So new coach here taking over a D3 team in Iba (previously a sim team). Currently have my team in man to man mainly because thats what was in place when I took over. I was considering moving to a halfcourt press (doubt my team is good enough for full court press) but wanted to know people's opinions on halfcourt press w/ man vs m2m vs fullcourt press. Is it a bad idea to do half/m2m as then you have to teach m2m and press? Thanks

I play man but more experienced coaches will sure to come in with some advice. But you do have some options. I looked at your team and you have 5 seniors and 2 Jr. All your Sr. are already with an IQ of at least A- and your two Jr's have B+ in man.
What that means is you can run man defense but practice FCP if that's your goal. So you'll be playing the defense the upperclassmen know but your freshmen should know the FCP by the time they develop enough to be starters.

what is your long term plan, to go to press, or to stay man or press/man? for a new coach, i would definitely not recommend using half court press with anything. its not really that valuable, having that half court press, but you lose pretty many valuable minutes. im not sure hcp really makes sense, ever? it might, but i definitely would not start there. good luck!

Thanks for the info. I may just stick w/ m2m since its already in place. I am so new I really wasn't sure where to start. I see a lot of talk about using the FCP but at the same time I am assuming M2M will have its benefits as well. If FCP truly is better then maybe I should change it up though.

I'm not sure that in today's game FCP is truly "better", it's just different from M2M.  I certainly think FCP is more predominant in lower levels, and M2M may be more predominant at D1, but you can win with either.  Each takes some different team building facets though.

The only advantage I've seen to practicing press plus another defense is NOT for HCP, but rather using the press as a secondary option for late game adjustments.  I tried that as an experiment with a team in D1: primary was zone but I put enough minutes in press that it was a viable option to use as a late game strategy when down.  The only problem is, using those minutes to practice skills, and getting better recruits might mean I wasn't down late in game anyway.

I'm not sure anyone runs HCP regularly anymore at any level

pick one defense, coach em up, get good at.

With press, there are far fewer adjustments you can make. In man, you can double team.

Another advantage to man is you only need to use 8 - 10 guys, meaning you can redshirt a player each year and take a walk-on or two if you get into a battle during recruiting for a true star.  With press you can get away with 10 most games, depending on your players' stamina, if you play slowdown (unless playing against a FB/press team) but really can't go below that.  As said above I would definitely pick one and stick with it.  You lose too many minutes minutes for individual improvement playing practicing two defenses. 

I started running a Zone/Press a few seasons ago and I've liked the results so far, we're definitely forcing more turnovers than my previous teams. I started running it because of how many recruits have some knowledge of it, and I felt like my players were maxing out in IQ and ratings so I figured I might as well try to spend the minutes a little more aggressively. In a post about IQ awhile back a coach said he uses 18 practice minutes for offense and defense, and his players were still able to get into the A range for IQ, so I've been going with that (down from 20-22 each) and throwing the extra minutes into press. I also have been more aggressive with individual study hall so we're usually practicing press at least 10 minutes, and as the season goes on of course were able to add an extra minute here and there. By the time they start their senior year every player has at least B- in the press, which I feel has been enough to keep them from fouling excessively or giving up easy baskets.

I found this thread interesting, and as a novice I was wondering if anyone has an opinion on Defenses in todays game? Is FCP worth switching to if you had time and effort? Has anyone had success with Zone/press or HCP? I run man in all my worlds and never tried going away from it.

Thanks in advance

I know most coaches will say at D3 level you want to maximize the potential core areas of your players, and you struggle to do that if you're practicing 2 different defenses.

And most of the coaches that do run a combo defense will actually run a HCP/Zone combo rather than a HCP/Man

I never advocate man/press combo, but I do love a zone/press combo. It probably brings most value at D1, but it can be great in lower levels too, in the right hands. Probably not for beginners though - press is likely the best bet to learn the game with at D3.

I am always up for sitemail chats if anyone has questions on the combo, though.

Man/Press is the worst combo defense. They are too similar to glean any significant advantage. By contrast, there are advantages to zone/press.

Posted by TRrrr on 12/16/2022 12:20:00 PM (view original):
Man/Press is the worst combo defense. They are too similar to glean any significant advantage. By contrast, there are advantages to zone/press.

not sure i agree with this. i started zone / press but really more the full zone or full press sense of it, when i took my dive into the combos / multi sets. i ended up switching to man / press because i just don't like zone in really high d1. i was perhaps being too picky but still. i never got the man / press off the ground as i decided to use that program to coach to win which meant straight press (2.0 recruiting not 3.0 recruiting).

man / press combo and man OR press both seem fine to me conceptually.

Posted by gillispie1 on 1/16/2016 1:19:00 AM (view original):
what is your long term plan, to go to press, or to stay man or press/man? for a new coach, i would definitely not recommend using half court press with anything. its not really that valuable, having that half court press, but you lose pretty many valuable minutes. im not sure hcp really makes sense, ever? it might, but i definitely would not start there. good luck!

I agree .. I might use it if I am switching from press to man while the team is in transition, that's about it. Practicing 3 sets instead of 2 takes too many minutes.