My team of grade 7-8 boys play a really strong man to man defense. We also play a really good motion offense and have been very successful but we ran in to big trouble last night!

At a tournament we were in most teams were playing a zone defense and packing the paint with really tall players. My guys kept trying to get in and put up good shots but kept getting shut down. Eventually they resorted to out side shots. Ugh! Any tips on how to deal with this? Any videos that I can actually show my guys would be really appreciated. I would like to stick to a few simple strategies. We are undersized but have good fundamentals and speed. In the earlier games we were able to score by beating them down the floor but by the time it came to the medal rounds and hence really good teams we struggled mightily.

Hate the zone defense for youth players by the way!

Thanks for your help!

This is good zone offense video. Simple but effective.
https://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/pr/kelbick-zone-offense.html

Now you'll players will need to hit a couple outside shots otherwise nothing you can do if the other team just packs it and gives you the outside shot.

The video cd looks great but at this point in the season I don't have time to train my boys to do all of those things. What would be your top 3 suggestions to attack a 1-3-1 zone?

Thanks

Running a 2-1-2 against the 1-3-1 can be very effective. Ball movement is a huge key against any zone.

Here are a few quick basic videos that might help:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxzlhYqRkhM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zhb98WlhNHI


In the future, you might try using a portion of your practice against zones. In fact, when your own players practice playing a zone, they begin to see how to beat it. They see the weaknesses in the zone.

It's not easy with limited practice time, but having an offense against a 2-3, 3-2 and a 1-3-1 can help in these situations you're facing.

Thanks for the help. It has helped. Still a struggle to get in to the paint but they are beginning to see the gaps!

Good to hear. Make a rule that you must have two ball reversals before you can try to score. It's a good way to get their zone moving. Lot of passes against zones start to open up those gaps.

Thanks for the update!