I came across Mike Dunlap's new 1-1-3 Zone DVD and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised at how much I got from it despite the poor user reviews on the Championship website. If you haven't heard Coach speak before, you definitely want to pick it up for a listen. He has a lot to offer not just in the X's and O's department but also in teaching and motivating. He has a very hard-ass approach, but very refreshing in an old-school kind of way.

Anyways, he was talking about rebounding out of the zone, and of course most of us teach weakside rebounding when shots go up from the wing or corner. 70% of shots that go up from the one side, end up on the other side. In the zone, Dunlap coaches it as the "weakside wedge". The idea is for 2 defenders to wedge any potential offensive rebounder, the bottom player will box out, and a top player will squeeze the ball down. So if the offensive player gets that rebound, you can either trap the rebounder or rip the ball out,

But what happens when the ball is shot from the top?  Well the obvious answer is that it comes back straight. Which is true. But more precisely, the ball comes through the elbows. He teaches his players to play it as "boxes and elbows". You need 2 guys on the block (boxes) and 2 guys on the elbows,

Well, as always each year, wishing every a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I just came back from Maui (which explains my lack of posting in the last 2 weeks) where our Varsity team played in the Lahainaluna Invitational. We played well at times and not so well at other times, the Curtis Vikings of Tacoma will do very well this March. Very well run tournament and definitely looking forward to going back in 2 years.

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I've written about the Triangle and 2 defense before and since Kansas used it to great effect this past NCAA tournament, most notably in their win over North Carolina, I thought I would revisit it and add some thoughts to what I had written previously especially since I used it off and on during this past season.

As Rick Majerus says in his Triangle and 2 defense Clinic DVD, the triangle and 2 should not be used as a staple of your defensive system. I agree completely with that statement, and Majerus goes on to say that the most important aspect of running the defense is knowing when to go to it, and when to go out of it. The perfect example is the way Bill Self used it with his Kansas team against Purdue and North Carolina, late in the 2nd half when they needed to cool down a hot shooter, and to slow the relentless Carolina fast break. I also agree with Bill Self's decision not to use it against Kentucky, if the other team has 4 good players/shooters on the floor, the triangle and 2 is not the defense to be in.

The key to running a good triangle and 2 defense is finding a player to put on their 3rd best player. That defender will play the point at the top of the triangle in the zone, but is also responsible mostly for the 3rd best player on the floor. That is where your best overall defender should play, not against any of the 2 top scorers. In fact, you probably want to put 2 of your more mediocre defenders (but must be quick) on the 2 top scorers, they are in all out denial (butt to the ball, belly to the man), and they are forcing those 2 players to go backdoor.

Yes, I said that correctly, you want to force the 2 top scorers to go backdoor into triangle zone where they will be met by the 3 defenders. Dribble penetration is encouraged, again because they will most likely be dribbling right into the zone.

Back to the 3rd best scorer on the floor. Your point man in the triangle has the toughest job because he must help on any dribble penetration by the 2 top scorers, but also closeout on the 3rd best scorer. The 3rd best scorer must not be allowed to take a catch and shoot open 3-pointer, instead we want to force the 3rd best scorer to dribble into a shot.

The 2 post defenders must play good post defense. There are some differing opinions on whether to half-front, full-front, or play behind. Majerus likes the full-front, others like to play behind for better rebounding position. I think it depends on your scouting report, if the team has capable back to the basket post players, you probably want to play some form of front. The key for the post-players is that if they are forced to play anybody on the perimeter or in the corner, they do what is called a fake and fade. They stay square to the ball with high hands to entice a dribble drive with a hop forward, then an immediate hop back. In this way, they attempt to level off any dribble drive and force the dribbler to go around the defender where help will eventually be there.

