How do you attack it? I figure their good defenders are good defenders no matter what defense they run, and tend to stay away from them. I figure their poor defenders are poor defenders no matter what defense they run, and tend to attack them. That is pretty much the same as attacking Man to Man defenses. It works pretty well against Man to Man opponents, but there must be something else about FCP that I haven't seen. What am I missing? Thanks in advance for your help.

If they don't have much depth you might want to speed them up to get them in fatigue and foul issues. Guards foul a lot in FCP - especially PG. If you have athletic guards with decent LP you could attack inside and hope to get fouled.

Press means they are always doubling, so you can’t say for sure is defending a given shot. My game plan against the press usually involves giving a little more weight to balhandling and passing than I do in other setups, both for the lineup, and distribution. If there is a weakness (deficient defensive player in the lineup), I try to attack the area, more like I would do with zone. For example, maybe 4 of the starters have 80 defense cores, but the PF only has 60. I won’t just load up the distribution for my PF position, as I might do against man, but I might nudge up all three front court positions.

Posted by shoe3 on 4/13/2018 2:52:00 PM (view original):
Press means they are always doubling, so you can’t say for sure is defending a given shot. My game plan against the press usually involves giving a little more weight to balhandling and passing than I do in other setups, both for the lineup, and distribution. If there is a weakness (deficient defensive player in the lineup), I try to attack the area, more like I would do with zone. For example, maybe 4 of the starters have 80 defense cores, but the PF only has 60. I won’t just load up the distribution for my PF position, as I might do against man, but I might nudge up all three front court positions.

I thought press defenses couldn't double? It's what I've been told and it's what the site says on the Player Game Plan page. Because of this, I try to load up on the two or three good matchups I have. Other than that, I agree with everything you've said.

Press defense always doubles so you are unable to set specific doubles

Posted by cubcub113 on 4/13/2018 4:06:00 PM (view original):
Press defense always doubles so you are unable to set specific doubles

Thanks, Cub.

Thanks for the great suggestions. A couple of follow-up questions ... how do I instruct my guards to attack inside? Shoe, would you go so far in giving weight to BH and PAS that you would consider playing one of your players out of position?

Would you risk playing one of your starters at Getting Tired instead of Fairly Fresh if he has a good match-up?

Posted by DeBeque on 4/13/2018 4:34:00 PM (view original):
Thanks for the great suggestions. A couple of follow-up questions ... how do I instruct my guards to attack inside? Shoe, would you go so far in giving weight to BH and PAS that you would consider playing one of your players out of position?

Would you risk playing one of your starters at Getting Tired instead of Fairly Fresh if he has a good match-up?

Out of position? Maybe not exactly, but I might be more likely to replace a rebounding SF with a guard type guy at the 3. Or replace a catch and shoot 2 with another guy with point skills, if I have one just sitting around. It depends on the press, though. A press with poor defense, I don’t worry about, I just play to get them in foul trouble. A tough press may get more game planning from me, especially in the postseason.

And I absolutely don’t hesitate to set guys to getting tired, or even tired, if they are much better than their backup. That goes for all defenses, really.

Setting your guards at -2 won't guarantee they'll attack the basket, but it will make sure they always shoot from inside the 3pt line, which generally draws more fouls.

There’s a lot of techniques to breaking FCP defense. I like slowdown tempo to prevent TO’s.

I don't know, I am like the OP. I have tried slowing it down to lower turnovers -- no luck. I have tried favoring my best ball handlers -- no luck. I have tried going +2 -- no luck. I have tried going -2 -- no luck. I wonder if speeding it up would mean less passes per possession and be better. If not, I think I'm giving it up. I don't too too badly against other defenses, at least I feel I have a chance. If there is something so illogical about fcp defense (to my head anyway) then I'll find something else to do. Too bad, too, because I like the recruiting.

Maybe I'll try out GD. That looks interesting.

