You know what most excited me about that 114-47 exhibition win against UMD?  Our full-court press. 

Alright, that’s not counting that Rodney Williams dunk.  Just Ridiculous.  Is there anything this kid can’t do?  You’ve seen the video were the little boy opens up an N64 for Christmas and just loses it, right?  He starts yelling incoherently at the box before deciding to kneel behind it, shouting “YES!” repeatedly while enthusiastically thrusting . . . well, I’ll stop there.  Anyway, that’s how excited I am about Rodney Williams.  I can hardly contain myself.

But the full-court press was the second most exciting part of the night.  Why?  Because the press will be the difference for the Gophers this season.

I was planning on writing my second blog post about the press, and how we could and should utilize it this year.  I was going to write that we would only need to press about ten or 15 minutes a game, but that time on the press might swing a couple of games our direction.  I was really going to pound it home: ten or 15 minutes of the press per game.

And then during the exhibition, THE PRESS!

And it looked pretty good for the five or some odd minutes we ran it.  It forced a few turnovers that resulted in some easy points.  (But that’s not saying much in this game.  Lots of things forced lots of UMD turnovers that resulted in lots of easy points.)

But it was there: The press I have dreamed of the entire off-season.  I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the press.  How it would help.  What players could run it.  How many points it could swing. 

I’m a Gopher fan, and the press was my idea.

So here are my thoughts on the press.  The brainchild of the unnecessarily numerous hours I’ve spent thinking about it, tinkering with it, and perfecting it in my mind. 

Here we go.

Again, we don’t need to press too much.  We don’t need to adopt  Nolan Richardson’s 40 minutes of hell.  We just need to press about ten minutes a game.  That’s it.  And it doesn’t even have to be ten minutes of hell.  Just ten or 15 minutes of strong full-court pressure.

Unlike Richardson’s Razorbacks, we won’t be defined by the press.  We don’t need to be defined by the press.  We can win half-court games.  The press would just be an addition to our game—just one more thing for opposing coaches and players to worry about.  But small additions can win games.

That’s why we only need to press for ten minutes.

Ten to 15 minutes doesn’t sound like a lot.  It’s one-fourth of the game.  So why would the press, on that small scale, be effective?

Well, to start with, that amount of time translates to around 25 possessions for the opponent.  Okay, so let’s say in those 25 possessions, the press forces four additional turnovers.  That seems reasonable—one additional turnover every six possessions.  Now let’s say that we turn those four turnovers into six points; and had we not forced those four turnovers, our opponents would have scored on two of those four possessions, leading to four points.  That’s a ten-point swing.  Ten points can be huge in the Big Ten (especially if you’re playing Illinois).  And if there’s any way you can possibly swing ten points, you have to do it.

But there’s a lot more to it than that.  Just forcing the extra effort to bring the ball up will pay dividends.  Against teams with unproven point guards (and there are several in the Big Ten, notably Michigan, Illinois, and Northwestern), the press can rattle the guard.  It might cause some bad passes, leading to more turnovers.  He won’t be easily able to set up the half-court offense after breaking the press, slicing into the shot clock and disturbing the offensive flow.  He will get jittery and lose confidence.

Against teams with better points, the press will still have benefits.  Kalin Lucas and Talor Battle are good enough to almost always individually break the press.  And that’s fine.  Making good guards work that extra 50 feet will pay off late in the second. 

Would you rather have Battle walk it up the floor and first get defended as he nears the three-point line and has the offense fully set up, or would you rather see him have to work his way over the entire backcourt before he can even set up the offense?  It’s a no-brainer.  The press isn’t necessarily forcing him into more turnovers, but it’s making his life that much harder. 

And maybe the press does force him into some turnovers.  Maybe it takes him out of his game.  Great one-guards like Battle and Lucas have a certain swagger when they’re on their game.  They are in complete control.  They have a rhythm.  Maybe the press disrupts that rhythm and makes them uncomfortable.  And that can have a huge impact on games.

These effects extend beyond the ten or 15 minutes we are actually pressing.  Making the point work to break the press for that time will wear him out down the stretch.  (Which leads me to this question: If you’re a coach, do you always, unquestionably let your top point guard go against the press, knowing it could wear him down and you might have to rest him later in the game?  Or do you rest your number one as you normally would, possibly playing your back-up against the press, hoping he breaks it?  Forcing these types of decisions on other coaches is huge.  More on that later.)  Pestering a point guard with the press will take him out of his rhythm for the entire game.  The press can throw off the entire offense, for that matter, and that can last even when the press is off.

