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A full-court press is a
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 (appr ...
term for a defensive style in which the defense applies pressure to the offensive team the entire length of the court before and after the inbound pass. Pressure may be applied man-to-man, or via a zone press using a
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 def ...
. Some presses attempt to deny the initial inbounds pass and trap ball handlers either in the backcourt or at midcourt. Defenses not employing a full-court press generally allow the offensive team to get halfway down the court (a half-court press) or near the basket before applying strong defensive pressure.


Gameplay

A full-court press takes a great deal of effort, but can be an effective tactic. Often when teams are behind late in a game, they will apply full-court pressure as a means of attempting to produce turnovers as well as tire opponents. Certain teams, such as those coached by
Rick Pitino Richard Andrew Pitino (born September 18, 1952) is an American college basketball coach who is the head coach for Iona College. He was also the head coach of Greece's senior national team. He has been the head coach of several teams in NCAA ...
and Billy Donovan, are known for applying full-court pressure during most of the game (this was especially evident for Pitino's
Kentucky Wildcats The Kentucky Wildcats are the men's and women's intercollegiate athletic squads of the University of Kentucky (UK), a founding member of the Southeastern Conference. The Kentucky Wildcats is the student body of the University of Kentucky. 30,473 ...
championship squad in the 1996 NCAA tournament). Presses are especially effective against teams with poor ballhandlers, shallow benches (since players become more fatigued when being attacked by a press), or slow, deliberate offenses (since taking the ball up the court can waste a substantial portion of the
shot clock A shot clock is a countdown timer used in a variety of games and sports, proving a set amount of time that a team may possess the object of play before attempting to score a goal. Shot clocks are used in several sports including basketball, wat ...
). Once a press is broken, however, the defensive team is vulnerable to a potential
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 ...
or open three-point opportunity since defensive players may be caught behind the play. Effective press breaks employ quick passing more often than dribbling to advance the ball up the floor. Short, quick passes are less prone to turnovers than either long passes or dribbling. Another effective way to break a man-to-man press is to pass to the
center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...
. Most presses keep a "last man back" (usually the center) whose job is to disrupt a potential fast break resulting from the press; this may leave the offensive center unguarded and able to receive a pass near midcourt or near the basket for an easy score.


History

In the 1950s, the full-court press style of play was invented by
John McLendon John B. McLendon Jr. (April 5, 1915 – October 8, 1999) was an American basketball coach who is recognized as the first African American basketball coach at a predominantly white university and the first African American head coach in any professi ...
, an American
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 (appr ...
coach who is recognized as the first
African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
basketball coach at a predominantly white university and the first African American head coach in any professional sport. McLendon is often not credited because he invented it within the African American college league. Due to
segregation Segregation may refer to: Separation of people * Geographical segregation, rates of two or more populations which are not homogenous throughout a defined space * School segregation * Housing segregation * Racial segregation, separation of humans ...
, African American teams could only compete against other African American teams. For years, his style of play went unnoticed by white society and later was called unrefined until white coaches adopted it . McLendon's contributions to the game of basketball also include an increase in tempo and the
four corners offense The four corners offense, technically four corner stall, is an offensive strategy for stalling in basketball. Four players stand in the corners of the offensive half-court while the fifth dribbles the ball in the middle. Most of the time the point ...
. Gene Johnson, head coach at Wichita University (now called
Wichita State University Wichita State University (WSU) is a public research university in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is governed by the Kansas Board of Regents. The university offers more than 60 undergraduate degree programs in more than 200 areas of study in ...
) is credited with creating the full court press. In the 1960s,
Hobbs High School Hobbs High School (HHS) is located in Hobbs, New Mexico, United States. It had a student population of about 1900 students as of 2017. In addition to Hobbs it serves Monument, Nadine, and North Hobbs. Ralph Tasker coached basketball at HHS ...
, New Mexico boys' basketball coach Ralph Tasker began using a man-to-man pressure defense from baseline to baseline, buzzer to buzzer. This defensive strategy resulted in numerous turnovers and scoring opportunities for his teams. The 1969-70 Hobbs Eagles team scored 100 points or higher in 14 consecutive games, a national record held for 40 years. Tasker's teams set the New Mexico scoring record for most points scored in a game with 170 points against Carlsbad High in 1970 and with 176 points against
Roswell High ''Roswell High'' is a young adult book series written by Melinda Metz and published by Pocket Books. The ten-book series chronicles the adventures of three teen aliens and their human friends, who attend the fictional Ulysses F. Roswell High in Ro ...
in 1978, and scored above 150 points in three games in 1981. Arkansas's coach
Nolan Richardson Nolan Richardson Jr. (born December 27, 1941) is a former American basketball head coach best known for his tenure at the University of Arkansas, where he won the 1994 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament and led the Razorbacks to three F ...
observed and adopted Tasker's up-tempo pressure defense while coaching at the high school level. He called his version of full court pressure "40 minutes of Hell." VCU's former coach Shaka Smart calls his form of full court pressure "Wreaking Havoc" or "Havoc Ball". The Serbian coach
Đorđe Andrijašević Đorđe Andrijašević ( sr-cyr, Ђорђе Андријашевић; born 5 May 1931), credited as Giorgio Andrijassevic in Italy, is a Serbian professional basketball former player and former coach. He represented the Yugoslavia national basket ...
was the first one to use this technique in Europe. His zone press was an adapted and improved version of Gene Johnson's full-court press. He used it for the first-time with French team
JA Vichy Jeanne d'Arc de Vichy-Clermont Métropole was a professional basketball club based in Vichy, France. The club played their home games at both Maison des Sports de Clermont-Ferrand and Palais des Sports de Vichy. In 2015, JA Vichy and Stade Clermo ...
in 1965. This defensive style was then reproduced by other French squads and quickly became popular in other European leagues.


Other related defense

* Basketball playbook: Man defense plays * Basketball playbook: Zone defense plays


References


External links


How David Beats Goliath
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Malcolm Gladwell Malcolm Timothy Gladwell (born 3 September 1963) is an English-born Canadian journalist, author, and public speaker. He has been a staff writer for ''The New Yorker'' since 1996. He has published seven books: '' The Tipping Point: How Little ...
, ''
The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'', May 2009 (article on the history and effectiveness of the full-court press) {{Basketball Basketball strategy Basketball terminology