Based on past experience, what hurts the triangle and 2 the most is when the offense uses screens (off-ball and on-ball) between the 2 scorers and the 3rd scorer. The 2 scorers can play a little 2 man game and screen for each other in a pick and roll to get open. It is therefore critical that you have a plan to deal with those screens, whether you plan to trap, hard show, go under, or switch. My experience has been switching has been most effective. Another offensive tatic that is particularly effective is to put the point defender on the triangle in conflict by:

- dribble drive at the point defender and kickout to the 3rd best scorer for a 3-point shot
- wide pin down screen for one of the 2 top scorers backside forcing the point defender to defend the curl
- slip screen the 3rd best scorer and force the 2 post defenders to rotate

Finally, in transition defense, the point defender cannot be an offensive rebounder. His job after a shot goes up is to immediately sprint back to the defend the basket. The 2 deny defenders find their checks immediately to deny, and the 2 post defenders get back as soon as they can.

Like all defenses, the triangle and 2 is a defense in which all players must constantly communicate. Everyone must know where the 3rd best scorer is, and be ready to help on any dribble drive or backdoor cuts.

This past season in the second round of a tournament against a top team, we used the triangle and 2 after getting slaughtered in the first half 30-10, we ended up losing the game 42-37. We came out of halftime and the other team was completely stymied, they went scoreless for 8 straight minutes, their players were heard going to the bench during a timeout saying "we don't know what they're running, it's like a zone but not a zone". The other team ended up hitting a 3 pointer late to give them the lead and we tried playing the fouling game but just couldn't overcome the deficit. The team ended up going on to win the tournament.

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The last couple of days I've been busy putting together a defensive manual for our football team in preparation for the upcoming season and one of the big areas I was researching was the idea of pattern reading. You see, in football most teams that use a zone defense have gone away from straight spot dropping and match receiver routes instead. So, they align in a set zone, say a Cover 2, but then they read the receivers and their movements are dependent on what the receivers do. Now, it sounds like it would impossible to come up with a set of rules to match what the receivers do, but the thing is that receiver movements are highly predictable, because most passing routes are patterned and packaged together into concepts. Therefore, instead of just dropping into your "zone" area and covering grass, defensive backs are instead given a set of rules for a given receiver may do, and the defender reacts to that movement within their "zone" area. Turns out, in basketball, we can apply similar concepts.

In doing my research I came across a chapter in the book by Don Casey called "Own the Zone". It's a pretty good book going through the history of zone defenses in basketball. In the chapter on matchup zones, it talks about legendary high school Indiana coach Bill Green and how he came up with his true matchup zone. He and an assistant were watching a Purdue/Notre Dame football game and thought about creating a zone defense for basketball based on similar rules based on simple offensive player movements.

I had forgotten alot of what I've written in the past couple of years, so I went back through my blog and realized I actually wrote a pretty detailed article on the Bill Green 1-3-1 matchup zone (although I didn't credit it to Bill Green at the time) and it got my brain into overdrive again thinking about the different possibilities of matchup zones.

The original Bill Green matchup zone is based on the principle of dividing the court in 2 halves using the hoopline. The defenders are then assigned:
- a #1 defender on the point,
- a #2 defender takes the first offensive player on the left,
- a #3 defender takes the first offensive player on the right,
- a #4 defender takes the second offensive player on the left or right (the rover)
- a #5 defender takes anyone in the paint or right man high or low



What I did not cover in my original post was the basic matching principle that Bill Green uses, which is based on what the offensive player can do. For you football coaches out there, this will sound very familiar to robber coverage or 2-read. Basically, an offensive player with the ball can only do 1 of 3 things:

1. Shoot. Get a hand up.
2. Dribble drive. Slide and sag.
3. Pass.

An offensive player without the ball can only do 1 of 3 things:

1. Move and replace teammate.
2. Pick.
3. Flash to the basket.

Those are the only 6 things a player can do with or without the ball. On the first 2 with the ball, the defender reactions are universal, they are exactly same for any defense man or zone. On any pass and pick in any matchup zone, you will switch automatically every single time. So really, the rules for defender matchup movements are restricted to 2 movements, replace a teammate, and flash to the basket. All the players have to remember are their original rules. Any movement to replace a teammate is an automatic switch. Any flash to the basket is covered by the same defender. The most complicated movement is any flash or movement through the lane. In this case, the defender passes off their man to the #4 rover and they switch checks. Here are the base formations against offenses that will attempt to align against the matchup zone:






Having this base knowledge, defending flashes to the basket are stated as I wrote in the original article.