Plus the press will only help our half-court defense.  Last season, we played great half-court defense, and this year will be no different.  But last year, we also had some trouble defending for the full 35 seconds.  We would lock teams down for 30 seconds, but then give up an easy bucket with three seconds left on the shot clock.  Michigan State killed us with possessions like that.  The press, though, will force teams to take a few more seconds on the wrong side of half-court.  That reduces the time we have to defend in our half-court by several seconds, possibly wiping out some of those easy late-second points.

The press can also instantly swing momentum.  In an offensive rut?  Press!  It should get you a couple of easy buckets to get back on track.  Opponent shooting the lights out?  Press!  Disrupt that rhythm.  Need to get the crowd into the game?  Press!  Can you imagine 15,000 people in Williams screaming as the Gophers run amok on the press?  It would be crazy.  Nobody would want to bring the ball up in that situation.  The press can change the pace and momentum of the game in our favor in many situations.

For instance, remember thehome game against Michigan last year?  We were up by about ten and Williams was buzzing.  Then the shot clock ran awry, and Eddie Hightowertook a good five to ten minutes to evaluate the situation (and, I assume, finish a crossword puzzle at the scorer’s table), killing the crowd and sucking the life out of the arena.  We never got that momentum back, and Michigan rallied for the win.  What if, should that situation arise this year, we press right after Hightower deliberates for ten minutes?  We probably recapture momentum and win that game.

So, who should be on our pressing unit?  After lots of consideration—in hindsight, it’s borderline-depressing how much time I’ve spent thinking about this—I’ve come up with our perfect press unit: Nolen, Williams, Carter, Johnson, and Sampson.

What’s the first thing that stands out to you about that unit, besides that it sounds like a personal injury law firm?  It should be the collective height of that group.  That line goes 6-1, 6-7, 6-7, 6-8, 6-11.  It’s a tall group.

That height can pay off in several ways.  One, it’s a very hard group to pass around, particularly considering that Carter, Williams, and Johnson are all very long, even for their height.  Try in-bounding around Johnson.  It’s not easy, especially if you can’t run the baseline.  Some poor guy from UMD tried to, got frustrated after about four seconds, and pretty much handed DJ the ball for a dunk.  Imagine if a little point guard wanders into a trap of PC and Rodney.  Good luck getting out of that, little fella!

And if you’re the other coach, what kind of line-up do you play against those five?  Do you put out another ball-handler to help break the press, knowing that you then have a guard trying to defend a player five inches taller than him?  Or do you play a bigger unit to match the size, sacrificing a player to help break the press?  That’s one of those decisions that you love to force the other coach to make.  Because if he has to make tough decisions, that means you’re probably winning.

And let’s be clear, this unit doesn’t sacrifice speed for size.  PC and DJ are both quick and athletic enough for the press.  And Rodney is more than capable of being the two on a pressing unit; he’s unquestionably fast enough and agile enough to guard smaller players.  It should be against the rules for a 6-7 guy to be that athletic.

Individually, each of those five is well suited to press.  Al Nolen plays intense defense and harasses guys in our half-court defense.  He’s probably the best defensive point guard in the Big Ten.  Think if he is unleashed on a press for 15 minutes.  He would hound guys.  He’d be all over them.  He’d wear people down.

He’s the perfect point guard for the press: a tenacious ball hawk that never wears down.  Have you ever seen a tired Al Nolen?  Because I haven’t.  

Plus, he’s smart.  He only averaged 2.5 fouls per game last season, and that’s with him hounding guys defensively.  And he would be our best player to set up the offense with the four big men playing.

If it can physically be done on a basketball court, Rodney Williams could probably do it.  That includes pressing.  He is easily capable of being the two-guard in a pressing scheme, despite being 6-7.

And he’d probably be the guy defended by a shorter opponent while the pressing unit is on offense.  He has a good jump shot and could get easy looks over a shorter player.  His absurd vertical will further extend that height advantage.  And just picture the Kid getting an easy break after a turnover and throwing down some dunk that nobody has ever seen before.  Good night, sweetheart.

