uneblinstu's Post Game Chatter: ed 7, vol 8 - Hawaii

[Dean Smith]

 

 

Remember how bad our press break was against Ohio State last year in the Big Ten tournament?  After that, you would think the press break would have been a major point of emphasis.  But somehow, it's gotten even worse this year.  I've seen junior high girls teams that can break a press better.

There is nothing fundamentally wrong with the way Nebraska is trying to break the press. It is a lack of execution and sorry about my redundancy, but lack of mental toughness. Right now they are playing to not make a mistake instead of attacking which guarantees mistakes will be made more often than not. There is no magic press break or everyone would be using it. They need to demonstrate the ability to understand the basic principles in breaking pressure and then execute them. Same thing with the offense. There are no magic offensive plays, they need to demonstrate they understand how to play the game.

 

 

Lack of execution?  You sound like Bo Pelini.  If D-I college players struggle with understanding the basic principles of breaking a press, then the coach has done a very poor job of preparing them.

 

Most players aren't taught big picture, they are taught, "do this." That means you have a lot of players doing things but not understanding why they are doing them. I don't sound like Bo Pelini, I sound like every coach that has ever coached any sport. You have to teach both a scheme and how to execute that scheme. (Personally I felt Bo fell in love with his scheme and didn't evaluate the results enough. "

However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results. – Winston Churchill)

 

I was taught that players will be more successful if you teach the, "This is why you do this." than if you just go with, "do this." It's not rocket science but the "why's" do take a little longer to teach. The scheme was sound, the individual fundamentals in carrying out that scheme were not. I assume by the title you go by you are/were a coach and would understand the difference between the two and the necessity of having both to be successful. 

 

btw - being athletically gifted enough to be a D-1 athlete is no guarantee of having the basic understanding of the game. In high school D-1 athletes can many times be successful because of their ability and in spite of their understanding. Meaning they can be successful by doing the wrong thing when they are just that much better than everyone else they are playing against.

[HuskerBB]

 

 

 

Remember how bad our press break was against Ohio State last year in the Big Ten tournament?  After that, you would think the press break would have been a major point of emphasis.  But somehow, it's gotten even worse this year.  I've seen junior high girls teams that can break a press better.

There is nothing fundamentally wrong with the way Nebraska is trying to break the press. It is a lack of execution and sorry about my redundancy, but lack of mental toughness. Right now they are playing to not make a mistake instead of attacking which guarantees mistakes will be made more often than not. There is no magic press break or everyone would be using it. They need to demonstrate the ability to understand the basic principles in breaking pressure and then execute them. Same thing with the offense. There are no magic offensive plays, they need to demonstrate they understand how to play the game.

 

Dribbling into a trap isn't fundamentally wrong?  Foregoing a ball fake and throwing the ball into the defender's arms isn't fundamentally wrong?

 

I was talking about the press breaker. You know, where you draw those little X's on the whiteboard. You need someone under the trap, someone over the trap and someone to split the trap. How you get them there doesn't really matter. Nebraska had players in those positions but didn't execute. They were passive  in attack and failed to execute fundamental principles like executing a ball fake. The scheme itself and having the skills to execute the scheme are different types but both are fundamentals. Personally I feel teaching the skills to break a press are more important than whatever x & o scheme you use to draw up to accomplish that task, but you need to have both to be successful. 

 

 

Dean I think you are spot on in terms of the design of the press break.   I would only add that I think one problem (related to the aggressiveness point that you make) is that the only thing we have in our minds in executing the press break is to get the ball across half court so we can set up our offense.  I think the almost view that half court line as the "end zone" and once the cross it they relax almost assuming the defense will then "give up" and let us start our offense.  But it doesn't work that way - and it seems nearly all of those press break turnovers in the last couple games have come from getting trapped because we picked up our dribble right after we crossed half court - Shavon vs. Cincinnati and Benny and Tai vs. Hawaii. 

 

To me we at least have to have the more aggressive mindset that the press break can also be a scoring opportunity.  Have the players looking to break down the defense all the way to the basket if possible and not just get across half court and think they have done the job.   You don't want to go too far and create turnovers by trying to score every time - but if they have the mindset to at least look for opportunities to get to the basket I think we will eliminate the passivity that is creating much of the current problem.

