I think that it is fair to say that we have been poor against the zone this year. What changed against SU? We had some dribble penetration, some 3s, a few O rebounds but what I especially liked was getting the ball to the forwards on the baseline.
Do we struggle to adjust when the opponent changes the D to zone after man? Was SU just slow to respond in the first half (the zone was much better in the second half)? Were we just better prepared knowing the zone was coming?
Finally, what does it mean moving forward? Do you think that we can now "beat" the zone? I think that if I were to play against us, I would change the D back and forth every now and then.
Actually, I think we have played pretty well against the zone this year. I know that Vandy had to switch back to a man because we were slicing up their zone. I remember us struggling in one game against it, but not nearly as bad as previous years.
Multiple days of practice to prepare certainly help. Hitting 3's certainly helps.
Syracuse made a defensive switch in the second half to a much more contain style of zone. The first half they pressured and quickly doubled the ball which we were able to pass out of with ease allowing for open looks. The second half their double teams did not rush in and played the passing lanes more as they rotated.
That being said, early this season we struggled with zone, but we also struggled with our outside shooting. As our shooting has improved (DJO and Buycks both started burning up the nets) the zones we have seen lately have been forced to extend out farther to guard our shooters which has opened up more lanes inside.
The biggest difference is that Tom Crean's whip it around the perimeter for 32 seconds then launch an off balance Hail Mary has ended
Quote from: tower912 on January 31, 2011, 08:17:19 AM
Multiple days of practice to prepare certainly help. Hitting 3's certainly helps.
This. I think that we prepare for each team's primary defense. I think that the other times that we struggled against zone were teams that primarily play man-to-man. Call it the element of surprise.
I watched Seton Hall play Syracuse and the Hall struggled a bit when Cuse went man-to-man. However, it was too late for it to make a difference.