A highly effective tactical move in basketball, the full-court press is rarely used. What are the advantages of the full-court press? And why don\u2019t teams use it more often?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The full-court press is a basketball tactic, involving the entire court, in which players aggressively surround those from the other team to keep them from getting the ball across midcourt. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We\u2019ll look at an example that demonstrates the power of the full-court press in action, while also revealing why it\u2019s so underutilized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
To be frank, the full-court press is so powerful because it can be used by even the most unskilled teams. However, that doesn\u2019t mean the full-court press is easy. It does<\/em> mean that anyone can learn to employ it. If you\u2019re really terrible at a game, you <\/strong>can\u2019t <\/em><\/strong>follow conventional wisdom and win<\/strong>\u2014you just don\u2019t have the skills. This means you have to be unconventional, and the full-court press is unconventional. On the other hand, your skilled opponents (who aren\u2019t as desperate as you are) have no reason to employ the full-court press because the conventional presses work well for them. Consequently, your opponents are not prepared for the full-court press. Taking them by surprise gives you an edge. Vivek Ranadiv\u00e9,<\/strong> an Indian immigrant who had never played basketball, decided to coach his daughter\u2019s National Junior Basketball team in Redwood City. Not having a group of skilled, experienced players, and without enough time to teach them the skills to make them competitive using conventional strategies, Ranadive took advantage of two deadlines.<\/strong> These are moments in a basketball game when the best teams are as vulnerable as the worst:<\/p>\n\n\n\n This play style, the full-court press, kept the talented opponents of the Redwood City team from keeping the ball long enough to use their skills. Ranadiv\u00e9\u2019s Redwood City team of relatively unskilled players won almost all their games. In 1971, the Fordham University Rams used the full-court press to beat the nearly unbeatable University of Massachusetts Redmen. The full-court press isn\u2019t unknown. But in general, underdogs rarely learn from the past and use the full-court press<\/strong>. Why not? A full-court press involves being constantly in motion, so the Redwood City team had to be fitter than their opponents. Few but the desperate are willing to work this hard. Thus, these tactics are best employed by those who don\u2019t care if they upset some people. If you care what others think of you, you\u2019re less likely to use underdog tactics like the full-court press. (And it\u2019s human nature to care what others think of you, making this difficult.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n This example shows that the full-court press is a risky strategy for a variety of reasons. But if your team is scrappy rather than skilled, the full-court press might be your best option.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A highly effective tactical move in basketball, the full-court press is rarely used. What are the advantages of the full-court press? And why don\u2019t teams use it more often? The full-court press is a basketball tactic, involving the entire court, in which players aggressively surround those from the other team to keep them from getting the ball across midcourt. We\u2019ll look at an example that demonstrates the power of the full-court press in action, while also revealing why it\u2019s so underutilized.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1619,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,48],"tags":[47],"class_list":["post-1667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-society","category-sports","tag-david-and-goliath","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/p>\n\n\n\nExample: The Power of the Full-Court Press<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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<\/p>\n\n\n\nWhy Did Ranadiv\u00e9\u2019s Full-Court Press Work?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
If the Full-Court Press is So Successful, Why Isn\u2019t Everyone Using It?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\nReason 1: The full-court press is hard<\/strong>
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<\/p>\n\n\n\nReason 2: People get angry when you don\u2019t play by their rules. <\/strong>
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