The weakness of the 1-3-1 matchup, is obviously the corners. Teams can overload to one side of the floor and now the defense has to break its rules to cover the 4 players on one side.



In order to combat this problem, the #5 switches to take the corner man and #3 (or #2 if overload is on the left) takes the offensive player in the paint.



If you are having a problem with the overload with a player in the corner, Bill Green has a 1-1-3 matchup which is stronger towards the baseline. Instead of using the hoopline as the divider, now there are 2 above the FT line and 3 below. If one of the 3 low players goes above the FT line, the #4 rover carries him above the divider.



I think the problem that most people who play a zone defense is that they just play the spots, they don't even attempt to matchup players. It's the same analogy as football defense, you can't just cover grass, you gotta cover receivers. Same in basketball, you gotta cover players.

For a good video that has a similarly type matchup zone system, check out Flip Saunders' DVD on the 1-2-2 Matchup Zone. Coach Saunders is currently the head coach with the Washington Wizards.

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A little late, but I thought I would just talk a little bit about the game over last weekend's Elite Eight game between Duke and Baylor. The big talk was about how Duke was going to able to beat Baylor's 1-1-3/2-3 matchup zone. Especially when you compare how Kentucky fared against West Virginia's 1-3-1. In the end, Duke just hit some big shots, especially down the stretch to take over while Kentucky couldn't buy a 3-pointer if their life depended on it.

A couple of articles, this one from ESPN, this one from CBS Sports, have described Baylor's zone as a version of UNLV's Amoeba Zone used by Jerry Tarkanian back in the day. I posted a long while back on the Amoeba Zone. It certainly looked similar especially when they would trap the post on the catch from the pass from the corner.


But for the most part, I thought they played it more like a normal 1-1-3 zone, but with alot of matchup up at the top of the key to ensure they got good ball pressure. I also posted on the 1-1-3 matchup zone earlier last year. The keys to the 1-1-3 matchup zone that I posted were:

1. Apply tremendous ball pressure at all times.
2. Sprint to coverage areas with strong closeouts and hands held high.
3. Push the ball to the sideline alleys and corners.
4. The closest player to the ball takes the ball handler.
5. There always must be a player in the low post and high post.
6. All five players are required to rebound.
7. Once the ball is forced to the sideline, stay on the player’s “high hip” in order to keep the offensive players from reversing positions and dribbling to the other side of the court.
8. The defender stays on the ball until called off by a teammate.
9. All players must communicate verbally for this defense to work.

I thought Baylor played their zone defense well, but in the end, I thought Duke was able to rebound, and shoot the ball when it counted. It wasn't pretty, but zone offense doesn't usually end up looking pretty anyways.

Ironically, West Virginia coach Bob Huggins also has a 1-1-3 zone in his back pocket, and he's used Jim Beilein's 1-3-1, as recent as last game. But WVU is good enough M2M to matchup with Duke, which is what I expect them to play most of the game in the Final Four.

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I posted way back when I started this blog what Syracuse does in their 2-3 zone. From ESPN today, Bobby Knight took the opportunity to do the same, take a look:



A couple of great things that Coach Knight mentioned in the clip. Your perimeter defenders must work to close all the gaps. A lot of teams that I see play zone, basically play a packed in soft zone, they allow the offense to do what they want. Good teams will eventually work the ball around enough to get a good shot. Instead, your zone defense must attack the ball with pressure and close out quickly on the perimeter, force the action which will result in turnovers. Lastly, you must have good weak side support on either side of the zone.

