BuzzerBeater Forums

What exactly are the positive and negatives of using Princeton? What teams would you want to play this tactic against, and what types of players would do well in this offense?

The short answer is Princeton effectively eliminates mid-range jumpers. If you play it your team will usually either shoot a 3 or go inside.

In very basic terms the Princeton system is four guys stood at the three point line, with your center stood just outside of the paint. The ball is passed between the four outside players and this forces the defence to constantly shift. The tempo is very slow and the team has to be patient and waits until the defense makes a mistake. The defensive mistake will usually lead to a defender having to come and help, leaving an offensive player open, either for a 3 point shot or an open lane to drive to the hoop.

In real life basketball Princeton is a tough system to defend - but it's also a very hard offence to execute. You need all players to have good passing and driving skills and you need good shooters. The center also plays a pivotal role, he needs to be able to fight for his posisiton inside, then pass out of a double team.

I guess it's the same in buzzerbeater - you need your 1-4 players with excellent JR, passing and driving, and an inside guy who can drive and pass.

The only difference is in buzzerbeater there's no stat for "help defence", and really Princeton is used to exploit teams that are poor help defenders and poor at rotation.

So the positives of using it in BB - you'll get a higher FG%, usually more 3 pointers and because it's a slow system you can play a fast defence like full court press.

Negatives - i assume you'll see a lot of turnovers and shot clock violations. Teams with good OD will be hard to beat.

Hope this helped!

Last edited by Soel at 3/28/2009 8:15:28 PM

Just from what I've heard in the forums, it's terrible.

Just from what I've heard in the forums, it's terrible.

I must admid I have bad experience with princeton myself and in important games will never opt for this offense.

However!!!

All this (forumposts and my own experience) do not prove it a bad system in BB.

The key point here is:
What do most teams like to train? right... jump shot
What does princeton avoid? right... midrange jumpshots.

Teams who train jumpers, and therefor have players with decent jumpshot will have better experience with offenses that use the jumpshotskill more. It is only logical.

So then who can benefit from princeton in BB?
I've told this before somewhere, and am repeating it: teams with players with low jumpshot, but have decent inside shot, driving, and jumprange.
Since you'll have to look hard for such teams (okay everyone might have such a player, but you need 5 and more of these), yes it will be posted often that princeton is bad. ;)

Sorry, I'm confused now: you say that Princeton benefits teams with bad jump shot skill? Don't they need that on all 5 guys in order to make long range shots?

Can you break down the skills that are needed here for this to be an effective system? So far, this is what I understand:

C: High skill levels in IS and DR. I'm also assuming that they can benefit from high rebounding, making the most of the missed shots from outside and in. They also need to have passing in order to move the ball back out if they don't have a shot or an opening

other 4: High passing. Maybe high handling? Beyond this, you totally lost me, since I thought having good outside scoring would be a benefit, which (and if I totally misread it, I"m sorry) you seem to be saying don't really help much.

Aside from that, what is needed for a player to become more effective at sinking three point shots?

sorry, my post IS confusing. ;)

let me try to set it right.

I am not saying that the lower the jumpshot on your guys is, the better they get at Princeton. Ofcourse this is not true, the better in somethin, the better for anything, BUT

if they have better jumpshot then the other skills I talked about, they will benefit more from the other tactics.

let me give an example:

your team has:

JS: 4
DR: 7
IS: 8
JR: 9

in my theory, princeton would be a good option. (your jumpshot is the weakest, so you must try to avoid midrange jumpers).
For 3 point shots I think the range weighs much heavier then the jumpshotskill. Theoretically they take the jumpshotskill and then lower it if the jumprange skill gets lower, but in reality this doesn't show in my team, which might ofcourse be coincidence. But this gives me the feeling they use jumprange just as any other skill in the calculations rather then adjusting the jumpshotskill with it... Just my impression.

now, raise JS to 7 or 8, and your princeton offensive would even be better, BUT a neutral offensive will probably be the better choice here, because with a neutral offense your players will try to take the best shot available, and your skills are well rounded, so you need to keep all options open.

if you raise the JS to 10 or 11, your princeton offense would be better still, but the best choice would possibly be motion, since it favours jump shots, and that is where your strength is...

Hope it is a little more clear here.

JS is NOT bad for princeton, it is just that if you have high jumpshot, the other offenses would be more profitable.

This is how I see it...

thank you very much for your clarification, it definitely helps me understand more of what is needed for running a successful Princeton.

On the other hand, it brings up another question: Jump Range.

Now, when I hear Jump Range, it makes me think of how far or high a player can jump. Someone with colossal JR, in my opinion, would be someone who should be in the olympics doing the long jump. It doesn't necessarily make sense in terms of basketball, at least not with that naming. The only way that I see 'jump range' as helping out is if you've got a player like Jordan who can jump to the rim from a long distance. The problem with that is that it turns into a driving related skill and not a shooting skill.

This is what I am wondering: is JR really trying to cover the idea of how far away from the basket a player can shoot from? This would make sense to me, especially if it is used in taking three point shots. So, in my mind, someone with high jump range has the power needed to get the ball to the basket, and high jump shot ability would mean that they have the accuracy needed to put the ball into the basket.

If this is what jump range actually is trying to get at, could it be renamed to 'shot range'? IMHO, this would make more sense...

On the other hand, it brings up another question: Jump Range.

Now, when I hear Jump Range, it makes me think of how far or high a player can jump.

Wrong idea.Jump range is distance that one player could make a 3 point basket, not the high that it nedds to jump to make a 3 point basket.

For example in NBA, walter scherbiak from cleveland is a terrific 3 point shotter and he make 3 point basket without jump(with him feets on the ground)

shot range would have been better, but it was called jump range, so I guess it will stay that way.

It's effect is stated clearly in the rules, so instead of risking a wrong wording, I'll refer to there. ;)

On the other hand, it brings up another question: Jump Range.

Now, when I hear Jump Range, it makes me think of how far or high a player can jump. Someone with colossal JR, in my opinion, would be someone who should be in the olympics doing the long jump. It doesn't necessarily make sense in terms of basketball, at least not with that naming. The only way that I see 'jump range' as helping out is if you've got a player like Jordan who can jump to the rim from a long distance. The problem with that is that it turns into a driving related skill and not a shooting skill.

This is what I am wondering: is JR really trying to cover the idea of how far away from the basket a player can shoot from? This would make sense to me, especially if it is used in taking three point shots. So, in my mind, someone with high jump range has the power needed to get the ball to the basket, and high jump shot ability would mean that they have the accuracy needed to put the ball into the basket.

If this is what jump range actually is trying to get at, could it be renamed to 'shot range'? IMHO, this would make more sense...

This has been debated before in other posts. Jump Range is an inaccurate term, it should be called jump shot range. A jump shot is not about jumping, its about shooting. If you have a good jump shot, it doesnt mean you jump higher, it means you sink more jumpers (even if you remain flatfooted for a shot, it can still be a jump shot). Jump Range has to do only with the range of your jump shot, and nothing to do with actually jumping. Jump shot range or perhaps outside accuracy would be better terms for clarity.

maybe we can petition the BBs to make that adjustment so that it's easier to understand. Hopefully it won't be that hard to do or have that huge an impact on the game.

Then again, who knows? Maybe it would bring the game grinding to a halt... :P