Comments on: For The Frustrated Coaches That Turn to Zone Defense http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/blog/index.php/for-the-frustrated-coaches-that-turn-to-zone-defense/ Basketball Coaching Tips, Training Tips, and Strategy Sat, 11 Feb 2012 13:44:36 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7.1 hourly 1 By: Che http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/blog/index.php/for-the-frustrated-coaches-that-turn-to-zone-defense/comment-page-1/#comment-2225 Che Sun, 23 Jan 2011 10:28:31 +0000 http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/blog/index.php/for-the-frustrated-coaches-that-turn-to-zone-defense/#comment-2225 we just had a tournament and a team we played 2-3, we scored right away and "tried" to pull them out of the zone. we were able to do this for half the game because we were up. they then switched to a 1-3-1. i again had my guards dribbling at the top of the key and the arch. is it bad coaching to pull the zone defense to play man to man. or is it smart coaching? since we made them play how we wanted them to? we did up end winning by 6. we just had a tournament and a team we played 2-3, we scored right away and “tried” to pull them out of the zone. we were able to do this for half the game because we were up. they then switched to a 1-3-1. i again had my guards dribbling at the top of the key and the arch. is it bad coaching to pull the zone defense to play man to man. or is it smart coaching? since we made them play how we wanted them to? we did up end winning by 6.

]]> By: Marc http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/blog/index.php/for-the-frustrated-coaches-that-turn-to-zone-defense/comment-page-1/#comment-2204 Marc Tue, 18 Jan 2011 15:41:26 +0000 http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/blog/index.php/for-the-frustrated-coaches-that-turn-to-zone-defense/#comment-2204 How about for 5 to 6 year old beginners???? How about for 5 to 6 year old beginners????

]]> By: mike wallace http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/blog/index.php/for-the-frustrated-coaches-that-turn-to-zone-defense/comment-page-1/#comment-1039 mike wallace Wed, 20 Jan 2010 13:31:05 +0000 http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/blog/index.php/for-the-frustrated-coaches-that-turn-to-zone-defense/#comment-1039 The best reason for not using zone defense. Once a clever coach figures out how to breakdown your zone your kids won't have the skills to adjust on defense and they won't be able to adjust during a game and stop the ball. The best reason for not using zone defense. Once a clever coach figures out how to breakdown your zone your kids won’t have the skills to adjust on defense and they won’t be able to adjust during a game and stop the ball.

]]> By: Joe Whipp http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/blog/index.php/for-the-frustrated-coaches-that-turn-to-zone-defense/comment-page-1/#comment-544 Joe Whipp Wed, 11 Mar 2009 17:50:59 +0000 http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/blog/index.php/for-the-frustrated-coaches-that-turn-to-zone-defense/#comment-544 My current middle school JV team (6th and 7th graders) started last year together. They had only ever played zone in the youth leagues. They were not very good at it either. I believe in playing man to man. I started them at the very basic levels of stance, footwork, and 1 on 1 position drills. I graduated them to 2 on 2 drills working on stance, footwork, deny. Then, added, help and recover. Then we moved to 3 on 3 drills. I continued the progression throughout the year. We finished the year at 5-11. This season, I reviewed the concepts we learned the previous year and continued the progression, only I added points to the defense for calling out each of their assignments as they did them "close out", "deny", "help", "recover", "screen", "switch", "challenge", "box out", etc. We went 15-4 and won the championship beating a team that we lost to twice during the regular season. The time spent on defense and fundamentals will pay you back more than anything else you can work on. As our defense improved, so did our offense. The offense had to work harder and find new ways to score against our ever improving defense. The girls started to "get it". During the last half of the year, rarely did we run through an offensive set. From practicing against a well versed defense, they began to recognize weaknesses on the other team's defense and attacked it with incredible results. Our scoring improved, our offensive rebounding improved, our shot selection improved, the list goes on and on. Even though we do not practice against zone, they even recognized weaknesses in zones and attacked zones even more effectively than against man defense. Some of you may not like the next philosophy, and it probably won't work for every team. Because our half court defense was so strong, I stopped sending four people to the offensive rebounds and kept two back to prevent the other team's transition and forced them to score against our defense. I would pull my 3 off with my 1 unless she was already under the basket and send my 2 through any gap she could find. She ended up being my top offensive rebounder and was second on the team in total rebounds. Late in the year our offense even found a way to transition against a 2 man back defense. How did we do that? Fundamentals! We taught our girls how to pivot, dribble out of trouble, and find the guards. The weak side was off and running. At the beginning of the year, for example, let's say we won 38-22. I would have girls asking me, "How many points did I score?" I simply answered, "I don't know, but I know how many you gave up, 22. You had 15 rebounds, 5 forced turnovers, etc. I rewarded the defensive achievements first and gave them the most praise. I then praised and rewarded good passing, decision making, shot selection, and assists on the offense. I gave little mention to scoring leaders. I had one girl through the first 8 games averaging 16 points per game. She only averaged 9 over the rest of the season. She never once complained, because she was getting rewarded for decision making, passing, assists. Our scoring average was 5 points higher in the second half of the year and our scoring defense was 4 points lower. My current middle school JV team (6th and 7th graders) started last year together. They had only ever played zone in the youth leagues. They were not very good at it either. I believe in playing man to man.

I started them at the very basic levels of stance, footwork, and 1 on 1 position drills. I graduated them to 2 on 2 drills working on stance, footwork, deny. Then, added, help and recover. Then we moved to 3 on 3 drills. I continued the progression throughout the year. We finished the year at 5-11.

This season, I reviewed the concepts we learned the previous year and continued the progression, only I added points to the defense for calling out each of their assignments as they did them “close out”, “deny”, “help”, “recover”, “screen”, “switch”, “challenge”, “box out”, etc.

We went 15-4 and won the championship beating a team that we lost to twice during the regular season.

The time spent on defense and fundamentals will pay you back more than anything else you can work on. As our defense improved, so did our offense. The offense had to work harder and find new ways to score against our ever improving defense.

The girls started to “get it”. During the last half of the year, rarely did we run through an offensive set. From practicing against a well versed defense, they began to recognize weaknesses on the other team’s defense and attacked it with incredible results. Our scoring improved, our offensive rebounding improved, our shot selection improved, the list goes on and on.

Even though we do not practice against zone, they even recognized weaknesses in zones and attacked zones even more effectively than against man defense.

Some of you may not like the next philosophy, and it probably won’t work for every team. Because our half court defense was so strong, I stopped sending four people to the offensive rebounds and kept two back to prevent the other team’s transition and forced them to score against our defense. I would pull my 3 off with my 1 unless she was already under the basket and send my 2 through any gap she could find. She ended up being my top offensive rebounder and was second on the team in total rebounds.

Late in the year our offense even found a way to transition against a 2 man back defense. How did we do that? Fundamentals! We taught our girls how to pivot, dribble out of trouble, and find the guards. The weak side was off and running.

At the beginning of the year, for example, let’s say we won 38-22. I would have girls asking me, “How many points did I score?” I simply answered, “I don’t know, but I know how many you gave up, 22. You had 15 rebounds, 5 forced turnovers, etc. I rewarded the defensive achievements first and gave them the most praise. I then praised and rewarded good passing, decision making, shot selection, and assists on the offense. I gave little mention to scoring leaders.

I had one girl through the first 8 games averaging 16 points per game. She only averaged 9 over the rest of the season. She never once complained, because she was getting rewarded for decision making, passing, assists. Our scoring average was 5 points higher in the second half of the year and our scoring defense was 4 points lower.

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