Paul Carter is on the press for pretty much the same reasons as the Kid.  He’s long and agile, and would be hard to pass around.  Stick him near mid-court and he can shut down most passes in that area.  Sometimes you can just picture somebody being effective in certain situations, and I can just picture PC running wild on the press.  Mr. Carter has been known to toss down some pretty impressive slams, too.

Damian Johnson should win the Big Ten defensive player of the year this season.  There isn’t a defense system in which he wouldn’t excel.  He would be great defending the in-bounds pass, great near half-court, great in a trap.  DJ is simply a great defender, so he would be great on the press.

Finally, we get to Ralph.  Ralph is the ideal big man for the press.  (Honestly, I think Ralph is the ideal big man for any situation, on and off the court.  I have a near-debilitating man-crush on RSIII.)  He’s quick enough to step in and intercept any deep lobs—he did it a couple of times in the UMD game—and he’s big and strong enough to possibly slow down any fast break that may result from a broken press.  If we run the press, Ralph will bail us out with huge blocks several times over the course of the year.  I’m talking monstrous, soul-crushing blocks.

By the way, how good did Ralph look against UMD?  He’s visibly bigger and stronger than he was last year, by a wide margin.  He had great footwork and showed a nice touch around the basket.  Based on that performance alone, Intensity Ralph raised my expectations for him another bar.  And I know he won’t let me down. 

Colton Iverson showed similar improvements as well.  Expect good contributions from him as well.  I’m trying to come up with a nickname for those two when they are on the floor together, and I don’t just want to go with “Twin Towers.”  There has to be something better, and I’m going to figure it out.  Just give me some time.

Another advantage to that pressing unit: It creates good looks while Lawrence Westbrook is on the bench.  Westbrook is probably our only player who can single-handedly create offensive looks.  Our offense can be stagnant without him.  Lawrence averaged around 25 minutes per game last year, and he will probably get slightly more playing time this season; Tubby likes to use his bench, though, so don’t expect too much more.

Wouldn’t it be nice if, in the fifteen minutes Westbrook isn’t playing, we find a way to replace some of the offensive chances that leave the game with him?  That’s exactly what the press does.  In the ten or 15 minutes Lawrence is on the bench, the press should create enough chances to limit the negative offensive impact of his departure.  You probably thought I was arbitrarily preaching the ten to 15 minutes deal, didn’t you?  Come on.

The pressing unit also cuts out more of a niche for a couple other players not on the press.  Say we press 15 minutes, leaving 25 minutes of non-press time.  And the guys on the pressing unit play an additional ten non-press minutes.  That leaves 15 minutes for a line-up like Joseph/Westbrook/Hoffarber/White/Iverson.  That’s a good group with one creator, two shooters, and two solid offensive big men, and if that group could gel and form some chemistry, it could do some real damage.  In effect, the use of a press creates different units that can form solid, distinct chemistries.  Is that preferably to rotating a couple of players in-and-out here and there?  I think it is.

The best part about the press, though: The low risk involved.  It is the definition of a low risk-high reward situation.  If somebody consistently breaks the press, call it off.  If the press falters and we give up some easy baskets, call it off.  If it’s not working, we don’t have to run it.  No harm done.  We can just return to the half-court game and still be successful.

Installing and running the press is a low-risk proposition.  But the rewards could be huge.  I can’t see a reason why it wouldn’t at least be worth a try.

I only have one worry regarding the press.  I am concerned that the press against UMD was just Tubby trying out something new, and we may not run the press during the regular season.  I hope that isn’t the case. 

Our schedule is perfect for installing the press.  We have an easy non-conference schedule during which we can tune up the press; we can work out all the kinks during those ten or so non-conference games.  Then by the time the Big Ten season rolls around, the press could be a well-oiled machine.  And by post-season tournament time, the press could be an even-better-oiled machine.

The press, if we run it, will make a huge difference for the Gophers this year.  It will force opposing coaches into tough match-up decisions.  Forcing coaches into hard decisions is a large part of the battle.  Tubby doesn’t lose any coaching battles; the press would just increase his margin of victory.

I guarantee the press would swing at least a couple of games our way this year.  I am sure of it.  So why not give it a try?

I’m hard-pressed to think of a reason not to.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 9th, 2009 at 4:18 pm and is filed under Gopher Basketball. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.