1-2-1-1 Press

The 1-2-1-1 press is an aggressive full court press with many different variations that can be made to suit a team and/or give them an advantage over the opponent they’re playing against.

Similar starting formation to a 3-1-1 press, except that in the 1-2-1-1 press the front middle player starts close to the baseline pressuring the inbounder instead of starting around the free-throw line.

The main goal of the press is to force the ball to be inbounded to the strong-side corner and then immediately trap the offensive player that catches the basketball using the inbounder and the closest wing player.

This is the main trap of the press and the goal is to force the trapped offensive player to throw a lob pass over top of the trap and have it picked off by one of the defensive interceptors.

While this is the main goal, there are many other opportunities for steals in other areas of the press.

Advantages of the 1-2-1-1 Press:

1. Lots of time to recover. Since the main trap is being made so close to the oppositions baseline, if the press breaks down the defensive team will have the entire length of the court to recover and stop the basketball.
2. Speeds up the tempo. If you’re running a full-court press you must be a team that loves playing fast basketball. Great half-court offensive teams hate presses because it forces them to play faster than they would like to. A full-court press is a great strategy to disrupt tempo.
3. It’s exciting basketball. Everyone loves an uptempo, high-paced basketball game. The players love playing in it, the parents and fans love watching it.
4. Fatigue your opponent. If your team runs a full-court press they must be fit enough and have the stamina to do so. When you come up against opponents this isn’t used to the up-tempo style of play, they will undoubtedly get worn out very quickly and start making more and more mistakes.
5. Force the ball out of dominant guard’s hands. Instead of allowing a dominant guard to bring the ball up the court and set up the offense, running a full court press will force them to pass and use their teammates to bring the ball up the court. Once the ball is out of their hands, you have the opportunity to deny them receiving the basketball back.
6. Improves team chemistry. If your players are putting in 100% effort on every possession (they should be), then you will have to use more of the bench to keep everyone fresh. More court time for the bench often means a happier team.
7. Turnovers close to the basket. There’s no better time to get a steal than close to your opponents basket. Since the trap location is made in their corners, any steal will be incredibly difficult for the opposition to recover and defend.

Disadvantages of the 1-2-1-1 Press”

1. It’s very aggressive. There can be consequences to running a high risk, high reward press like the 1-2-1-1 press. If the offensive team is to break the press, the defense will usually now find themselves with one less player until their front line catches up. This can result in easy scores for the offensive team. If you’re running a full court press like this one, you must be able to handle giving away easy scores occasionally.
2. Must have full commitment from the team. The thing about presses is that they require the entire team to work together in sync. If a single player on the court doesn’t fulfil their require role, the entire press breaks down and gaps will open up everywhere.
3. It takes time to learn. The 1-2-1-1 press is a fairly advanced full-court press. It’s not something a team will learn in a couple of practices. This means the time you devote in practice to learning the 1-2-1-1 press takes away from the time your team could be learning and practicing other skills. This isn’t a trade all coaches are willing to make.

1-2-1-1 Press (Diamond) Rules:

1. No dribbling down the sideline. The wing players on the front line must not allow the player receiving the basketball to beat them down the sideline. As soon as they do, the press is broken and it will often lead to an easy score.
2. No passes to the middle of the floor. The 1-2-1-1 press is often broken as soon as the ball is passed to the middle of the floor. This is because from the middle of the floor the offensive team will have loose players sprinting down the sidelines while the front line is trying to recover.
3. No fouling on the trap. The steal shouldn’t be made by the players setting the trap. The objective of the trappers is to force the trapped player to make a lob pass that can be intercepted. The trappers must keep their arms out and use their lower body to take up space.