5 to +2 and never anything below that?!

Second part.... I have asked some fellow coaches about defending guards with plus defense. So I'll bring my thought here since you mentioned it. If you are playing against a team that shoots no 3s at all, but all points come from guards, what's the best way to defend that? Does the +2 put more pressure as you suggest? Or does it open things up in the lane more? Would it be better to play -2 since they aren't shooting beyond the arc at all, and it helps limit spacing in the area they will take most of the shots?

lots of input would be wonderful

That's correct. 90% of my games are +2 or +3. Of course, this is against upper level D1 teams who usually have an overall 70+ athleticism and defense rating. If I go +1 or lower, I can expect 22-25 fouls, and depth is a major component so having 1 or 2 guys foul out really hurts.

Regarding the opposing guards, running +2 helps with creating turnovers but I'm not sure about stopping shots inside the arc. I would think speed and defense help with opposing shooting percentage while athleticism helps with not fouling.

kaw_86 doesn't sound like you're putting a ton of thought in gameplanning against humans vs sims. Against sims it's pretty easy to talk about how to change your depth chart and settings. Against humans, you can't simply matchup your strengths to their weaknesses unless they start the same lineup every game. They will be trying to do the same to you and the fun part about gameplanning is trying to predict the changes they will make and then counter those adjustments.

For the +/- discussion, sure topdogg is right when the opposing team plays normal or slowdown. If you think the opposing team is going uptempo or is running a FB offense, I would be a little more hesitant to run a -5 defense.

Distro is also something you mentioned that can always be tinkered with. And as blazer said, it looks like your plan is focused on sim opponents only. Each offense is executed better with different distros. For example, comparing triangle and motion. With triangle, you can rely heavily on your star scorers more. Maybe a 10-7-4-1-1 with your best bench scorer in the 5-8 range. But with motion, you want a more balanced distro. Maybe 8-7-5-3-2. Just random examples.

Coaches use all kinds of different scales. Find what works best for you. Some max out their distro to 100. Some use a 0-5 scale. Some use a 0-10 scale. Some use 0-20.

One mistake I used to make early on, is focusing on the matchups more than my own talent. If you have a 100 PER shooter with good ATH & SPD, don't drop his distro significantly for a particular game strictly because he's up against a great defender. He's still 100 PER shooter and he's gonna get his. Sure he may not score 30 points. But stars are stars. It's not wise to take the ball away from LeBron James completely, just because he's matched up against Kawhi Leonard. He's still your best player.

Also, playing the individual matchup game only works the way you expect it to against M2M defense. Against zone and press teams, players aren't necessarily lined up against the guy at the same position on every possession.