Pace! How slow should you go?

[Frank_Vest]

Pace is one thing I am having some trouble fully understanding. Should I be basing my pace setting on quickness of my starting five or their stamina...or is it a combination of both? Any thoughts?

[Ragin Cajun]

I base mine on endurance levels. The faster the pace, the quicker they tire out. If they have low stamina, they are burned out and can't keep up the pace.

[hollmt]

i agree with ragin on the pace, but you can also go a little deeper with it in different scenarios.

if the team you are about to play has less stamina (especially in their starting 5) than your squad does, you could up the tempo of the game to get the opposition tired quickly and make them go to their bench. this works again if you have a fairly deep bench to back that plan up.

also, another situation even if you do have more stamina than your opposition, but are playing a much more talented team, would be to slow down the pace, in essence using a lot of ball control and milk the clock. theoretically giving your opposition much less time to work with. in a game i played against Maryland as Monmouth, i was thoroughly outclassed at each position from top to bottom and used the slow as snail approach. i lost the game but held the Terrapins to 52 points, down from their 86 points they averaged per game. had we shot better than 20% we could of had a better showing.

also, if you coach each game out as i do, dont be afraid to play with the pace as the game wears on. if you are ahead by a significant amount of points with not much time left...there is no real reason to play a fast tempo game at all.

[Thomnipotent]

Epic reference, Frank.

[Frank_Vest]

Epic reference, Frank.

Thanks, glad someone caught it.

[Ragin Cajun]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tu3AVjfhvqo&feature=related

Yeah, I missed it the first time.