Coach Bobby Knight isn't known for his zone defenses, therefore he doesn't have a video on it, but if you want to know more about the Syracuse Zone, you can always check out Jim Boeheim's DVD on the 2-3 matchup zone. Coach Boeheim is the longtime head coach of Syracuse University.

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Came across these notes the other day looking for some good defensive scheme information. Most of y'all have a good combo defense in your back pocket to go to, be it a Box and 1, Triangle and 2, etc... I'm mostly a M2M halfcourt guy, but I think having a good change-up defense is good to have when you need to change things up. Sometimes, a change of scheme is necessary when your players are feeling frustrated, you can force your team to keep running what you are running, or try something new.

These are some notes on a Triangle and 2 defense including rules and scenarios to consider, they are from Tom Billeter of Augustana. The Triangle and 2 is a great defense to use against a perimeter oriented team that has a dominant point-guard and shooting guard. The idea is to go chest-to-chest with the 2 best perimeter players and zone the lane with 3 players in a triangle.

Legend

Red Defenders: 2 forward types and 1 guard/forward
Yellow X1: Defender guarding the best offensive player
Yellow X2: Defender guarding the second best offensive player
O1: Best offensive player
O3: Second best offensive player
Blue Offense: Rest of the 3 offensive players

Ball Denial

Most likely O1 will be the point guard. So, the idea is for X1 to force the ball out of O1's hands, then deny the pass back. X2 denies pass to O3 on the wing,


Post Entry

On post entry, if the post puts the ball on the floor, the X2 half digs,


Skip Passes

On the skip pass, only use short closeouts. Don’t closeout the full distance. So X1 still denies O1 and X2 slides to help position,


Cutters

If anyone other than O1 or O3 cut, nobody trails, the triangle defenders just have to be aware of them. If they send O3 as a baseline runner, X2, goes with the cutter. X4 will pass dribble to X2 playing gap defense. X1 stays with O1,


Short Corner Entry

If they run the post underneath into the short corner, trap the post entry with the ball side post of the triangle and X2. X3 shifts over to cut off the middle. Make the pass back to the ball side wing the only option,


Stagger Screens

It will be critical for X1 to be good at tag and trail as the offense will attempt to run O1 through double, triple screens,


Other Notes

- If you do not have a great 1v1 perimeter defender, then put worse help defender (X1) on the other team’s best offensive player (O1). This defender is always making contact with the best, denying passes, and never playing help defense. Try to get in the offensive player’s head.
- Second man defender (X2) plays regular man defense and gives help.
- Post players always play behind the post.
- No dribble penetration or passes to the paint.
- Do not deny the other 3 players.
- Switch ball screens

If you're interested in the junk stuff, you might want to look at Homer Drew's DVD on the Box and 1 defense. Coach Drew is the head coach of the Valparaiso University

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I can across some notes the other day that outlined the rules for a matchup zone defense, they were created I believe by a high school coach and posted on the X's and O's forum. It can be run out of any formation (1-3-1, 2-3, 3-2, 1-2-2, etc...) and in my opinion, is probably easy enough to implement for any M2M or zone team. The idea of the matchup zone is play as much zone, but by covering a man at the same time. So without further delay, here they are:

P = point
L = takes first player to the left of P
R = takes first player to the right of P
M = matcher, takes any player right R or left of L on lowside
C = center, M2M in the paint on high side



Defining who guards who depends on who P guards. The matchup is framed around P and everyone else falls in line. Obviously, this matchup is easier with odd man fronts (1-3-1, 1-2-2) because the P is always up top. But it works with a 2-3 as well, depending on which side the offense usually brings the ball up on (right-hand, left-hand), P will play the appropriate side. The P does not have to matchup on the ball either.

Basic Switches:

As you've probably gathered, this matchup zone is based on the idea of constant switching, through the concept of bumping defenders. On all screens, cuts, and cut and replace, the defenders communicate and bump each other to maintain the formation. So, unlike a straight zone, each defender has a man to cover, but also a general area. As players without the ball move, the defenders move as well (all while also watching the ball), when you check moves outside of your area, you must bump him to your fellow defenders. Communication is key, you must communicate or the defense breaks down. Screens and cuts work the same way. There are 2 basic switches, on the perimeter and in the paint.

