(Late) Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Along with teaching motion offense to my 11-12y old team this season,I was wondering if there are certain zone defenses that you think a 1-4 offense set would work against? Last year we ran a few plays successfully out of the 1-4, but to tell the truth, I don't remember whether the other team was in a man or zone. I guess I'm still too limited in experience to look at a diagram of a zone and picture how a 1-4 would be successful.

Thanks!

Mark

If you are referring to a "1-4 entry", that should work against about anything. That is when you have a point and then 4 guys lined up across the width of the floor (either high around the free throw line extended or low near the baseline). This spreads out the defense usually works against anything. Here's an example of that entry using the flex offense:
http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/plays/flex-offense-plays.html

When you say "1-4" and you mean a 4 out 1 in motion offense, that is usually pretty flexible and can work against about anything. But when playing zone we usually put players in gaps. So if they are playing a 2-3 zone, we'll use a 1-3-1 type of formation. If they are in 1-3-1 zone, we use a 2-1-2 type of formation. Here's a brief description of a 4 out 1 in motion offense:
http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/offense/4-1-motion-offense.html

Regardless of your formation I would recommend a free form motion offense at the youth level.

Generally if you get players with good spacing, get ball movement, and get player movement.. then any type of offense will work. Just do those three things, practice fundamentals, and let them play.

[size=150]Thanks, Jeff!
Yep, for most of the practice last night we worked on the motion offense set, basically 4 out and a post low moving with the ball. We we began experimenting with the motion, it was all ball entry to the right wing and then motion off of that. Last night we introduced initiation form the left side and also what to do if the defense is tight on the wing pass. Mostly trying to get them to dribble hand-off, guard to wing, then make the cuts and passes.

The 1 - 4 I was referring to was point high and the rest aligned along the foul line area. We had good success with that formation getting the cutter open after screen and pass for a layup. Usually the only time it didn't work if was the pass was overthrown
[size=150]we only get 1 to 2 hrs at most a week to practice so it's always a squezze to get drills/offense and defense into that amount of time.

Thanks for the tips!

Mark[/size]

Against M2M we use a 5 out motion, pass/cut and set screens offense and a 4 out 1 in with same motion for perimeter players. We've tried the 4 out 1 in against zones and it doesn't seem to work as well unless you modify it like Jeff mentioned. When we come up against a 2-3 zone (which seems to be the popular choice), we run a 1-3-1 zone offense that works quite well. It's easy to teach with simple assignments. Our big guy is on the FT line, point guard up top and two wings. Our #4 guy (someone with a good court sense and ability to shoot) runs short corner to short corner following the ball. Off ball wing can sneak in the gap to look for a skip or reversal pass and shot. The #5 and #4 try to work together looking for opportunities to score in the gaps.

All good ideas coach.... With younger kids you can use the 1-4 (or almost any entry) as long as your kids get into passing lanes. A college coach once told me... "its not rocket science coach, put em where they aint." Just make sure your kids are in the gaps and move the ball.

The hardest teams to defend are the ones that reverse the ball. Utilize the short corner... keep a player behind the defense and he will get open also.