The fate of the Fighting Irish are preserved for now, thanks

[The X]

Well our team had an absolute shocker last night against the best team in the league. Really the team we played should be in the top division but for whatever reason, they are not. We got demoralised and I need to do something about it to re-group the lads (or fellows depending on your age).

Really the main thing I'm looking for are pointers in advancing the ball upcourt against high pressure. Our team has no PG and most of the team has never played before so when we are playing teams that have been together for half a decade, it doesn't help. At about 6'2" & 230lbs I'm the team's centre, but play more like a swingman. Basically our 2 guards are not very good ballhandlers at all, so I might need to start playing in a point forward-like role, as much as I know I normally wouldn't or shouldn't.

Is there any layman's structures that work against high full-court pressing/trapping defenses. I know it's important to keep your body inbetween the defender and the ball. I know it's important to be aggressive and attack it. To add to the intrigue was the team we played last night's coach is an administrator so they ALWAYS get the calls and we don't get any. They hack and chop and whatever.

I was thinking:
- I handle the ball
- if they're chopping or playing me tight, I'll give them a subtle, hand elbow to the guts and keep doing it until they back off.
- if they keep flopping and getting the calls going their way, then I might teach them a lesson and go back to my prop forward days and pummel one or two of them by dropping the shoulder and leaving the guy writhing on the floor.

I can handle losing, as much as I hate it. I can't handle disrespect, and that's what we had. I vow to open the next game against that team with a very hard foul to teach those punks a lesson.

Anyway, enough rambling. Any pointers on bringing the ball up, for example, a set formation where certain players are in certain positions for outlets or set screens and so on. Please help so I don't need to revert to the Mighty Ducks' Flying V to get the job done.

Cheers in advance,
X

Last edited by The X on Thu Jun 01, 2006 11:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.

put the 3 best ball handlers taking the ball out. have the 2 guys not passing it in set screens for eachother starting on the freethrow line. have the guy inbounding throw it either to the guy coming off the screen or the guy rolling who just set the screen. have the 2 big men at half court flashing back and forth for the deep ball. once the ball is inbounded to one of the guards have them kind of in a V swinging the ball back and forth until the ball is above half court. if someone gets double teamed then you know someone must be open.

Set up an inbouding play when full-court is used against you.
I have this one play we used alot before but I forget what it was called.
It was effective and useful.
I'll get back to you when I find the name of it.

If the pressure is real tight then get your best passer inbounding the ball, then from there have your 2 quickest players at the FT line standing behind each other and once the inbounder smack the ball, both of those players strike out to seperate directions and run down for an outlet pass that way the defense will be distratcted. If you can't give them the ball, a player can be standing at halfcourt and come up once the other 2 players break and you can give him the ball. Once you give him the ball, and he can't move, the inbounder should run down the sideline in case he needs extra help.

LOL, dramatic arts is part of basketball, a big part. When a play is set for you, or if you are about to get the ball, try to run RIGHT beside the player that is defending you so he is forced to bump you, and just make the bump harder than it looks.

When a player is posting up, try to sneek your hand to the hand the player you are defending or arm... and jsut lightly push it, and he will retaliate, trust me.

If you have the ball, drive in and lean into your defender or someone else's defender, and bam a foul.

Just try to draw fouls at teh begginging of the game, then when bench their starters or role players, take advantage of the fould trouble.



And if you need a play... I dont know.... leave it to the coach.

When you are not defending on the ball, talk trash agaisnt your player, but quietly, and grab his jersey sometimes. It all works... dramatic arts.

best way to beat a press, especially a trapping press, is passing. Have your center stand somewhere around mid-court, just before the half court line and try to pass to him in the middle. he can turn and see over the defense to find the open man. you can also try to setup a press-break offense to get it up the floor, which requires good spacing and court awareness.

If your players can't handle the ball, and there's full court pressure, you're basically fucked.

You may have to adapt a fast break style inbound. You could try getting all 5 players down to the end of the court (the side closer to the inbound passer), this will hopefully draw the other team's 5 aswell, and then have 2 or so players just go BAM, and start sprinting towards the basket, hopefully they have some space between them and their defenders and you just lob it in front of them for fast break points.

Eventually the other team will wise up to this and have a few players back to defend the basket. But atleast that takes some pressure away.

The best ball handler is also going to have to step up. Having the confidence behind you as "the main player" or whatever that handles the ball, then that can give you that extra confidence and ability to get the ball up the court.

When you are not defending on the ball, talk trash agaisnt your player, but quietly, and grab his jersey sometimes. It all works... dramatic arts.

oh man, last time i tried that during a game, i nearly got a fist in the face .

If your players can't handle the ball, and there's full court pressure, you're basically fucked.

I don't agree... when I was playing rep we had a similar problem so we used to spend 30 minutes at each training session playing like a fast paced netball style thing... everyone got involved, there was minimal dribbling and if you move enough you can get the ball up the court with no problems at all. The thing is, most guys can defend someone dribbling a basketball... there's pre-set stances and movements etc it's not hard but it is ALOT hard to defend a person in motion without the ball. Nine times out of ten they'll trail that person, so I'd say if no one can really dribble the key to getting the ball up the court is to pass and pass alot.

If your players can't handle the ball, and there's full court pressure, you're basically fucked.

I don't agree... when I was playing rep we had a similar problem so we used to spend 30 minutes at each training session playing like a fast paced netball style thing... everyone got involved, there was minimal dribbling and if you move enough you can get the ball up the court with no problems at all. The thing is, most guys can defend someone dribbling a basketball... there's pre-set stances and movements etc it's not hard but it is ALOT hard to defend a person in motion without the ball. Nine times out of ten they'll trail that person, so I'd say if no one can really dribble the key to getting the ball up the court is to pass and pass alot.

yeah that's what I meant with my last post. Get it into a big guy in the middle of the floor and have the guards sprint up on each side of the court so the big guy has two fast targets or the other two guys on the team should be in the front court and should be open.


EDIT:
here's a page explaining what I meant:
http://www.coachesclipboard.net/1211PressOffense.html
I looked at some stuff they got on there and it's some pretty good stuff.

and keys to attacking a press:
http://www.coachesclipboard.net/PressBreak.html

cheers for pointers guys....yep, our team dribbling skills suck (I'm the best on the team which isn't saying much as I'm capable but have never been a guard or handled ball a lot in those type of situations), but it was just so plainly obvious that passing was the option, I just couldn't think of it myself

our team was making the mistake of over-dribbling when we all can't dribble that well, except when the post-game home made burgers were on the bbq

cheers for all the pointers guys....I like the one that hammertime23 mentioned....sounds pretty basic....also will look at what QBaller, Jae & others mentioned....

I'm confident that we can work out these kinks, but this thread definitely opened up my eyes to my narrow views on the situation (me bringing the ball up & giving some cheap shots )....

passing, spacing, minimise dribbling, be aggressive, have teammates in good outlet & positions to help....got it

it's definitely not an easy adjustment from being a complementary, sharpshooting role player to a player/captain/coach/leader/offensive leader....easier said than done....it's all in fun though, but I still plan to poleaxe a couple of their players the next time we play them