It was a couple of weeks before the start of the 2014-2015 season. The previous season was the most frustrating of my coaching career.

We didn’t play well. I didn’t coach well.

I was determined not to let that happen again. One area I was hyperfocused on was our defense. The year prior, we’d been a sieve. We couldn’t stop anyone.

That was going to change. Before the season, I read an article about the Miami Heat. At that time, the Heat were the best team in the league, featuring LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, & Chris Bosh.

The article said they didn’t touch a ball for the first few days of practice. Everything they did was defense, conditioning, and toughness. This was “Heat Culture” 101.

I was hooked. We were going to mimic the Heat. When practice rolled around, the balls stayed put away.

We spent pretty much every minute on defense. Since we played man to man, I tried to cover everything:

• Ball screen defense

• Flare screens

• Back screens

• Hand offs

The list went on (and on, and on). Nonetheless, I was encouraged. We were going to be hard to score on.

Then came our first scrimmage. And while we were tough to score on, it was even tougher for US to score!

We were devoting so much time to our man to man defense that our offense was being neglected.

At first, I wasn’t too worried. It was early, right? However, as the preseason and early season went on, the offensive struggles continued.

It came to a head over Christmas break. We were playing at a tournament. We got blown out by 25 in the first game. We were 1-3 and fading fast.

I headed back to the hotel, feeling despondent. Something had to give.

The next day, we had a team meeting. In the preseason, we had worked on a 2-3 zone. We actually did it mostly to work on our zone offense.

However, I was desperate. I decided we were going to start playing zone. That night we went out and beat a good team by 10. It didn’t stop there.

Over the remainder of the regular season, we went 14-4. We won our District Championship for the first time since 1954. In the regionals, we used our zone to beat a team that was 21-2, making the deepest tournament run in school history.

Here’s the crazy thing. As much as going to the zone helped our defense, it helped our offense just as much. In the first four games of the year, we averaged 46 ppg. In the last 23 games (including the tournament), we averaged 63.

Why? As Coach Mike Tartara, creator of The Lockdown 2-3 Zone Defense , says in the clip below:

• There are countless tactics coaches use against man to man. Preparing for all of them is time-consuming.

• There are only a handful of tactics coaches use against zone. By preparing only a few things, you save significant practice time.

• That practice time can be used to improve your offense through extra skill development or more time teaching offensive team concepts.

When most coaches choose a defense, they only think of its effect on that part of the game.

The beauty of the 2-3 is that you can elevate your team on both sides of the ball.

Better Defense + Better Offense = A Winning Formula! Learn more about The Lockdown 2-3 Zone Defense With Mike Tartara !

Comments Most Likes First   Oldest First   Newest First Josiah Schultz says: 11/15/2025 at 6:24:03 PM Makes sense, but I feel like I''ve read numerous times on this site that you are adamant about teaching youth players man to man, that zone defense doesn''t teach them athleticism or as many basketball skills. How do you reconcile those articles and philosophies with this one praising the zone defense? Thanks! Like     login   register

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