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Message: [QUOTE="oldude, post: 5176619, member: 7511"] While I will acknowledge that high scoring offenses have become more prolific in sports, WBB is not the NBA, NFL or MLB. If you can’t stop teams from scoring, you can’t win championships, no matter how effective your offense is. Offensive execution can vacillate from game to game, but good defense is usually far more consistent. Furthermore, the strategy behind teams that press like tOSU, TN and yes, UConn, has as much to do with offense as it does with defense. After the recent blowout win over Villanova, Geno talked about the need to force Villanova out of their slow and deliberate offensive game plan and get into a higher scoring game where Nova basically couldn’t keep up. Pressing a team does two things. It forces turnovers, usually resulting in easy transition baskets or it forces teams to use up possession time beating the press, leaving less time to run their offense, forcing rushed shots, that lead to defensive rebounds, fast breaks and easy transition baskets. Essentially, you press to speed up the game, create more offensive opportunities and score more points. In previous seasons UConn did not have the roster depth to commit to a pressure defense all game long. This year they do. The TN game will be interesting. The LV’s press all game long, subbing in groups of players frequently like hockey. I expect UConn to press as well, because TN does turn the ball over a lot. We’ll see who comes out on top. One last comment. We can disagree on the Boneyard without being disagreeable. There is no reason to disparage BBallf just because his opinion differs from yours. [/QUOTE]

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