Pressing and trapping

[HuskyNan]

About 20-25 years ago, the Huskies did a lot of pressing and trapping defensively, almost to the point that it was a hallmark of the team’s defense. I remember Mel Thomas, especially, was canny about helping to trap her player on the sideline. Somehow, the Huskies got away from it, not sure why. This year, I’ve seen more pressing and trapping than I’ve seen in a long time and I’m loving it. Geno has no doubt decided he has enough quality depth at guard to resurrect the exhausting defense. It’s been very effective and I find myself wishing for a rematch with Ohio State in the NCAA’s.

 

[housekeys]

About 20-25 years ago, the Huskies did a lot of pressing and trapping defensively, almost to the point that it was a hallmark of the team’s defense. I remember Mel Thomas, especially, was canny about helping to trap her player on the sideline. Somehow, the Huskies got away from it, not sure why. This year, I’ve seen more pressing and trapping than I’ve seen in a long time and I’m loving it. Geno has no doubt decided he has enough quality depth at guard to resurrect the exhausting defense. It’s been very effective and I find myself wishing for a rematch with Ohio State in the NCAA’s.

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I agree, it has been missing. It makes sense that UConn would go back to it, since one of Geno's tactics has always been to "speed teams up" and make them uncomfortable. Pressing is very good at making teams play faster than they want to.

 

[hoopsnloops32]

Without Aubrey I don’t think it will be as effective but brining Ines in as eighth man I might be wrong about that. We will see.

 

[huskeynut]

They pressed and sped up Georgetown today. That started about half way thru the first quarter. We know the results.

 

[HopJim]

Interesting first few minutes, when Georgetown did a great job of getting the ball inside for layups by their bigs. With 3-4" height advantage, they were taking it to UConn inside. When the Huskie guards turned up the heat, the Hoya guards couldn't get their passes off. Don't remember this tactic working at all after Q2.

 

[BB Dawg]

About 20-25 years ago, the Huskies did a lot of pressing and trapping defensively, almost to the point that it was a hallmark of the team’s defense. I remember Mel Thomas, especially, was canny about helping to trap her player on the sideline. Somehow, the Huskies got away from it, not sure why. This year, I’ve seen more pressing and trapping than I’ve seen in a long time and I’m loving it. Geno has no doubt decided he has enough quality depth at guard to resurrect the exhausting defense. It’s been very effective and I find myself wishing for a rematch with Ohio State in the NCAA’s.

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When you only play 7 players, you cannot do that. - They wear out. - However, at the beginning of the season before all the injuries they were pressing.

 

[Next 12]

Uconn's defense is complete harassment and domination. We swarm,block,control and play fast. Our opposition is not ready for us and many mistakes are made. On our side ,our turnovers have been reduced dramatically and it is self sustaining. This team is becoming a unique and interesting team, mainly because of our Freshmen and their way of gelling into a run producing team and a defensive wall that completely shuts down the opposition.There is nothing but wins and titles in our future. GO HUSKIES!!!!!

 

[Next 12]

When you only play 7 players, you cannot do that. - They wear out. - However, at the beginning of the season before all the injuries they were pressing.

You CAN when they are conditioned to go all out like Ashlynn, KK , Nika, Paige and Aaliyah for 35+ minutes as they have been doing the last 7 games. I have FAITH! GO FRESHMEN!!!! GO HUSKIES!!!!!

 

[Monte]

If you have a lot less height than the opposition, it helps to press; it shakes them up, and they don't have the time to set up their big players.

 

[oldhusky]

You CAN when they are conditioned to go all out like Ashlynn, KK , Nika, Paige and Aaliyah for 35+ minutes as they have been doing the last 7 games. I have FAITH! GO FRESHMEN!!!! GO HUSKIES!!!!!

I believe you have a valid point regarding conditioning. Not just this year but in the last several injury plagued years. Still getting tired is a factor, just much less of one because of conditioning. Instead of being something you do all game long (as I wish we could with the anticipated deep rotation), it becomes a strategic tactic used on occasion, but not something that can be pursued the whole game.

