Question about college basketball

[st.cronin]

I never played organized hoops, so this may be a dumb question. Why don't teams put pressure on the point guard on every single possession? Most teams just run back into their defense, leaving the point guard to stroll up at his leisure. This really baffles me.

[Lathum]

I never played organized hoops, so this may be a dumb question. Why don't teams put pressure on the point guard on every single possession? Most teams just run back into their defense, leaving the point guard to stroll up at his leisure. This really baffles me.

they would get really tired really quick

[miami_fan]

One reason would be that they don't have a point guard who can play full court man to man pressure defense for 40 minutes AND run their own team offense. If you beat the pressure then you have a 5 on 4 advantage. Another reason you see teams fall back into a set defense is to see if the offensive team can properly run a offensive set and get a good shot off of it.

[Leonidas]

There have been teams do this, but for one thing the full court press is just not very popular anymore, just as the fast break is rare too. In their heyday, UCLA used to press everyone all over the floor. But UCLA also typically had a roster with 11 guys who were all better than anyone the other team had and could substitute like mad to keep everyone fresh. Fatigue is the biggest problem with the press, and the current style of basketball is isolation, isolation, and more isolation. Everyone is set on getting a one-on-one mismatch so defenses tend to draw back in anticipation of this so they can help out a guy who is caught one-on-one against someone like Kobe or LeBron. The press requires great team play on both sides of the ball and that style of play is rare anymore.

[stevew]

I think you get about as effective a defense from picking your spots to press the PG. It's all about pacing with limited rosters, and 1 20 minute half. The half court trap is pretty good as well, if your defensive players can rotate well. SIU was running great defense, but just didn't have the legs to keep the pressure on Kansas the whole way.

[M GO BLUE!!!]

...Everyone is set on getting a one-on-one mismatch so defenses tend to draw back in anticipation of this so they can help out a guy who is caught one-on-one against someone like Kobe or LeBron.

I like that the two players you use as examples did not go to college! :D

[Leonidas]

I like that the two players you use as examples did not go to college! :DI didn't even realize the thread title specifically said college basketball until just now. Since the NBA lifted zone defense prohibitions there really doesn't seem to be a significant difference between the two games anymore.

[JeeberD]

Since the NBA lifted zone defense prohibitions there really doesn't seem to be a significant difference between the two games anymore.

http://www.fof-ihof.com/phpBB2/images/smiles/icon_perplexed.gif

[timmynausea]

The press isn't used all of the time because it leads to fatigue and foul trouble. 100% full court press is really only a strategy for a team that feels they have vastly superior depth and athleticism and are trying to wear the other team out. On top of that, any mistakes by the pressing team will lead to easy baskets for the opponent instead of making them work to find good shots with tight half court defense.

I guess it's sort of like asking, "Why doesn't the defense bring an all out blitz at the QB every play?"

[BrianD]

Playing man-to-man defense is a lot more tiring than playing offense. To do single pressure on the point guard all over the court will only tire out the defender. It might work if the point guard was a particularly poor ball handler (relative to the defender), but isn't very common beyond the high school level.

A full court press would be a different story when you've got most of the defenders playing defense in the back-court. This can be effective against a less athletic team, but even then it only generally works until the offense figures out how to break the press. Most press zones are pretty standard in how they are run, so the methods of beating them are pretty well known too. When you do beat a full court press, you often get an easy layup.