The world has caught up with pressure basketball

[BigChief14]

Worked great 25 years ago, because no one was use to playing against this style.

Now EVERY AAU team plays against pressure every game.

I am sick of watching this Sloppy offense and Poor defense. Go ahead and puke away another season! 

Thought we were trying to join the elite level teams; not like this.

[songofthesword]

I've played basketball my entire life and you are correct.  We pressed, half the teams we played pressed, it's not even a big deal. You look forward to it because you get more fast breaks and easier scores.. as long as you can dribble lol.


But you know what gave me pure absolute hell?  the half court trap.  A good half court trap against a team with athletic small forwards / long rangy guards is utter hell.  Beucase the court is restricted you can't run press breakers , you can't dribble backwards once you past half court. The worst game i ever had in my life was playing against pulaski acadmy's half court trap when they had jamal anderson / brison harris


I don't understand why a coach, any coach doesn't go tot his as their bread and butter. can you imagine jacory trapping pushing you to the side of the court and being trapped with qualls and trying to pass out of that? good luck lol.


all you have to do really to break a press is have a guard make a hard break and beat his man across the court and hit him in stride

[kuhog]

I agree Chief.

[Kevin]

You can still press, just have to do it with intelligence & a gameplan

[jjdlc]

You can still press, just have to do it with intelligence & a gameplan

This, it can and does still work, there are teams in the tourney every year that use it to great effect. 

[3of5-2]

If you HAVE to press, it probably means you lack in executing in half court defense and offense.

[songofthesword]

VCU's press is terrifying. the press still works.

[ra2ford]

PLUS - game has changed.  Extra time out per half plus TV time outs.   5 superior players can go the entire time because the game is now much more like football in terms of conditioning requirements.

[BassinHawg]

If you HAVE to press, it probably means you lack in executing in half court defense and offense.

Man, there are those words again! Half Court offense and Half Court Defense.

I been saying this and get blasted! You cannot rely on your press to win games anymore, it should be there to compliment your Half Court Defense only!

[Hogimus Prime]

I've played basketball my entire life and you are correct.  We pressed, half the teams we played pressed, it's not even a big deal. You look forward to it because you get more fast breaks and easier scores.. as long as you can dribble lol.


But you know what gave me pure absolute hell?  the half court trap.  A good half court trap against a team with athletic small forwards / long rangy guards is utter hell.  Beucase the court is restricted you can't run press breakers , you can't dribble backwards once you past half court. The worst game i ever had in my life was playing against pulaski acadmy's half court trap when they had jamal anderson / brison harris


I don't understand why a coach, any coach doesn't go tot his as their bread and butter. can you imagine jacory trapping pushing you to the side of the court and being trapped with qualls and trying to pass out of that? good luck lol.


all you have to do really to break a press is have a guard make a hard break and beat his man across the court and hit him in stride

That is a scary thought.  Besides Williams and Qualls there is Madden, Babb, Harris Miles and Watkins to put on the wings.  Harris and Miles can play the baseline too.   A 1-3-1 trap would be killer.

[Amityvillehogger]

Seems like we stop defending at half court. Been open season on uncontested 3's and layups.

[Letsroll1200]

Is intensity, IQ, teamwork and players. Guys Madden and bell are poor ball handlers and not very quick. You can press with the right players.       

[Danny J]

Need to stop switching picks out high involving Portis. Clemson and ISU designed their half court sets around dragging our Bigs out high and forcing a switch. That then leads to chaos. If Clemson was a better shooting team and had better bigs they would have dominated like ISU did. For some reason when we go on the road the rotation is slow and lazy. We don't fight hard through screens.

[Kevin]

Need to stop switching picks out high involving Portis. Clemson and ISU designed their half court sets around dragging our Bigs out high and forcing a switch. That then leads to chaos. If Clemson was a better shooting team and had better bigs they would have dominated like ISU did. For some reason when we go on the road the rotation is slow and lazy. We don't fight hard through screens.

Switching screens us the lazy way. It is getting us into terrible mismatches   

[The_Iceman]

VCU's press is terrifying. the press still works.

But even Anthony Grant couldn't transition it to the SEC.

[Atlhogfan1]

We must have Hawg Ball!  It is the only way we can succeed and while succeeding we need it for the entertainment.  Succeeding isn't enough.  We need to be reminded of the early 90s while watching.  Give us this and we return to prominence and BWA will be filled. 

[Danny J]

Switching screens us the lazy way. It is getting us into terrible mismatches

Yeah...going to have to stop switching picks and start fighting through them especially when playing a team of limited capabilities like Clemson.

[BigChief14]

We must have Hawg Ball!  It is the only way we can succeed and while succeeding we need it for the entertainment.  Succeeding isn't enough.  We need to be reminded of the early 90s while watching.  Give us this and we return to prominence and BWA will be filled. 

Well you ain't getting it so far!

[HF#1]

Starting to think there is something to this.  More often than not, teams can slow us down.  Sometimes we slow ourselves down. 

