Why don’t we press more?

#1
S

SGidds

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#1
We have so many guards that we could really wear teams down if we went to a Nolan Richardson “40 minutes of heII” kind of defense. Most of our guards don’t shoot well from the outside, but they are good defenders. People like Bailey and Masack would be a lot more useful if we went into a full court press like we did at the end of the Texas game. Chandler, Vescovi, and Ziegler would also shine in a full court press.

The fact that we have very inconsistent post play (to be kind) means we have to find other ways to score, and we haven‘t really tried the 94 foot defense-to-offense style. I really think if we pressured more we could create some live ball turnovers and get some easy points, but Barnes doesn’t really press until we are down big near the end of a game. For us to reach our maximum potential I think we need to.
 
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#2
#2
Barnes is probably apprehensive to it because our guys play very aggressive defense as-is and they would get into foul trouble much quicker. That’s the only thing I can think of.
 
#5
#5
Three guard offence, full court defense, sped up play, slowed down play, more 3 point or less three point shots, none of it makes any difference. While some of the guys have gotten better since the first of the season and others have regress and still others have not done either, the team as a whole has not improved. While most other SEC teams are improving as the season moves on, we on the other hand seem to have fallen back from our early season form. As I state, some have improved, but as a TEAM these guys have become a much less effective group.
 
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#6
#6
savannahfan said:
Three guard offence, full court defense, sped up play, slowed down play, more 3 point or less three point shots, none of it makes any difference. While some of the guys have gotten better since the first of the season and others have regress and still others have not done either, the team as a whole has not improved. While most other SEC teams are improving as the season moves on, we on the other hand seem to have fallen back from our early season form. As I state, some have improved, but as a TEAM these guys have become a much less effective group.
Click to expand...

He might should consider this if he is going to keep going 10 deep. Might as well get them out there @ an agressive pace
especially vs a team that doesn't have good ball handlers. I would have thought the rotation would be at 8 by this time of season BUT
These 10 played last night, We've played 20 games with 10 left so this is an unusual rotation for this late. Maybe no
or not enough separation between certain players to trim it down.
1.JJJ
2. KC
3. ON
4.UP
5.SV
6. JF
7. ZZ
8. HH
9. Bailey
10. Maschack
 
#7
#7
The dominant front court presence of this team would be taken out of the equation if they pressed all the time on both sides of the ball.
 
#8
#8
savannahfan said:
Three guard offence, full court defense, sped up play, slowed down play, more 3 point or less three point shots, none of it makes any difference. While some of the guys have gotten better since the first of the season and others have regress and still others have not done either, the team as a whole has not improved. While most other SEC teams are improving as the season moves on, we on the other hand seem to have fallen back from our early season form. As I state, some have improved, but as a TEAM these guys have become a much less effective group.
Click to expand...
Absolutely. Your points are the only ones which matter in all the various discussions about this team. I like Barnes but he isn’t maximizing this teams potential for whatever reason, which is his job. Losing to Texas on their floor isn’t so bad, but it is the way we played and how bad we looked throughout the bulk of the game. Just as it is how we looked, while winning games recently against lessor opponents or undermanned opponents. He doesn’t appear to have any clue what buttons to push offensively and despite how good we are on the defensive end we are equally as bad on the offensive end.

Going zone in the 2nd half against Texas while we were down 12 pts was puzzling. He literally wasted 5 minutes, ate clock and allowed Texas to basically get comfortable and get what they wanted. Texas almost imploded when we started to pressure them because they just wanted to sit on the lead. Glad to see we fought back and while we will make the tournament, this is yet another team that appears as if it will underachieve again. Just like last year. Texas also gave the remaining teams on our schedule the recipe to shutting us down, by focusing on Vescovi.

Barnes has to figure it out the rest of the way, and we have time to improve with a back half of SEC schedule which isn’t daunting. Will support of course, but expect they will continue to be frustrating to watch. Last year we complained yet gave benefit of the doubt, due to the fact that we didn’t have a PG on the team as to why our offense was dysfunctional. This year we have 2 PGs on the team, yet are still dysfunctional.
 
