In Wooden D3, there are a few teams in the Great NE that have me wondering if the new engine is making press teams much tougher (and perhaps, not correctly?) than they were before.

In both cases, these teams are SIM coached this year.  W. New England is now 16-5 despite not winning more than 17 games the last two seasons with an involved human coach.  And they are beating human teams that should be better* regularly.

Even more concerning is St. Joes (ME) who are riding the press to a 17-5 record so far despite being SIM coached the last 4 seasons, and sporting records over those 4 seasons of 0-27, 7-21, 10-18, and 7-20 (RPIs of 381, 352, 324, and 355 during that time).  Now they're a 17-5 powerhouse with a 79 RPI? 

Just curious if anyone else is tracking better-than-expected results from FCP teams since the engine cutover...

Press STRONGER?????!!!???? Huh?

nope... to me it seems pretty clear the "glory days" of the press are over. but who knows, maybe the press was made more viable at the low end, where it was traditionally disadvantaged? 

My Wooden team is mediocre at best and is doing way better than I imgained still only 13-9 with a 120ish rpi, but I was expecting to win about 12 games all year. It is our first full season running the press. So maybe it has helped bad teams but made good teams that use it worse? Seems odd to work that way though, I'm not sure what would make that happen

The press never died.  The best teams will still be press teams at the lower levels, but those teams will have to have high IQs and high stamina, both of which come with upper classmen .  Three of four teams in the tark d3 final four are press teams and it's not hard to see why they are there:  Vassar-9 juniors+seniors, Moravian=12 juniors+seniors, Chowan-7 juniors+seniors.  

This is ok in d2 and d3 in my view but d1 its impossible with ee's to keep jr and srs consistenly so there needs to be a happy medium

Press is definitely weaker, teams foul too much and don't rebound as well as they used too.

My wooden team is pressing and doing slightly better then I expected. I also have a team of 5 FR starting with only 1 big and we will end the season with double digit wins even though we are pressing. I converted my Caldwell team to half court press cus I felt it was 2 weak, but I am considering going back to press now. So far we are 2-0 and holding teams under 35% shooting again. They were not great teams, but for now I feel the press is at least an option again. We'll see how it holds up vrs the best of the best during my non conf schd.

My Colgate team (Naismith) runs the FCP and is having an awesome year. 24-2, leading the nation in scoring and TO margin, 2nd in assists and steals and top 10 in rebounding. Not bad for a D+ prestige team! Then again, I have 6 Jr's and 3 Sr's...

wheres vd to spread his venom about the press and how he cant still win even though the press is gone

jnardone,  

I can give you a couple counter-examples from Wooden D3 from my own conference.  Maranatha Baptist Bible and Finlandia both run press, are perennial powers (just take a look at their histories, these are Final Four contenders every year), and I think the two coaches would say they are underachieving.

It is too early to tell what is going on with the press in particular and the engine in general.  Need a few seasons of observation before we can even begin to speculate. 

Div. 1--#1 in Knight (8 games in) is 8-0 press team with one senior.     

The press is not dead.  Nor is it magic.  It is just a defense now.  In the old engine it could level the playing field a bit, but now it seems it works just like man or zone, so if you have a solid team you still will, and if your team is average, you will continue to be average.  What you do see is a more lifelike press, in that there is a much greater risk in running it.  You foul more and get less rebounds, and that is what havs leveled the playing field.