There is another major issue with pressing and a short rotation, namely fouls. It is unrealistic to think you can press constantly and not commit more fouls. With a completely healthy and very talented second unit that is not a big concern. When you only have 7 players you want to use, one of which (Ice) hasn't yet earned the time she is getting, that can be a big problem. the drop-off to Ines and Amari is a big one.

I suspect the strategy Geno may deploy is trying to stick with a fair amount of pressing largely as you say, because they are conditioned, but may have to back off that whenever any of the starters gets in foul trouble.

 

[Puppy Love]

I believe you have a valid point regarding conditioning. Not just this year but in the last several injury plagued years. Still getting tired is a factor, just much less of one because of conditioning. Instead of being something you do all game long (as I wish we could with the anticipated deep rotation), it becomes a strategic tactic used on occasion, but not something that can be pursued the whole game.

There is another major issue with pressing and a short rotation, namely fouls. It is unrealistic to think you can press constantly and not commit more fouls. With a completely healthy and very talented second unit that is not a big concern. When you only have 7 players you want to use, one of which (Ice) hasn't yet earned the time she is getting, that can be a big problem. the drop-off to Ines and Amari is a big one.

I suspect the strategy Geno may deploy is trying to stick with a fair amount of pressing largely as you say, because they are conditioned, but may have to back off that whenever any of the starters gets in foul trouble.

I agree that the fouls could be an issue. For those of us with long memories, early UConn teams under Geno were generally seven players deep. When the game was a blowout, the bench played. The early Big East was really pretty bad (the Big Easy) and most games were blowouts. Since the starters didn’t have to play as much in the second half, you could play intense defense.

 

[BRS24]

About 20-25 years ago, the Huskies did a lot of pressing and trapping defensively, almost to the point that it was a hallmark of the team’s defense. I remember Mel Thomas, especially, was canny about helping to trap her player on the sideline. Somehow, the Huskies got away from it, not sure why. This year, I’ve seen more pressing and trapping than I’ve seen in a long time and I’m loving it. Geno has no doubt decided he has enough quality depth at guard to resurrect the exhausting defense. It’s been very effective and I find myself wishing for a rematch with Ohio State in the NCAA’s.

I think it takes not only a deeper team with the quickness to do so, but also the collective team IQ on defense of knowing who needs to be where, what to do, and how to react to the other team's actions as they play out. With a 4 guard lineup, perhaps Geno wants to speed the opposition up and force them into an uncomfortable pace, then if we turn them over, we speed up the scoring and then it may force them to rush the next possession, and so on?

 

[Bone Dog]

Fouls are a concern, but as for conditioning, I think we've got the legs for it. I remember tOSU running their press with only 6 or 7 players for most of last season. Of course, this is something they've worked on for a few seasons now and have gotten quite efficient at, so they are not likely to suffer as much as we might from foul problems.

 

[hoopsnloops32]

Fouls are a concern, but as for conditioning, I think we've got the legs for it. I remember tOSU running their press with only 6 or 7 players for most of last season. Of course, this is something they've worked on for a few seasons now and have gotten quite efficient at, so they are not likely to suffer as much as we might from foul problems.

I was pleased to see Ashlyn was the only player above 30 minutes yesterday. There are a lot of new problems made with Aubreys injury but one of the biggest concerns to me was wearing down Paige, Nika, and Aaliyah before March with too many minutes. It will be balance between keeping them fresh and getting them ready to play the full 35-40 minutes in March but I don't want the exhaustion the team faced last tournament to repeat itself again.

 

[HuskyNan]

I was pleased to see Ashlyn was the only player above 30 minutes yesterday. There are a lot of new problems made with Aubreys injury but one of the biggest concerns to me was wearing down Paige, Nika, and Aaliyah before March with too many minutes. It will be balance between keeping them fresh and getting them ready to play the full 35-40 minutes in March but I don't want the exhaustion the team faced last tournament to repeat itself again.

Even better, it was Ash at 38, KK and Nika at 30, Paige at 28, and Aaliyah only 26. Keeping Aaliyah rested is vital and Ice and Q, and even Ines, have been able to give minutes without hurting the team.

