How high does the combination between press and primary defense have to be for it to be effective?  Is it possible to be effective running a combo?  Does it take a B in press to make an effective press combo? Is it worth trying?

Being successful in the press takes a high IQ. My best teams are teams that are A- and above in the press. I've never tried the combo defense because it takes too much time away from developing the essential skills necessary to run the press effectively (ATH/STA/SPD/DEF), unless you have guys on your team that are already high in these categories. It might work effectively, though I've never tried this strategy, if you have an upperclass laden team that is already maxed out in their individual attributes. Personally, if I decide to run the press...I just run the press all the time. Just my .02 though.

Has anyone used the combo effectively?

I've been running the zone-press with some moderate success.  It's only as good as the players in it.  Was weak defensively at G this past season and it showed, going from a Sweet Sixteen team to PI 2nd round.  I practice the same time in both zone and press and try to get the guys to at least a B in each before they get serious minutes in an ideal world.

At D3 I used the zone-press combo...made the NT five straight seasons, never went further than the second round (easily could have made the Sweet 16 a couple of times but lost some late-game coin flips in some tossup contests). The power of the combo has been softened with the new engine...the steals/turnovers generated were noticeably scaled back. I still think it performs at a level above just running the straight zone for generating turnovers, but the distinction isn't nearly as clear as it once was IMO.

For me, the main attraction/benefit of running zone/press (and much of this would apply to man/press as well) lies in its flexibility in late game/close game situations. If you're winning late, you can set your defense to drop the press half of the equation and go straight zone to reduce your chance of fouling and giving the opponent an opportunity to catch up at the line while the clock is stopped. If you've been playing 2-3 zone/press, you can even go straight 3-2 here and really guard the 3-pt. line. On the other hand, if you're losing late, you can drop the zone (or man), run straight press and rachet up the pressure a notch from the level that it has been at. If you're playing a fullcourt press team this will usually see you with a fatigue level advantage at the point you slap your press on. 

Regarding IQ in a combo, I didn't see any problems bringing in kids with a B-/C+ in the press half. I wouldn't START those kids (unless their offense ability was just off the charts) , but I didn't panic about bringing them off the bench for spot roles.

anyone willing to share what their formation practice minute allocation would be?

I just don't think combo defense is utilizing practice plans at an optimal level, especially for D3. D3 you take high potential players so they can grow into the 600/700 range. Spending an additional 20-25min to study a 2nd defense just seems like a waste of time.

Posted by headpirate on 3/22/2011 1:00:00 PM (view original):
anyone willing to share what their formation practice minute allocation would be?

My combo breakdown was 60 min. team,/70 min. individual (20 O and 20 on each D for the team part). By contrast, I go 50/80 if I'm running a single defense, so my trade off is 5 min. of team practice on O, 5 min of team D practice and 10 min. of individual time to make it happen.