Why Don't We Attack The Press More Often?

ala_kat2

All-American
Jan 4, 2003
10,749
9,956
103
It seems that for the most part we are content just to get it over half court and then pass it around for 25 seconds while searching for a good shot. This often ends up being a prayer as the shot clock winds down. Too many times I see our point guard or SG pick up their dribble with no one to pass to. I thought that we should be able with our size to break a press by going over the top and getting easy baskets.
 

Rhavic

Heisman
Dec 15, 2014
33,316
23,520
68
Originally posted by ala_kat2:
It seems that for the most part we are content just to get it over half court and then pass it around for 25 seconds while searching for a good shot. This often ends up being a prayer as the shot clock winds down. Too many times I see our point guard or SG pick up their dribble with no one to pass to. I thought that we should be able with our size to break a press by going over the top and getting easy baskets.
 

KWilt43atbuzz

All-American
Nov 18, 2012
17,050
6,848
0
19-0 Mr. Clutter

Maybe you should save your negativity until we lose a game, if we do?

 

ala_kat2

All-American
Jan 4, 2003
10,749
9,956
103
Another personal attack for trying to discuss a basketball topic.
 

SoCalBlueFan

Redshirt
Mar 31, 2007
589
44
0
Damn. I thought that someone was finally willing to organize us to go after Jerry Tipton with torches and pitchforks! We don't do that often enough. It's usually just a bunch of talk.

I should have guessed it would be about basketball.

It seems like the press really only caught us off guard once yesterday where we picked up our dribble right in front of our bench, got trapped and had to call a time out.

I also realize that you are talking about turning the press into more of an opportunity for our offense. It seems to me, and this is relying completely upon my admittedly suspect memory, that we really haven't been pressed that much this year, and that anyone who has really tried it throughout a game has been pretty much demolished.

I'm sure there have been opportunities we've missed. I honestly feel like Cal just doesn't worry about preparing for what opponents will do as much as he does preparing our team to do what we are going to do. Maybe that's two sides of the same coin?
 

uk78_rivals88018

All-American
Feb 6, 2003
12,401
8,783
0
It actually is a decent question, O.P. No one can say exactly as we don't know what is the coaching and practice philosophy. As good as Ulis is, he is a Freshman, and Andrew isn't the greatest ball handler in the world, might be one thought. I personally hope that as poor as we seem in half court sets at times, that the continual effort to stick to that offense will help the team improve for the tourney. You often see the tempo become more slow and tight in the tourney, and with a month and a half more of working on this offense maybe that is when the team will show both that superior offense combined with our great defense.
 

Chuckinden

All-American
Jun 12, 2006
18,984
5,894
113
Originally posted by KWilt43atbuzz:
19-0 Mr. Clutter

Maybe you should save your negativity until we lose a game, if we do?

There it is. The Mods may as well shut down the boards until we lose so there will be something to talk about for KWilt.
 

marshalfan

All-Conference
Oct 2, 2005
6,149
1,148
0
We are so effective playing solid half court defense why would we press. When you press you often give up wide open shots. I would not want to change our defense, our offense is still a work in progress.
 

lkc1021

All-Conference
Apr 12, 2007
6,985
1,650
0
Originally posted by ala_kat2:
It seems that for the most part we are content just to get it over half court and then pass it around for 25 seconds while searching for a good shot. This often ends up being a prayer as the shot clock winds down. Too many times I see our point guard or SG pick up their dribble with no one to pass to. I thought that we should be able with our size to break a press by going over the top and getting easy baskets.
Re: Why Don't We Attack The Press More Often?


I think we should. Especially Jerry Tipton of the Lexington Herald Leader.
 

Seattlekat

Redshirt
Nov 2, 2001
11,065
0
0
Originally posted by ala_kat2:
It seems that for the most part we are content just to get it over half court and then pass it around for 25 seconds while searching for a good shot. This often ends up being a prayer as the shot clock winds down. Too many times I see our point guard or SG pick up their dribble with no one to pass to. I thought that we should be able with our size to break a press by going over the top and getting easy baskets.
Please read pascat's analysis of our offense against USC. He breaks down the game after every game.

This should answer your question.

UK's Offense Analysis
 

G-PIP

All-American
Mar 14, 2014
5,286
5,964
0
Originally posted by marshalfan:
We are so effective playing solid half court defense why would we press. When you press you often give up wide open shots. I would not want to change our defense, our offense is still a work in progress.
The OP is referring to UK's offense against a press. You're right though that with UK's talent it certainly has no need for a gimmicky defense best utilized by desperate teams with inferior talent - unless, of course, they were trying to give an opponent a much better chance to beat them.

To the OP's point, UK hasn't had any problem with the press. Andrew is a great ballhandler, plus he's so big and strong that pressing him has never been a successful attack to date. Ulis, although a good ballhandler, may have a little more trouble with the press because of his size and susceptibility to being trapped - but he hasn't really had any problem with being pressed either.
 

revcort

Heisman
Feb 20, 2003
32,522
30,904
113
I think the answer may partially be that we don't want to get sucked into the other team's desire to speed us up and take bad shots.

But I agree that there are opportunities to score early that we don't always take. The philosophy I've often heard from coaches is that we want to take advantage of early opportunities to score but we don't want to force it and become inefficient.

When you think about it, we may not be elite in our halfcourt offense but we're MUCH better than a team like SC. So their only chance was to speed us up and try to get us loose with the ball, which would give them more possessions and more opporunities to score.
 

Blueworld_3.0

Heisman
Sep 23, 2008
14,060
11,145
113
Originally posted by lkc1234:


Originally posted by ala_kat2:
It seems that for the most part we are content just to get it over half court and then pass it around for 25 seconds while searching for a good shot. This often ends up being a prayer as the shot clock winds down. Too many times I see our point guard or SG pick up their dribble with no one to pass to. I thought that we should be able with our size to break a press by going over the top and getting easy baskets.
Re: Why Don't We Attack The Press More Often?


I think we should. Especially Jerry Tipton of the Lexington Herald Leader.
Honestly, this ^^^ is exactly what I thought of when I saw the title of this thread.
 

BlueFE

Redshirt
Jan 13, 2010
3,178
0
0
Originally posted by Blueworld_3.0:
Originally posted by lkc1234:


Originally posted by ala_kat2:
It seems that for the most part we are content just to get it over half court and then pass it around for 25 seconds while searching for a good shot. This often ends up being a prayer as the shot clock winds down. Too many times I see our point guard or SG pick up their dribble with no one to pass to. I thought that we should be able with our size to break a press by going over the top and getting easy baskets.
Re: Why Don't We Attack The Press More Often?


I think we should. Especially Jerry Tipton of the Lexington Herald Leader.
Honestly, this ^^^ is exactly what I thought of when I saw the title of this thread.
The same. If I have to hear another media driven story about the inflation level of a ball, I am going to sacrifice a media member to the gods of my ancestors!