Joe, if you think about it all a zone really is is a lazy man's M2M. Every time a player comes into my area, I need to defend him. When he leaves, I don't have to chase him around the court. I just wait for the next guy. If the kid doesn't know how to break down, move his feet and defend the drive, or he doesn't know how to help, then the zone really won't work either. The only reason the zone works at the youth level, is the young kids generally can't shoot from the outside. So all you are doing by playing zone is taking advantage of the weakness of the young kids, not really playing better basketball.

Let me give you an example from my league. I have a friend who coaches M2M defense so well, that he is often accused of running a zone. Why? Because he puts a lot of focus on proper positioning, help, and recover. As the ball is moved around the kids switch their positioning, help and recover. To most people it looks like a zone. To those who know better, it is a fantastic M2M defense. We have one of the players he coached for 2 years. Not really an athlete, per se. You know the kid who get's picked last in gym class. We'll truth be told, he is one of our better defenders. We run a 2 on 1 defensive drill and he has yet to allow a score. Why, because he knows how to position himself properly. The offense doesn't know what to do. He learned this being drilled on M2M.