Zone Offense

[MUCrisco]

I have never liked our zone offense.  We run sets versus a zone like we do against a man to man.  Many times, teams switch up their defenses against us.  It always takes us so long to get our guys in place for different sets, and this works for the zone defense's favor.

In my opinion, the best way to attack a zone, is ball movement by reversing the ball and going inside and out, overloading the ball side,, screening the zone, and crashing the offensive boards.  Our sets take care of the last 3, but I don't like our ball movement versus a zone.

Last year, we had possibly the best shooter in the planet.  Still, we struggled against a zone.  In my opinion, since our guys' first thought is to penetrate, I think a lot of teams will go to a zone against us this year.  We should be ok, with Matthews, Fitz, and Hayward on the perimeter.  Also, our first option will still be to score off of transition since the best way to beat a zone is to score before it sets up.

Both Syracuse and G-Twon feature their zone.  In recent years, Louisville has played a zone.  Do people think our zone offense will cause us problems this year?

[rocky_warrior]

Well, you know when it comes to Xs & Os, I probably wouldn't be able to locate the whiteboard.  That said...

I do worry about the teams that will try to slow down the game on us (though that doesn't necessarily have to do with zone).  With an "average" team it's easier to overcome, but when you get to a team like GTown that has exceptional athletes as well, it has and will probably continue to give us fits.

As for the reversing the ball when playing against zone, I got the feeling we didn't do it much, because the guys in the middle didn't have very good court vision / awareness.  I've got to imagine crean would teach that, but if it ends up resulting in turnovers a lot, you're not going to encourage it much until players improve.  Now we get to JG's "supervised repetitions" theory, but teaching court vision is a tough thing to do

[MUCrisco]

As for the reversing the ball when playing against zone, I got the feeling we didn't do it much, because the guys in the middle didn't have very good court vision / awareness.  I've got to imagine crean would teach that, but if it ends up resulting in turnovers a lot, you're not going to encourage it much until players improve.  Now we get to JG's "supervised repetitions" theory, but teaching court vision is a tough thing to do

People have zone offenses which are based on concepts rather than plays.  There is no set pattern on where people should move or where the ball should go.  There are a lot more ball reversals as a result.  Marquette runs sets against a zone.  The ball movement is mostly planned.  Also, it takes so much time to get guys in the right spots. 

[rocky_warrior]

So, the question really is: Will Crean alter his practice of using sets against a zone?

He seemed much better at adapting to games last year than the few previous, though I think a lot of that had to do with having talent that could adjust too.  But, he does like his sets (and a majority of the time I do too), so only time will tell.

[OfficeLinebacker]

MUCriso,

I agree with your comments on the zone offense.  They need more ball reversal and to make the zone react to their passing and possibly penatrate the gaps after ball reversal and kick to the open man.  Sets against the zone become stagnant and if they dont produce a shot often cause a forced shot at the end of the clock.

[Big Papi]

I think we will probably still struggle against zone defenses but I am not that worried about it.  Our quickness and athleticism on the perimeter and as a whole will overcome a lot of our limitations.  Opponents will have to get back on defense quickly after made and missed shots if they want to effectively zone us.  That might be difficult to do without conceding some key aspects of the game like rebounding.  

Unfortunately, I still forsee us trying to penetrate against the zone but now instead of having 2 players with that capability, we will have 4 players who can do that for the most part.  (Chapman and Novak did not have that ability last year).  Better ball handlers and passers might allow this strategy to be a bit more effective.  Also, if Barro and Kinsella can offer us anything down low, and it looks like they have improved than we might be able to go inside/out against some zones unlike the last few years.

 

[thisists]

Well, he is running practices with a 20 sec shot clock.  If that isn't teaching them how to work a ball quicker (and with more effectiveness in that short time) IDK what could.  This group seems pretty versatile to me.