Comments on: Gladwell’s Theory on Full Court Pressure is the Only Outlier Here

By: Rush The Court » Blog Archive » Coach K to Coach Team USA in the 2012 Olympics

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 07:15:13 +0000

[...] with the up-tempo pace that Team USA would likely employ even if Malcolm Gladwell thinks that style of play is a recipe for an upset. In any case, this team would be enormous favorites in London and would highlight a [...]

By: Rush The Court » Blog Archive » Coach K Considering a Return to Team USA Sideline

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 14:59:44 +0000

[...] Our top choices would be Tom Izzo, Rick Pitino, Jim Boeheim, John Calipari (no entrance exams required here), Mike D’Antoni and Gregg Popovich. Other than D’Antoni and Popovich, I can’t think of another suitable NBA coach who would be willing to give up his summers to coach a bunch of players that he might be coaching against during the regular season. If Coach K turns down a chance to repeat in London, the question is who Team USA would target as its top choice. Given the standardized test fiasco at Memphis it’s unlikely that Team USA would go with Calipari if other comparable coaches were available. Boeheim is probably the logical choice after serving as an assistant under Coach K, but personally I would like to see Pitino employ a pressing defense with the athletes and depth Team USA could field that would destroy international teams (despite what Malcolm Gladwell thinks). [...]

By: Rob

Rob — Thu, 14 May 2009 21:33:27 +0000

I think the general point Gladwell is trying to make is that the press can be the great equalizer between basketball teams, which means his argument is inherently flawed. The difference between great and decent teams at the college level is usually athleticism. That’s why teams like UConn and Memphis always seem to be good – they get the most athletic guys, and mold them and their skill set to a certain system.

In that same note, athleticism is the key factor when it comes to running a successful press. Missouri is the perfect example this year. If they ran Georgetown’s offense, would they have been anywhere near as good?

Like anything in sports, a press will be successful on a case-by-case basis, and Gladwell doesn’t get that.

By: Rush The Court » Blog Archive » More on Gladwell’s Full-Court Pressure Argument…

Thu, 14 May 2009 03:57:53 +0000

[...] think we’ve isolated what Gladwell’s problem derives from on the fallacious full-court press argument he made last week. Put simply, he’s drinking the Rick Pitino kool-aid. We don’t [...]

By: Allen

Allen — Sun, 10 May 2009 15:09:52 +0000

I am reminded of the UNC-Loyola Marymount second round 1988 NCAA’s. Loyola did something like this, they just did it on the offensive end. They did not really concern themselves with defense nor did the shot clock come into play. They wanted to launch the first available “good” shot. Of course their definition of a “good” shot and the rest of the college world was two different things. This was an offense that was overwhelming teams, lesser teams. When they ran up against a team that had just as good athletes and that played more as a team, the outcome was not quite the same. Loyola may have taken a shot 5-8 seconds into the shot clock but UNC took one 8-10 seconds into it, with that one extra pass, the “team” won. I remember J.R. Reid standing along the foul line and shaking his head at the Loyola players and saying, “Not today fellows.”

10 HIGHEST SCORING NCAA TOURNEY GAMES
L-M OVER MICHIGAN 149-115, 1990
UNLV OVER L-M 131-101 1990
ST JOE’S OVER UTAH 127-120, 1961
OKLA OVER LOUS. TECH 124-81, 1989
UNC OVER L-M 123-97, 1988
IOWA OVER N-D 121-106, 1970
UNLV OVER SAN FRANCISCO 121-95, 1977
TENN-LONG BEACH ST 121-86, 2007
UTAH OVER ST JOE’S 120-127, 1961
ARKANSAS OVER L-M 120-101, 1989

By: Conventional Folly » Mea culpa — More on Gladwell and girls basketball

Sat, 09 May 2009 18:07:42 +0000

[...] reckless generalization about basketball strategy based on the example of one junior girls team. Rush the Court explains: Gladwell completely misses the mark on this one – the full court press as a strategy [...]

By: Ryan

Ryan — Fri, 08 May 2009 05:18:11 +0000

I’m gonna have to read this article.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Wed, 06 May 2009 05:39:23 +0000

It does happen from time to time in the NBA, although given the rules there (24 sec shotclock, 8sec timeline), it isn’t quite as apparent. A good example, although somewhat more subtle than what was discussed in this article, was the Lakers/Celtics finals last year. The Lakers (arguably) had the more “skilled” team (which is a completely subjective comment to make, considering that the Celtics had some seriously skilled players), but the difference in the series was the athleticism-edge that guys like Rondo, Perkins and Garnett (not to mention some of the bench players) had over guys like Fisher, Gasol and, say, Walton. It’s not like the Celts went press-heavy in the series, but they definitely applied more pressure and upped the tempo.

Of course, this gets into my whole pet-peeve where the NBA skews towards “athletes who play basketball” over “basketball players who are althetic”, but that is a topic for another day.

By: Baseball Savant

Baseball Savant — Tue, 05 May 2009 20:27:24 +0000

This is a great response. Admittedly I’m a bigger college football fan than college basketball fan (except IU basketball that is!) but you hear this argument about the option in college football too. The reason you never see option football in the NFL is that every linebacker can run from sideline to sideline and safeties are so fast they get to the line too quick so the QB or RB end up getting hammered in the open field. In college football with an elite level team, the option works fantastic but when the athleticism is equaled out, it’s not such a great strategy. I guess if you are playing pee-wee football with the fastest guy in the league, you should be running option because he can get to the edge and turn the corner faster than anyone else.

By: rtmsf

rtmsf — Tue, 05 May 2009 19:36:30 +0000

Andrew, great point. When you run into situations where the “David” is actually the more athletic team, then a pressure defense is a good way to equalize things.

At the NBA level, that almost never happens because all the teams are super-athletic.

But at the college level, you’re right. I’m reminded of Mike Anderson’s UAB teams or Pitino’s early Providence and Kentucky teams, where they were able to pull substantial upsets employing that defense. Pitino’s seminal use of the three-pointer as a major offensive weapon was also an important element of that strategy.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Tue, 05 May 2009 19:29:21 +0000

While I agree with your conclusion that a pressing defense is less effective at higher levels of basketball and that it is not necessarily a sound strategy for the Davids of the basketball world, I think the key point that you mention is in this phrase: “12-yr olds who admittedly weren’t very good at the skillful parts of the game, but they could run and hustle”…

For a team that is not a particularly strong shooting team, or a team that doesn’t run sound precision offense, but has the advantage athletically, the press (or any up-tempo style) can take the advantage away from the more precise and skilled team and shift it to the team with the greater athleticism. And, frankly, I think that is a truism that holds from the lower levels of basketball right up to the NBA level.

By: Ben (Dear Old UVa)

Ben (Dear Old UVa) — Tue, 05 May 2009 15:43:07 +0000

Oh, damn you all to hell.

http://www.dearolduva.com/basketball/zigging-while-everyone-else-is-zagging/