Breaking a press needs a multifaceted approach. If you fall into a rut an aggressive press will exploit it.

Passively playing like last night is sometimes good, aggressively playing to break is sometimes good and going over the top is sometimes good. If you react the same way each time the defense gains the advantage.

Last night the press worked because we predictably were passive, which cuts down on the options that the press has to defend.

Whatever approach is taken don’t allow the defense to use the sidelines as additional defenders.


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I miss the "get the ball in David Cohn's hands" press break. We couldn't be pressed his Sr year because he had the speed to beat any of the traps to get up the floor and the passing ability to feed for easy layups when teams were too aggressive.

I suspect the press break also suffers from the short time the team has had together. You have to figure that adding a second press break play comes in well behind familiarity with each other on defense and knowing where to be on offense.

We also faced two very different types of presses Saturday.

The first half press was not designed to get steals but to eat up clock. We had a number of clock shot violations.

The second half press was more aggressive and did create more steals. It took us a while to realize the change. (Might have been a useful TO opportunity for Fischer there.)

The two different types of presses needed to be attacked differently (duh!). I will watch the replay when I get back home but I think our shot clock violations and turnovers were more frequent earlier in each half.

One other thing we lack this year is a skilled ball-handling forward, a type of player we seemed to always have under the previous regime. That would allow us to lob it over the front line pressure. My memory is that we only used the two guards to bring it up. I wonder if Milkereit might have that skill set but he’s having trouble getting into the rotation.

(12-05-2022 09:29 AM)tribeinexile Wrote:  We also faced two very different types of presses Saturday.

The first half press was not designed to get steals but to eat up clock. We had a number of clock shot violations.

The second half press was more aggressive and did create more steals. It took us a while to realize the change. (Might have been a useful TO opportunity for Fischer there.)

The two different types of presses needed to be attacked differently (duh!). I will watch the replay when I get back home but I think our shot clock violations and turnovers were more frequent earlier in each half.

One other thing we lack this year is a skilled ball-handling forward, a type of player we seemed to always have under the previous regime. That would allow us to lob it over the front line pressure. My memory is that we only used the two guards to bring it up. I wonder if Milkereit might have that skill set but he’s having trouble getting into the rotation.

I think that Jack can be that guy. If we can play with the kind of toughness that we displayed on Saturday night, we can compete in the CAA. By the way, on the NCAA website Richmond is ranked higher than any CAA team. Just saying.

(12-05-2022 10:45 AM)WMTRIBE75 Wrote:  ...By the way, on the NCAA website Richmond is ranked higher than any CAA team. Just saying.

Higher than Charleston? Then somebody is not paying attention.

(12-05-2022 11:04 AM)Zorch Wrote:  

(12-05-2022 10:45 AM)WMTRIBE75 Wrote:  ...By the way, on the NCAA website Richmond is ranked higher than any CAA team. Just saying.

Higher than Charleston? Then somebody is not paying attention.

I stand partially corrected. It is the ESPN BPI ratings that has Richmond at 81 and Charleston at 104. The NCAA NET ratings have Charleston at 49, Richmond at 179, and W&M at 236. We are ranked 7th out of 13 CAA schools.

(12-05-2022 11:04 AM)Zorch Wrote:  

(12-05-2022 10:45 AM)WMTRIBE75 Wrote:  ...By the way, on the NCAA website Richmond is ranked higher than any CAA team. Just saying.

Higher than Charleston? Then somebody is not paying attention.

FWIW, Sagarin has Charleston 64, Richmond 108, W&M 238

(12-05-2022 11:38 AM)WMTRIBE75 Wrote:  

(12-05-2022 11:04 AM)Zorch Wrote:  

(12-05-2022 10:45 AM)WMTRIBE75 Wrote:  ...By the way, on the NCAA website Richmond is ranked higher than any CAA team. Just saying.

Higher than Charleston? Then somebody is not paying attention.

I stand partially corrected. It is the ESPN BPI ratings that has Richmond at 81 and Charleston at 104. The NCAA NET ratings have Charleston at 49, Richmond at 179, and W&M at 236. We are ranked 7th out of 13 CAA schools.

Now that is more like it. In fact, my conspiratorial mind thinks that ESPN has Charleston ranked worse simply because of the mother ship’s grudge against the CAA.

I'm curious how far Richmond dropped after our win.

[quote='billymac' pid='18641108' dateline='1670169259']
Some thoughts on a very even game:

Again, a one half game for the Tribe offense. Too much dribbling, not enough passing in the 2nd Half... and Nelson needs to, at least occasionally, look for his own shot.
A very solid night for the defense. As Jeremy Martin said, on the radio broadcast, "Defense travels".

Both teams had one good half, offensively, one bad.
Both teams had one player go off in that half (Dorsey, Burton). Both teams showed they still have problems handling certain defenses (switching D for U of R, pressure D for the Tribe). Both teams had a half filled with turnovers, that the other team was able to covert into easy points, leading to a strong runs by both teams (22-0 to end the 1st Half for the Tribe, 21-3 for the Spiders, to get it close in the 2nd).

Both teams had one good half of shooting 3's and both teams got 22 points in the paint.

Everything was heightened/compounded by the fact that Leslie Jones and his crew decided that they needed a night off. A total of 11 foul shots were taken in the whole game (7 for UR, 4 by the Tribe). It was, pretty much, a no blood, no foul game.

I loved the work put in by the defense, all game, but, man, we need to work on handling pressure better than we do now. Good to see that we are competitive on the non-Power 5 level. Glad we were able to hang on at the end, in the renewal of this fun rivalry.

Two very winnable games coming up this week. Go Tribe!
[/quote

Would be good to see a non-conference road win.