[Kevin]

But even Anthony Grant couldn't transition it to the SEC.

Anthony did not press when he took over at Bama

[hogsanity]

But it is Mike's only trick.

[ballz2thewall]

Switching screens us the lazy way. It is getting us into terrible mismatches

portis was dragged to the top several times tonight.  got blown out on the dribble.  hall schooled him when it counted.

[Champs04]

Mike isn't that good of a coach! Everybody wants Nolan ball back, it's not going to happen! Just get over it.

[Danny J]

portis was dragged to the top several times tonight.  got blown out on the dribble.  hall schooled him when it counted.

Yep....and I have been saying this for two straight years about the switching of screens. It is very obvious to people with any understanding of basketball 101. Even Heath was mentioning it during the game especially late. I could understand doing that against teams with great shooters and super fast ball handlers capable of breaking you down off the dribble. I can't count the number of times that Bell, Qualls and Harris were forced to guard their big down low while Portis and Kingsley were trying to stay with Hall 30 feet from the hoop.

[Hoggish1]

Can't we play with poise and tenacity?  Why do we play out of control and make poor choices? We are very undisciplined and sometimes we seem clueless.  Do our guys ever watch real basketball and wonder about it?

We are very athletic, however.

[Atlhogfan1]

Yep....and I have been saying this for two straight years about the switching of screens. It is very obvious to people with any understanding of basketball 101. Even Heath was mentioning it during the game especially late. I could understand doing that against teams with great shooters and super fast ball handlers capable of breaking you down off the dribble. I can't count the number of times that Bell, Qualls and Harris were forced to guard their big down low while Portis and Kingsley were trying to stay with Hall 30 feet from the hoop.

Portis is on pace for less than 40 blocks this season. 

[Danny J]

Portis is on pace for less than 40 blocks this season.

Yep...he is consistently pulled away from the basket by screens. The best way to resolve that is stop switching and start fighting through and around the picks. Even if you are beat it really is no different than being in a PG's grill 40 feet from the basket and him beating you off the dribble. If you are beat then the D has to rotate quickly and force the other team to make a pass or two and hope you can get back in position.

[Kevin]

I would like  us to just trap ball screens that would go in line with our philosophy

[Danny J]

I would like  us to just trap ball screens that would go in line with our philosophy

I would too but the rotation has to be extremely quick if they beat it.

[Kevin]

I would too but the rotation has to be extremely quick if they beat it.

Nothing hard work cannot accomplish

[Danny J]

Nothing hard work cannot accomplish

I wish he would let me at them for a day. I would spend a good 4 or 5 hours working them in the film room first. Then hit the court to simulate. I would work very hard on the 3rd man on the press being right about center court. It would be Qualls or Williams. They are our two best athletes who both have long arms and can jump out of the gym.

[Kevin]

I wish he would let me at them for a day. I would spend a good 4 or 5 hours working them in the film room first. Then hit the court to simulate. I would work very hard on the 3rd man on the press being right about center court. It would be Qualls or Williams. They are our two best athletes who both have long arms and can jump out of the gym.

Do they watch much film.  I know Nolan said that he did not watch film of opponents

[Danny J]

Do they watch much film.  I know Nolan said that he did not watch film of opponents

Yes....the assistants watch film with them but it is only limited. Most of the film they watch is on their own. I would love to spend a couple hours a day with 4 or 5 of them at a time. A lot of the mistakes are easily correctable. Again...my frustration comes from the fact that a lot of the mistakes are being made by upperclassmen who have been in this system for 3-4 years now.

[Kevin]

Yes....the assistants watch film with them but it is only limited. Most of the film they watch is on their own. I would love to spend a couple hours a day with 4 or 5 of them at a time. A lot of the mistakes are easily correctable. Again...my frustration comes from the fact that a lot of the mistakes are being made by upperclassmen who have been in this system for 3-4 years now.

Totally agree about the mistakes. Plus, no roles seem to be established by the coaches

[razorfrog]

Very true.  Hate pressing and trapping basketball

[latrops]

Need to stop switching picks out high involving Portis. Clemson and ISU designed their half court sets around dragging our Bigs out high and forcing a switch. That then leads to chaos. If Clemson was a better shooting team and had better bigs they would have dominated like ISU did. For some reason when we go on the road the rotation is slow and lazy. We don't fight hard through screens.

I commented in the first half of the game thread that it was a good thing that Clemson was missing open threes.  The, like us, went 6 for 21 from three...which included several uncontested misses.  Had they shot well from the perimeter, Madden's end of regulation meltdown wouldn't have mattered because the game would have been lost long before that.

[upperdeck_hawg]

Worked great 25 years ago, because no one was use to playing against this style.

Now EVERY AAU team plays against pressure every game.

I am sick of watching this Sloppy offense and Poor defense. Go ahead and puke away another season! 

Thought we were trying to join the elite level teams; not like this.