On the perimeter, any screen or cut is played the same way, with the ball and without. You move with your check until you reach another defenders area, then bump your check to the other defender. You wait until the other defender calls release before finalizing the switch.

In the paint, C is M2M and covers mostly the high side. M is on the low block running the baseline covering any right or left of R and L respectively. If the offense lines up with 2 high posts,

The M should get anyone going low. If the posts run an X cut, C and M call your basic switch each time with C taking the high, M taking the low.

Weakside Wing to Strongside Corner:

OK, so now that we have the basic screens/cuts figured out, time to go over the more complicated ones. The weakside wing cutting into the middle looking for a quick hit, then cutting to the corner. L is on helpside defense. M is strongside post. As O3 cuts, L follows to the middle of the post. L must communicate the switch, and M looks to switch and yells release for L to cover O5 in the post,

As the offense overloads, the defense reacts to the cuts, and each defender is once again matched up with a offensive player. M must take anyone on the baseline left or right, so obviously M must be very athletic. C stays with O4 whereever O4 goes, except if O4 goes to the low post, then C and L would quick switch,


Point Loop Cut to Strongside Corner:

A very common cut in zone offenses is the point loop cut. Slightly tricky here, but again, with good communication, it should work seamlessly. O1 passes to the wing, and cuts straight down the middle. P follows O1 into the paint. At this point, O1 approaches L's area so L drops down to replace P. L follows O1 through as O1 exits the paint. At this point, L calls switch and M takes O1 to the corner yelling 'release' for L to take O5,

So, you are back in almost the same as the weak to corner cut above. P has moved into helpside now checking O3. If O3 moves up to the point, P follows him up to the point,


Strongside Wing to Weakside Wing:

The last cut is the hardest one to cover because of the amount of off-ball movement. O2 cuts across the lane to opposite lane with the perimeter players cutting to fill. O2 passes to O4 in the corner and basket cuts. L follows into the lane but R drops down to cover as well and replace L. As O1 and O3 move, P moves with O1,

R calls 'release' and takes O2 to the weakside wing. L must sprint back to the strong side wing, taking O1 this time. Bumping P back to the top to take O3. All the while, if O5 drops down to the strongside post, O5 follows,


Final Thoughts:

Teams that scout you may resort to offenses that use a lot of cutting, like an X-zone offense. If your players get crossed up, you can always use a in-game call like base to go straight M2M or straight zone. Additionally, players should always be instructed to protect the paint first, then look to pickup their check afterwards if they get lost momentarily.

Because the matchup zone is relying on the basic relativity of players which doesn't change, you don't want to get too rigid on the roles. You adjust the matchup depending on your opponent, deciding how much help to give on the paint, which shooters you must close out on, etc.. The more zone look you show the better, because you are really playing M2M.

For more interesting perspectives on zone defenses from a M2M defensive-minded coach, take a look at Tubby Smith's DVD on Utilizing Zones. Coach Smith is currently the head coach at Minnesota.

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I've probably utilized all the basic zone defense formations in all the years that I've coached, but the one that I haven't used was the Point Zone. I've seen it run a couple of times and always wanted to learn more about it. Of course, one of the other reasons is because Dean Smith is known to have used it at North Carolina back in the day.

From what I've gathered, the point zone is similar to the amoeba zone defense. It's designed to put pressure on the ball while protecting the basket area. It's similar to a matchup zone in that the players and coverage shifts depending on where the ball is, this creates a lot of confusion for the offense and opposing coaches because they often are unsure whether to run their man offense or zone offense against it.

