Amoeba Defense
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Amoeba Defense
The amoeba defense is a defensive strategy in the game of basketball. History The amoeba defense was developed by Fran Webster, an assistant for the Pittsburgh Panthers men's basketball team. In the 1970s, Webster perfected the defense with Pittsburgh head coaches Charles Ridl and Tim Grgurich. Grgurich later became an assistant to UNLV coach Jerry Tarkanian, who utilized the defense himself. Pitt used the defense extensively in their 1974 season run to the Elite 8, winning 22 straight games in the process, before losing to eventual National Champion, North Carolina State in the East Region Finals (Elite 8).Mike DeCourcy.Amoeba defense finds life at UNLV. ''The Pittsburgh Press''. February 1, 1989. C4. Function The amoeba defense is a basketball defense used to wear down an offense. It is a risky defense that mixes the man-to-man and zone defenses together. The defense is set up like a diamond. The two quickest players, usually the point and shooting guards, should be s ...
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Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's hoop (a basket in diameter mounted high to a Backboard (basketball), backboard at each end of the court, while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own hoop. A Field goal (basketball), field goal is worth two points, unless made from behind the 3 point line, three-point line, when it is worth three. After a foul, timed play stops and the player fouled or designated to shoot a technical foul is given one, two or three one-point free throws. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins, but if regulation play expires with the score tied, an additional period of play (Overtime (sports), overtime) is mandated. Players advance the ball by bouncing it while walking ...
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Pittsburgh Panthers
The Pittsburgh Panthers, commonly also referred to as the Pitt Panthers, are the athletic teams representing the University of Pittsburgh, although the term is colloquially used to refer to other aspects of the university such as alumni, faculty, and students. Pitt fields 19 university-sponsored varsity teams at the highest level of competitive collegiate athletics in the United States: the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) for American football. Varsity men's sports sponsored by the university are baseball, basketball, cross country, football, soccer, swimming and diving, indoor track and field, outdoor track and field, and wrestling; while sponsored women's varsity sports include basketball, cross country, gymnastics, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, indoor track and field, outdoor track and field, and volleyball. Pitt will sponsor varsity women's lacrosse beginning with the 2021–22 season. All varsity sports teams compete as members of the Atlantic C ...
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Charles Ridl
Charles G. "Buzz" Ridl (June 27, 1920 – April 28, 1995) was an American college head coach of men's basketball born in the Pittsburgh suburb of Irwin, Pennsylvania. He was the long-time coach at Westminster College in Pennsylvania, until 1968 when he was tapped for Division I by the Pittsburgh Panthers. He resurrected a failing program after former coach Timmons lost control of his once competitive team in the midst of the late 1960s protest culture. Along with defensive coordinator Fran Webster and assistant Tim Grgurich, Ridl developed the often duplicated "Amoeba defense The amoeba defense is a defensive strategy in the game of basketball. History The amoeba defense was developed by Fran Webster, an assistant for the Pittsburgh Panthers men's basketball team. In the 1970s, Webster perfected the defense with Pit ..." and shocked the basketball world with it in 1973-1974 with a school record 22 straight wins and an Elite Eight appearance. He was inducted into t ...
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Tim Grgurich
Tim Grgurich (born June 10, 1942) is an American basketball coach. Grgurich served as the head coach at his alma mater, the University of Pittsburgh, for 5 seasons in the mid to late 1970s. He also served as the head coach at UNLV for the first seven games of the 1994–95 season before abruptly resigning. He arrived at UNLV in the mid–1980s, importing the amoeba defense developed when he was a Pitt assistant under Bob Timmons and Charles Ridl to Jerry Tarkanian's teams. Early life A native of the Lawrenceville neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Grgurich attended Central Catholic High School. As a player at Pitt he led the team to two consecutive post season tournaments in 1963 and 1964. He then served 12 years (1964–1975) as an assistant coach and head of recruiting under Timmons and Ridl. Grgurich helped to develop Pitt's famous amoeba defense that along with the superlative play of All-American forward Billy Knight launched a 22-game win streak for Pitt in the 1973–1974 seas ...
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UNLV
The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. It includes the Shadow Lane Campus, just east of the University Medical Center of Southern Nevada, which houses both School of Medicine and School of Dental Medicine. UNLV's law school, the William S. Boyd School of Law, is the only law school in the state. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity". According to the National Science Foundation, UNLV spent $83 million on research and development in 2018, ranking it 165th in the nation. History The first college classes, which eventually became the classes of UNLV, were offered as the southern regional extension division of the University of Nevada, in 1959 in a classroom at Las Vegas High School. In 1955, State Senator Mahlon Brown "sponsored the legislation ...
