Texas Tech Trapping Defense Out of Zone and Man-to-Man

I watched a couple of Texas Tech games last year both before and after Coach Bobby Knight retired. His son and current head coach Pat Knight through in the odd press and zone but for the most part kept things relatively the same after his father retired last season. While the Red Raiders still run their motion offense, this season, I've noticed some significant changes, namely on the defensive end.

Under Bobby Knight, the Red Raiders and in fact all of Bobby's teams have been mostly M2M and they rarely trapped. Under Pat Knight, I've seen more half-court trapping and switching between M2M and zone in 1 game then I saw under Bobby Knight in 1 season. Against Centenary the other night, it worked to great effect limiting their opponent to just 14 first half points. Here are 2 sequences of perimeter trapping out of both zone and M2M,




Trap Out of Zone:

The Red Raiders start in your typical 2-3 zone formation. They trap on the sideline as the pass is made from top to wing. They trap while the ball is in the air which would leave them vulnerable to ball fakes. In some ways it is easier to trap out of a zone, because the other 3 players are already zoned up. Instead of rotating to the next man, you simply zone up say in a triangle and play the ball,


Trap out of M2M:

This your garden variety trap on the ball at the top of the key. Very similar to what I've seen Syracuse do in the past out of their 2-3 zone. In M2M though, you have to rotate as the pass is made out of the trap, which means that all 3 defenders must rotate to the next man. If just 1 player doesn't rotate, you'll be exposed,


Summary:

I'm not sure if this one game is representative of their season so far as I haven't watched many Tech games other than this one front to back. But if so, it's good to see Pat Knight break out of his father's shadow a little, develop his own coaching style. I think that's important, while we all want to imitate our mentors, ultimately, everyone has to develop their own coaching methodology and style.

For more info on blending zone and M2M concepts, check out Dan Monson's DVD on Complimenting Zone Defense with Man-to-Man Techniques. Coach Monson is the head coach at Long Beach State . Discuss this and the rest of your favorite basketball topics at the X's and O's Basketball Forum.