We better start practicing...

[denverMU]

zone defense.  With a very short bench and a very short team we are going to have to play zone in the BEAST.  Does anyone know if we even practice a zone?

[yellow chickens]

id like to see some sort of zone press. i dont know if we really have the big man in the middle necessary to pull off a half court zone against good teams

[ChicosBailBonds]

id like to see some sort of zone press. i dont know if we really have the big man in the middle necessary to pull off a half court zone against good teams

I think you are right, but considering Dayton went 0 for 24 last night from 3 point land, it would have been nice to see a few possessions of us playing zone tonight.  Perhaps we did, but didn't recall seeing it from us tonight.

[denverMU]

...as opposed to the big in the middle to play man to man????

[yellow chickens]

in man to man you can front your larger opponent and keep him from even catching the ball. in zone you are guarding an area, and keeping drivers from making shots, we dont have any shot blockers who could do this w/o fouling every play

[denverMU]

zone should be able to stop the guards from driving and scoring endlessly.  Also, with such a short bench, we are going to need to protect key players when they get into foul trouble. ( it would not hurt to tell Hayward to look up when he runs down court so he doesn't trip the other teams guard and fouls out)

[ecompt]

I don't think we played ANY kind of recognizible defense against Dayton. We tried to take advantage of our quickness by overplaying the passing lanes, but Dayton was quicker (and much bigger) than we are. I think next Saturday's game is the litmus test. If Bucky beats us at home (and unless Otule and Fulce are gods), we are in for a very long season.

[Murffieus]

Actually we line up better against UW than we do against a quick-athletic team like Dayton. The type of defense we use (tight to your man with or without the ball) works against non quick-athletic teams (e.g. NI)and except for Hughes UW falls into that category.

But to the point----if Buzz can't teach a man defense any better than what we've seen, he would certainly be better off to use a zone----easier to teach.

However, I don't understand why he can't teach an effective man defense with all the quickness we have!