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#9
#9
Namorto1 said:
Absolutely. Your points are the only ones which matter in all the various discussions about this team. I like Barnes but he isn’t maximizing this teams potential for whatever reason, which is his job. Losing to Texas on their floor isn’t so bad, but it is the way we played and how bad we looked throughout the bulk of the game. Just as it is how we looked, while winning games recently against lessor opponents or undermanned opponents. He doesn’t appear to have any clue what buttons to push offensively and despite how good we are on the defensive end we are equally as bad on the offensive end.

Going zone in the 2nd half against Texas while we were down 12 pts was puzzling. He literally wasted 5 minutes, ate clock and allowed Texas to basically get comfortable and get what they wanted. Texas almost imploded when we started to pressure them because they just wanted to sit on the lead. Glad to see we fought back and while we will make the tournament, this is yet another team that appears as if it will underachieve again. Just like last year. Texas also gave the remaining teams on our schedule the recipe to shutting us down, by focusing on Vescovi.

Barnes has to figure it out the rest of the way, and we have time to improve with a back half of SEC schedule which isn’t daunting. Will support of course, but expect they will continue to be frustrating to watch. Last year we complained yet gave benefit of the doubt, due to the fact that we didn’t have a PG on the team as to why our offense was dysfunctional. This year we have 2 PGs on the team, yet are still dysfunctional.
Click to expand...
If Barnes hasn't figured out what to do by this point in the season, I doubt we're gonna see that light come on.
 
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#11
#11
We should’ve tried it some earlier in the game, with that said Texas doesn’t have great guards/ball handler so their style kind of played into it.
 
#13
#13
I actually have wondered about this for a few years, especially last year. When you're solid defensively and are playing a 10-11 man rotation half way into a season, then it begs the question to me ... why not unleash 92' of pure hades for all 40 minutes? We are one of the few teams with the depth to do it. We have no real superstars, but a lot of contributors.

Barnes doesn't see it this way. But, what I see is a team, as it is, that is too inconsistent offensively to have any hope of a deep NCAA run. I wish CRB would roll the dice and try it. A 1st round exit won't shock anyone anyway, so why not?
 
#16
#16
Barnes is always trying to implement new strategies on both off and def. This is more like chess, where each game is different from the last game. You do thinks differently to counter act what your new opponent tries to do and is generally successful at what they do.
But players can make that difficult ... with their inexperience and learning curve(BHH, ZZ MAS, and KC), with their physical limitations (JA - health, ON - stone hands, Fulky - can't shake bad health, JJJ - can't find any rhythm), or the developmental limitations (UP is still figuring it out), or combinations of those issues (Powell and Bailey), or being taken out of the game by fouls or having the ball taken out of your hands via excellent tight defense (SV).
In one particular and recent game, it was like the players 'forgot' what the game plan was. Cause they were not doing anything that was in the game plan. Either they did not know it - because they did not spend enough film time or did not follow it ... who knows.
I also recognize that RB is very stubborn.
 
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#17
#17
I think it would be good to go to the full court press earlier in close games, but I wouldn't make that my main game plan. CRB does have a good offensive strategy, if the team can actually get it going. TBF, it looked like I was starting to notice more offensive movement as a team against TAMU.

Not only that, but hopefully we see a bit more JP seeing how opponents are keying on SV, trying to shut him down. If so, I can see JP getting hot. That would be exactly what the Dr ordered with these Vols and their cold spells.
 
#18
#18
I'd like to read an explanation by someone with a more nuanced understanding of Barnes' defensive scheme. But in lieu of real knowledge, I'll carry on VolNation tradition and opine as if I did know...

Maybe his defensive schemes are very difficult to set up or "get into" from an effective full court press, or the press makes the half court defense susceptible to a degree that isn't worth the risk.

There are probably also stats that show pressing doesn't produce wins over a full season, or requires so many players of a certain defensive skillset or certain types of favorable matchups, to press effectively. For sure, every press scheme can be scouted, prepared for, and defeated. So its effectiveness would diminish throughout the season.

But the most likely answer is the same reason you don't see it in the NBA--it's seldom an efficient way to win games against skilled players. It is mostly used by lesser college teams against exploitable opponents to hide their own defensive vulnerabilities. At the end of a game, when a turnover is desperately needed, it might work as a surprise. But you would probably want to save that for a truly critical game, like in a tournament.
 
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