Basics of the Point Zone:

The basic idea of the point zone is to pair up defenders in a T formation. The top and bottom defenders form a pair (the buddy system), and the wings form a pair. When X1 is on the ball, X4 is at the goal, X2 and X3 are the wings in help position,

When the ball goes to the wing, above the free-throw line extended, either through a dribble-replace or a pass, the T shifts such that X2 is now on the ball, X3 is at the goal, X4 and X1 are the wings in help position,

If the ball goes to the corner, the T shifts once again such that X4 is now on the ball. But because the corner is treated slightly differently (explained in more depth below), X2 is the wing covering the wing, X3 is the buddy to X2 covering the goal, and X1 is the bottom of the T but is now splitting the weak side anticipating the skip pass. X3 and X2 are lower because as you see, X5 is on the strong-side low block,

The position of X5 in this defense is governed by the principle of "defender between the ball and the basket at all times." So, wherever the ball goes, X5 shadows the ball keeping the body in line between the ball and basket. When the offense has their foward/center, X5 should front when the ball is below the free-throw line,

If you are familiar with other zone defenses, this won't be difficult to adapt to. Shell drills should be done with the 4 defenders in the T formation to get the hang of how the players shift.

Defending the Corner and Ball Reversal:

Like the amoeba defense, the most vulnerable spot in the point zone is in the corner, especially when the ball is reversed from corner to corner. According to the orthodox, X4 must sprint from corner to corner to cover. You can easily wear out the defense in 2 or 3 possessions simply by continuous ball reversal such that X4 might simply give up running,

An adjustment you can make against teams that do this is to trap the corner. Either with X2 from the wing or X5 from the bottom, along with X4. Trap the corner, force a few turnovers, and the offense will most likely back down from the corners,


Summary:

In thinking about the different zone defenses you can use to switch up tempo, momentum, etc, I think the point zone is great to have since you can also put a lot of ball pressure, something not all zones do. It should do well against dribble-penetration leaving only skip passes and long 3-pointers as possible zone busters. You can easily adapt the point zone to a box and 1 or a triangle and 2 if you want as well.

For more info on the point zone, the definitive guide is Dean Smith's Point Zone DVD from the legendary UNC head coach himself, but Paul Hewitt's DVD on his 3-2 Point Zone is worth look at as well.

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I received these set of notes the other day and since you don't see too much of the 1-1-3 zone I thought I would give it some pub. A couple of years ago we played against a team that used the 1-1-3 against us and since we didn't prepare for it initially, and we weren't a good overall shooting team from the outside, we struggled against it.

The 1-1-3 is a good zone to use against a team that doesn't shoot well from the outside and you want to take away drives to the middle from a penetrating point guard. In my opinion, it works better than a 2-3 zone because it takes away the gap at the point. It forces the ball to a perceived weakness at the wing and corner posts, and discourages drives to the middle and takes away the point.

Setup and Initial Pass:
There are 2 different coverage areas in this defensive system.
1. The guards, X1 and X2, cover everything above the free throw line.
2. The post players, X3, X4, and X5 cover everything below the free throw line and are interchangeable positions.

1. X1 picks up the ball initially, trying to influence the pass to the left side of the floor.
2. X4 or X3 take any pass that is free throw line extended or below. On the closeout, X4 tries to force the next pass to the corner and discouraging a ball reversal by staying on the high hip of the ball.
3. X2 slides to ball side high post.
4. X5 slides to ball side low block and full fronts any low post.
5. X3 slides to replace X5.


Wing and Corner Coverage:
From the first diagrams below, you can see that if the offense is quick and the ball is entered into the wing or corner, they will have an open shot or step up into an open mid-range. Superficially, this looks like a weak spot in the defense, and it is. But remember, the whole point of this defense is that prior scouting has shown the offensive team to be poor outside shooters, in combination with indecisive or weak perimeter wing/corner players. Emphasis is to rotate down to the block to prevent post-entry or drive,

Pass to Corner
1. X5 takes any pass to the corner using a good closeout.
2. The wing defender, X4, sprints back to the block to replace X5 trying to deflect any low post entry passes.