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Jerry Tarkanian
Jerry Tarkanian (August 8, 1930 – February 11, 2015) was an American basketball coach. He coached college basketball for 31 seasons over five decades at three schools. He spent the majority of his career coaching with the UNLV Runnin' Rebels, leading them four times to the Final Four of the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, winning the national championship in 1990. Tarkanian revolutionized the college game at UNLV, utilizing a pressing defense to fuel its fast-paced offense. Overall, he won over 700 games in his college coaching career, only twice failing to win 20 games, while never having a losing season. Tarkanian was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2013. Tarkanian studied at Pasadena City College and later Fresno State, earning a bachelor's degree while playing basketball. He was a head coach at the high school level before becoming a successful junior college coach at Riverside City College winning three state championship ...
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Man-to-man Defense
Man-to-man defense, or man defense, is a type of defensive technique used in team sports such as American football, association football, basketball, and netball, in which each player is assigned to defend and follow the movements of a single player on offense. Often, a player guards his counterpart (e.g. center guarding center), but a player may be assigned to guard a different position. However, the strategy is not rigid, and a player might switch assignment if needed, or leave his own assignment for a moment to double team an offensive player. The term is commonly used in both men's and women's sports. The alternative to man-to-man defense is zone defense, a system of defense (as in basketball or football) in which each player guards an assigned area rather than a specified opponent. Advantages The main reasons a team would want to play man-to-man are: * More aggressive than the zone defense. ** It also allows a team's best defender to stay on a player who has to be guarded ...
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Zone Defense
Zone defense is a type of defense, used in team sports, which is the alternative to man-to-man defense; instead of each player guarding a corresponding player on the other team, each defensive player is given an area (a zone) to cover. A zone defense can be used in many sports where defensive players guard players on the other team. Zone defenses and zone principles are commonly used in association football, American football, Australian rules football, basketball, ice hockey, lacrosse, netball and ultimate among others. Basketball The names given to zone defenses start with the number of players on the front of the zone (farthest from the goal) followed by the numbers of players in the rear zones. For example, in a 2–3 zone two defenders cover areas in the top of the zone (near the top of the key) while three defenders cover areas near the baseline. Match-up zone is a hybrid man-to-man and zone defense in which players apply man-to-man defense to whichever opposing player en ...
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Free Throw
In basketball, free throws or foul shots are unopposed attempts to score points by shooting from behind the free-throw line (informally known as the foul line or the charity stripe), a line situated at the end of the Key (basketball), restricted area. Free throws are generally awarded after a Personal foul (basketball), foul on the shooter by the opposing team, analogous to penalty shots in other team sports. Free throws are also awarded in other situations, including technical fouls, and when the fouling team has entered the ''Bonus (basketball), bonus/penalty situation'' (after a team commits a requisite number of fouls, each subsequent foul results in free throws regardless of the type of foul committed). Also, depending on the situation, a player may be awarded between one and three free throws. Each successful free throw is worth one point. Description In the National Basketball Association, NBA, most players make 70–80% of their attempts. The league's best shooters (such ...
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Double Team
In basketball, a double team (also double-team, double teaming, or double-teaming) is a defensive alignment in which two defensive players are assigned to guard a single offensive player. Among basketball strategies in which defenders are assigned to specific players (as opposed to "zone defenses" in which they are assigned to specific regions of the court), each defender is assigned to one offensive player (a "man-to-man" alignment). However, when an offensive player is overwhelming his or her defender, another defender may help out and create a double team. A successful double teaming can greatly impede that offensive player's movement and passing, such that passing him or her the ball frequently results in a turnover. However, because devoting two defenders to a single offensive player leaves another offensive player unguarded, if the offensive player succeeds in both receiving the ball and passing it to that teammate, the teammate's likelihood of making a shot becomes much ...
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Fast Break
Fast break is an offensive strategy in basketball and handball. In a fast break, a team attempts to move the ball up court and into scoring position as quickly as possible, so that the defense is outnumbered and does not have time to set up. The various styles of the fast break–derivative of the original created by Frank Keaney–are seen as the best method of providing action and quick scores.Practical Modern Basketball, Second Addition, John R. Wooden, 1980 p.153 A fast break may result from cherry picking. Description In a typical fast-break situation, the defending team obtains the ball and passes it to the fastest player, who sets up the fast break. That player(usually the smaller point guard, in the case of basketball) then speed-dribbles the ball up the court with several players trailing on the wings. He then either passes it to another player for quick scoring or takes the shot himself. If contact is made between him and a defender from behind while on a fast break, a ...
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