 

[Wilderness]

Not looking at stats, but from memory Ashlyn is the player Geno pretty consistently plays for the most minutes - and that's been ever since she's been a starter. It's not just her superb conditioning - she has a rare motor. I see others tire, need a blow and or lose focus. Never Ashlynn - as sharp and energetic in the last minute as she was in the first. Dependable. Geno's got to love that.

 

[Rowdy831]

When you only play 7 players, you cannot do that. - They wear out. - However, at the beginning of the season before all the injuries they were pressing.

Only Shade played excessive minutes yesterday and she is a workout beast. If they don't press or at least pressure they might have difficulty with some teams. Good news is no one in the league presents a roster that will cause real problems for UConn and they have a good shot of running the table which will result in them getting a good seed in the tournament.

 

[jaydee602]

The other successful part of getting turnovers off the press is that this team does not miss their layups. That has been a major problem in recent seasons. It is a significant improvement in Alliyah's game. She is now automatic under the rim. Those court length & backdoor passes are now consistently being converted into easy layup baskets.

 

[Bone Dog]

Ashlyn is a layup machine! Almost automatic.
KK missed a bunch of layups, though it may have mainly been because she was trying to hard to get to the rim and maybe moving too fast. I think she's figuring this out.
Q has a smooth layup move, but she hasn't gotten a lot of chances yet.

 

[hoopsnloops32]

Even better, it was Ash at 38, KK and Nika at 30, Paige at 28, and Aaliyah only 26. Keeping Aaliyah rested is vital and Ice and Q, and even Ines, have been able to give minutes without hurting the team.

Keeping Paige and Aaliyah's minutes in that 25-30 range for most big east games is going to be vital. I think one of the biggest issues last year that caused the extreme fatigue towards the end was the teams inability to build a solid first half lead. It felt like every game except a handful, were 10-15 points, so starters were playing 40 minutes not just against Marquettes, Nova's and Creighton, but even Providence and Xavier games had them playing a lot.

 

[CL82]

Without Aubrey I don’t think it will be as effective but brining Ines in as eighth man I might be wrong about that. We will see.

I'm hoping Ines does well with the extra time on the court. In last year's injury debacle she got thrown into the fire and did reasonably well as she adapted to the speed of the college game. It was obvious that she worked hard over the season to build strength to be able to stand the physicality of the high major game. It's tough not to root for a kid like that.

 

[HuskyNan]

Not looking at stats, but from memory Ashlyn is the player Geno pretty consistently plays for the most minutes - and that's been ever since she's been a starter. It's not just her superb conditioning - she has a rare motor. I see others tire, need a blow and or lose focus. Never Ashlynn - as sharp and energetic in the last minute as she was in the first. Dependable. Geno's got to love that.

Ash was getting ping-ponged by G’town yesterday which is very fatiguing for the person being defended. She just calmly rose up for a jump shot, and her trademark fist pump, sort of a wordless “take that”

 

[CL82]

Keeping Paige and Aaliyah's minutes in that 25-30 range for most big east games is going to be vital. I think one of the biggest issues last year that caused the extreme fatigue towards the end was the teams inability to build a solid first half lead. It felt like every game except a handful, were 10-15 points, so starters were playing 40 minutes not just against Marquettes, Nova's and Creighton, but even Providence and Xavier games had them playing a lot.

We ran out of gas at the end of the season because there's only so long these kids can play extra minutes before they become physically exhausted. As you point out building up early leads allows us to play kids deeper on the bench giving two benefits: 1) resting the starters and 2) developing the end of the bench.

 

[hoopsnloops32]

I'm hoping Ines does well with the extra time on the court. In last year's injury debacle she got thrown into the fire and did reasonably well as she adapted to the speed of the college game. It was obvious that she worked hard over the season to build strength to be able to stand the physicality of the high major game. It's tough not to root for a kid like that.

Even if she can give just 5 minutes in most games to keep KK, Paige, and Nika fresh enough to keep the perimeter pressure on, it would be a huge boost.