Posted by StillWaters on 4/24/2018 2:35:00 AM (view original):
I don't know, I am like the OP. I have tried slowing it down to lower turnovers -- no luck. I have tried favoring my best ball handlers -- no luck. I have tried going +2 -- no luck. I have tried going -2 -- no luck. I wonder if speeding it up would mean less passes per possession and be better. If not, I think I'm giving it up. I don't too too badly against other defenses, at least I feel I have a chance. If there is something so illogical about fcp defense (to my head anyway) then I'll find something else to do. Too bad, too, because I like the recruiting.

Maybe I'll try out GD. That looks interesting.

In my experience, speeding it up doesn’t equate to fewer passes per possession, it just means more possessions. So it could work, if you have the better team. But if your ballhandling and passing is not strong enough to break the press you’re up against, it is more likely to backfire.

Keep in mind, the higher up you go, the less “powerful” a FCP is. It feels more powerful at lower levels, because those D3 teams can get away with just loading up on high ath/def, no-skill players, which they can usually find for cheap. No skill players don’t do as well against higher level defenses. The best way to beat a press is esssentially to have better players on your team. You’ll get a feel for it, as you get more experience. I’d be happy to chat with you about specific matchups via sitemail, I’m sure others would, too.

Posted by StillWaters on 4/24/2018 2:35:00 AM (view original):
I don't know, I am like the OP. I have tried slowing it down to lower turnovers -- no luck. I have tried favoring my best ball handlers -- no luck. I have tried going +2 -- no luck. I have tried going -2 -- no luck. I wonder if speeding it up would mean less passes per possession and be better. If not, I think I'm giving it up. I don't too too badly against other defenses, at least I feel I have a chance. If there is something so illogical about fcp defense (to my head anyway) then I'll find something else to do. Too bad, too, because I like the recruiting.

Maybe I'll try out GD. That looks interesting.

I recommend sticking it out, it looks like you're doing really well. Not telling you to not try GD, but the recruiting is unintuitive imo and the stats are so ridiculous it ruined it for me. I would say try it out though, some people like it.

Posted by shoe3 on 4/24/2018 9:25:00 AM (view original):

Posted by StillWaters on 4/24/2018 2:35:00 AM (view original):
I don't know, I am like the OP. I have tried slowing it down to lower turnovers -- no luck. I have tried favoring my best ball handlers -- no luck. I have tried going +2 -- no luck. I have tried going -2 -- no luck. I wonder if speeding it up would mean less passes per possession and be better. If not, I think I'm giving it up. I don't too too badly against other defenses, at least I feel I have a chance. If there is something so illogical about fcp defense (to my head anyway) then I'll find something else to do. Too bad, too, because I like the recruiting.

Maybe I'll try out GD. That looks interesting.

In my experience, speeding it up doesn’t equate to fewer passes per possession, it just means more possessions. So it could work, if you have the better team. But if your ballhandling and passing is not strong enough to break the press you’re up against, it is more likely to backfire.

Keep in mind, the higher up you go, the less “powerful” a FCP is. It feels more powerful at lower levels, because those D3 teams can get away with just loading up on high ath/def, no-skill players, which they can usually find for cheap. No skill players don’t do as well against higher level defenses. The best way to beat a press is esssentially to have better players on your team. You’ll get a feel for it, as you get more experience. I’d be happy to chat with you about specific matchups via sitemail, I’m sure others would, too.

"The best way to beat a press is essentially to have better players on your team"

I'm not sure how this helps anyone at the moment that is asking the question, but this is the perfect answer. It's the only thing I've found that works.

When I first returned to 3.0 and started with my Slippery Rock team, I was getting crushed by press teams every night. And turning the ball over constantly. When I would schedule, I would avoid scheduling press teams because I knew I'd lose consistently. Now that team is a contender (E8 and S16 seasons back to back) and I'm beating every press team I play with Slippery Rock. And the games against the elite press teams could go either way.

Having said that, I've branched out and started a few more rebuilds in other worlds. And once again, most of my losses are against the press. I imagine once I'm able to get my roster talent up to higher standards, and out of rebuild mode, I'll be able to start beating the press again on a regular basis.