In my opinion, the press is still very effective, I had great success with it my last season at UTEP (under the new engine) and still see some veteran teams doing well with it.  BUT you have to have high SPD/ATH/STA  and IQ. I had 11 upperclassmen and blew out teams that lacked the STA and IQ. It's MUCH harder to win with the press now with a non-veteran team. 

As a sidenote: Is it worth practicing the press as a team even when that is not your team's primary defense (given that I have them press when they are behind late in the game)? If so, how much time should be alotted to practice the press?

Posted by oldave on 7/22/2010 7:33:00 AM (view original):
cornell  did not play thier game.  I saw every game last year and that was one of the porrest games they played.    maybe you could say that Kentucky's ath and pressure was on thier mind and so that what looked like "unforced" errors and bad shots was not completely "self-inflicted"... maybe. 

In fairness,  Kentucky did not play as well as they were capable of either.

I would just  like to have seen Cornell play at thier normal level.  OR made a statement about his AAU team and that they (like most well-coached teams) love to be pressed because if you spread the floor and pass well, you can eat it up.  I think Cornell's A+ Iq's may have been fun to watch.  but i think nerves got to us.


Dont get me wrong,  I was still thrilled with the season we had (obviously) and Im not down on coach donahue or any of the players.  just a little dissapointed because it could have been a really beautiful basketball game with contrasting styles, but it  turned out to be kind of a stinker.  But those first few minutes where Cornell came out hot were probably the most fun i ever had at a basketball game.

did anyone notice the irony of a powerhouse kentucky team (with nearly all african-american players) going up against a cinderella team (with nearly all white players)? 

I find it ironic that you referred to the all black team as African-American and the all Caucasian team as white.

Posted by spinaldog on 7/22/2010 3:38:00 PM (view original):
As a sidenote: Is it worth practicing the press as a team even when that is not your team's primary defense (given that I have them press when they are behind late in the game)? If so, how much time should be alotted to practice the press?

I would not spend practice time on the press just to use it in late game/behind situations.

If you want to implement and use it (at least part of the time) as a base or halfcourt defense, then I think you can certainly justify using practice minutes. But you need a minimum of 15 mins of practice to make it viable, and it's not worth it to devote that kind of time if you're just going to use it in the last few minutes of games that you're losing.

And I definitely would not play it in those situations if you haven't been practicing it.