[NUdiehard]

I disagree with NUdiehard and agree with Dean Smith.  I don't think you want to do a lot of dribble driving to break a press that's trying to trap you.  Man to man, full court tends to be just like token pressure to make you take time getting the ball up the floor so that you can't get into your offense as quickly.  But throwing double teams and trying to trap is intended to force turnovers.

 

In the trapping, double-teaming variety, you're not looking to dribble penetrate, but instead reverse the ball and force the defense to do a lot of running back and forth.  The key is getting good spacing on the floor so that you have more than one spot to go with the ball and if the defense tries taking away the diagonal cross-court pass, you can advance the ball to a 2nd or third option such as the middle of the floor across the timeline or down court along the sideline.  Good spacing is key.

 

Not sure what posts you are reading to compare my position to Dean's.

 

This was Dean's post on the subject:

 

I don't think much of that can be fixed during the game, Have to prepare for pressure in practice I think Miles needs to beat his players up there at this point. Let 5 guys try to beat 7 pressing and let the D bang the hell out of them. I would have loved to see someone dribble hard at the trap and lower a shoulder and put it right in the sternum of a Hawai'i player. 9 out of 10 times you get the call on the defense. There is so little margin between winning and losing. 

 

 

This was my post:

I HATE. let me repeat HATE when we are content to throw it sideways repeatedly against the press and then just walk into double teams at half court.  ATTACK the press with a hard dribble drive or maybe, just maybe, pass the ball DOWN THE FLOOR!!!

 

I wasn't even going to reference the "hard dribble drive" but I included it as an option b/c I respect Dean's knowledge and he had already referenced this as his strategy of choice. My emphasis was clearly on using the dribble or (more likely) the pass to push the ball up the floor and attack the press.  As HB just said, getting the ball past half court just so you can set up your offense should not be the main goal when being pressed.  The goal should be to attack and try to get a scoring opportunity at the basket, whether by pass or dribble or both.  That was my point. 

[Dean Smith]

I disagree with NUdiehard and agree with Dean Smith. I don't think you want to do a lot of dribble driving to break a press that's trying to trap you. Man to man, full court tends to be just like token pressure to make you take time getting the ball up the floor so that you can't get into your offense as quickly. But throwing double teams and trying to trap is intended to force turnovers.

In the trapping, double-teaming variety, you're not looking to dribble penetrate, but instead reverse the ball and force the defense to do a lot of running back and forth. The key is getting good spacing on the floor so that you have more than one spot to go with the ball and if the defense tries taking away the diagonal cross-court pass, you can advance the ball to a 2nd or third option such as the middle of the floor across the timeline or down court along the sideline. Good spacing is key.

Not sure what posts you are reading to compare my position to Dean's.

This was Dean's post on the subject:

I don't think much of that can be fixed during the game, Have to prepare for pressure in practice I think Miles needs to beat his players up there at this point. Let 5 guys try to beat 7 pressing and let the D bang the hell out of them. I would have loved to see someone dribble hard at the trap and lower a shoulder and put it right in the sternum of a Hawai'i player. 9 out of 10 times you get the call on the defense. There is so little margin between winning and losing.

This was my post:

I HATE. let me repeat HATE when we are content to throw it sideways repeatedly against the press and then just walk into double teams at half court. ATTACK the press with a hard dribble drive or maybe, just maybe, pass the ball DOWN THE FLOOR!!!

I wasn't even going to reference the "hard dribble drive" but I included it as an option b/c I respect Dean's knowledge and he had already referenced this as his strategy of choice. My emphasis was clearly on using the dribble or (more likely) the pass to push the ball up the floor and attack the press. As HB just said, getting the ball past half court just so you can set up your offense should not be the main goal when being pressed. The goal should be to attack and try to get a scoring opportunity at the basket, whether by pass or dribble or both. That was my point.

Draw the trap and then quickly swing the ball to the player behind the trap. As the trap is rotating it is possible on occasion to dribble hard in a seam, draw contact and a foul on the defender as they rotate to catch up to the ball.

As they reach for the ball I was taught you could step Into the playing causing/exaggerating the contact. Drawing consistent fouls will get teams out of a press. If they pull up to avoid the foul/contact attack the basket for drive or drive & dish/kick.

[hhcmatt]

FWIW Wichita St has 11 turnovers in the first half against Hawaii