Getting Into Our Press Positions


At UW-Platteville we often talk about our system, which includes everything we do on the basketball floor. Our system therefore includes our offensive philosiphy, our defense philosophy, and everything in between. As you will notice when we discuss how we get into our full-court pressure, everything we do fits together and there is a reason for everything we do.

Diagram 5 shows our offensive alignment, as we describe in detail in our first book “The Swing Offense.” The 1 person brings the ball down the right lane, 2 is at the left wing, 3 at the right wing, 4 occupies the left lane line and 5 is in the low post.

Once we begin our offense these five players will obviously move and will end up in different spots on the floor, but no matter where they end up it is easy to move right into our press positions. #1 is responsible for being back on defense when the shot goes up, in our press #1 has basket responsibility until #5 passes him, then #1 moves up to cover the area from the free throw line extended to half-court. In our offense #2 begins on the left side of the floor, consequently #2 occupies the left side in our diamond press. #3 begins on the right side of our offense, consequently #3 is on the right side of our press. #4 is one of our best rebounders and always goes to the boards when a shot is taken, consequently #4 is ready to pressure the inbounder. #5 is also on the boards, but #1 has basket responsibility until the shot is made or the defense secures the rebound, #5 then moves back to protect the basket. See diagram 6.