This is spot on. It's like the spread offense in football. Teams have gotten used to playing against it and it's effectiveness has worn off. Good solid sound offense and defense is what continues to work and we have neither of those qualities.

[LSPRazorbac]

To me the best combo is playing the half court trap and then mixing in a full court press here and there.

By mixing it in, it catches the opponent not expecting the press.

[rude1]

The pressure defense still works but as others pointed out you have to be able to play it, and for gods sake you have to change it up and not be predictable, let the press drop back some and become 3/4 court, sometimes you drop back and spring it half, the uncertainty of when it's coming is something Nolan was very good at it. CMA seems to have one press and it is way predictable on when the trap is coming and from where. We are basically turning nobody over with it any more.

[The_Iceman]

We need to do more Zone Pressing instead of the full court jump switch. I think with our length, the 2-2-1 or 1-2-1-1 full court press would work better.

[ballz2thewall]

about the press.

a lot of teams half-ass it. i've watched for several years now.  our team is no different.  they seem to have no defensive instinct at times, unaware of openings and passing alleys. they don't use the lines.   at most it might interrupt the path of the handler only a bit.

clemson could have been stifled by isolated and picked traps after a decent press.  we just don't seem to have the idea in the heads of the players. 

we're supposed to be about steals.  the press and trap are great catalysts for it with a little planning and effort.  forcing the handler to make an angled pass is prime fodder for steals.  this is part and parcel of a fast paced team with a motion offense. it compliments very well.

[Hogimus Prime]

We need to do more Zone Pressing instead of the full court jump switch. I think with our length, the 2-2-1 or 1-2-1-1 full court press would work better.

The 1-2-1-1 would work as long as Portis or Kingsley are at the back.  There is plenty of length and depth to put at the point and along the halfcourt line.  Even the 2-2-1 needs one of the bigs back.  Not sure the guards can move there feet and keep from fouling.

[The_Iceman]

Also, tonight on ESPN2 you can watch 3 of Texas a&m's future players. Two 6'10" Centers and a 6'7" shooter. All 4-star top players in Texas.

That will be tough to deal with on the road. The blew us out the last two years with a lot less than that.

[The_Iceman]

The 1-2-1-1 would work as long as Portis or Kingsley are at the back.  There is plenty of length and depth to put at the point and along the halfcourt line.  Even the 2-2-1 needs one of the bigs back.  Not sure the guards can move there feet and keep from fouling.

The zone press isn't really something you have to try and force turnovers out of. It can just be token pressure to force the opponent to work to bring the ball up without exposing a lack of speed at guard.

[Hogimus Prime]

The zone press isn't really something you have to try and force turnovers out of. It can just be token pressure to force the opponent to work to bring the ball up without exposing a lack of speed at guard.

True but it helps the have a shot blocker back there.

[Wild Bill Hog]

Is intensity, IQ, teamwork and players. Guys Madden and bell are poor ball handlers and not very quick. You can press with the right players.       

Common sense would seem to say that if you don't have the players you shouldn't try to press wouldn't you say?

[lefty08]

For those of you wanting the Stan heath style back, I say no thanks

[SWarkansasman]

This team makes bad decisions with the basketball on offense and they appear to have little effort if any in the half court defense.   I am shocked at what i am seeing , hope it gets corrected or this could get embarrassing in a hurry.

[hogsanity]

When Nolan and a very few others, were using the press and a faster tempo, teams were still mainly using the old 2g, 2f, and a c set ups. If you had a 3 that could handle the ball you were really blessed, and if your 4 could do it, well you had made a deal with the devil to get him. The Hogs pressure worked well when they could force the ball into the hands of a non ball handler in the backcourt and make him make a quick decision on what to do.

Now, unless you are a true post player, if you can't handle the ball, you don't play. Now when you press in the back court, and a 3 or 4 gets , he just dribbles up the floor, or throws over the trap, and you are dead.  Sure the press still forces some turnovers, especially against outmanned teams, but the fear facotr is pretty much gone. And, with so many guys able to knock down threes, and looking for those shots in transition, things can go really bad really fast.

[Hogfaniam]

I've played basketball my entire life and you are correct.  We pressed, half the teams we played pressed, it's not even a big deal. You look forward to it because you get more fast breaks and easier scores.. as long as you can dribble lol.


But you know what gave me pure absolute hell?  the half court trap.  A good half court trap against a team with athletic small forwards / long rangy guards is utter hell.  Beucase the court is restricted you can't run press breakers , you can't dribble backwards once you past half court. The worst game i ever had in my life was playing against pulaski acadmy's half court trap when they had jamal anderson / brison harris


I don't understand why a coach, any coach doesn't go tot his as their bread and butter. can you imagine jacory trapping pushing you to the side of the court and being trapped with qualls and trying to pass out of that? good luck lol.


all you have to do really to break a press is have a guard make a hard break and beat his man across the court and hit him in stride

This is what Clemson did to turn the ballgame back in their favor.