Corner to Wing Pass
1. X2 takes any corner to wing pass, while X1 moves to the ball side elbow.
2. Post players rotate back into position.



Against Dribble Drive:
Teams will inevitably try to dribble drive, especially if their point guard is the best player. The idea is to always have coverage up top (unlike the 2-3 zone) and everyone shades with the ball if dribbled either direction.

Wing to Point Pass
1. When the pass goes from the wing to the point, the guards work in a tandem. High post guards takes the point. The wing defender guard slides to high post.

Dribble Entry
1. On the dribble entry, the point defender stays with the ball.
2. Everyone else slides in the direction of the ball.



Against Skip Passes:
Because the wings and corners are most vulnerable, teams will try to run skips or pin and skips to disorient the defense. This is where most of your drills will work on, getting to those closeouts.

Corner to Wing Skip Pass
1. If a skip pass is made from the corner to the opposite wing, use the closest defender rule. In this case, X1 closes down on the ball.
2. Everyone else slides towards the ball.

Wing to Corner Skip Pass
1. The post player closest to the corner takes the skip pass.
2. Everyone else slides towards the ball into their perspective positions.



For more breakdown drills you can download the full 5-page notes here.

Final points of emphasis:
1. Apply tremendous ball pressure at all times.
2. Sprint to coverage areas with strong closeouts and hands held high.
3. Push the ball to the sideline alleys and corners.
4. The closest player to the ball takes the ball handler.
5. There always must be a player in the low post and high post.
6. All five players are required to rebound.
7. Once the ball is forced to the sideline, stay on the player’s “high hip” in order to keep the offensive players from reversing positions and dribbling to the other side of the court.
8. The defender stays on the ball until called off by a teammate.
9. All players must communicate verbally for this defense to work.

For more detailed info on the 1-1-3 zone defense, take a look at Bob Huggin's DVD on Pressure 1-1-3 Defense. Coach Huggins is the head coach at West Virginia University.

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If you've been reading this blog, then you'll know that I'm a proponent of M2M defense as your base with selective zone defenses as in-game adjustments or change-ups. I came across this interesting article by John Giannini who is the head coach at La Salle University, providing what appears to be more empirical evidence that M2M is a better base defensive system than zone.

The most common defense is the man-to-man. There has actually been studies done that look at something called the DER -- the defensive efficiency rating. A defensive efficiency rating is 'the number of point scored divided by the number of possessions'. A very good defensive efficiency rating would be 0.75 or lower -- that would be outstanding. People have actually charted multiple games and looked at which defenses have the best defensive efficiency rating and man-to-man usually comes out the highest.

I've never actually charted DER myself, but I think what's interesting about this stat as opposed to field-goal percentage defense or ppga is that it takes a relative measurement based on possessions as opposed to an absolute one. Unfortunately, the article doesn't state where the sources came from, nor does it state the statistical results, but it is still interesting if in fact it proves to be correct -- that the DER stats show that man defense is better than zone as a base.

For more great defensive drills information regardless of whether you are a M2M or zone base, check out Bruce Weber's DVD on 20 Competitive Defensive Drills. Coach Weber is the head coach of the University of Illinois.

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In the first round series between the Atlanta Hawks and the Miami Heat, I thought the Hawks did a decent job on the Heat and Dwyane Wade, especially by making them take shots from the outside. The Heat, not a great 3-point shooting team struggled with consistency throughout the 7 games, and subsequently lost the series.

At the time, I figured the Hawks would need to make adjustments against Lebron James and the Cavs as that kind of matchup zone (or switching M2M) defense they were using would not work here. After a shaky first half by the Cavs, they pulled away in the second through a combination of Lebron drives and shots by his teammates. I took a few sequences from the first half that illustrate how the Cavs spread the floor, and Lebron finding his open teammates,



In the first sequence, it's just a straight drive and kick by Lebron to Mo Williams for the corner 3-pointer as the defense sagged in. In the second sequence, it was mostly a bad primary defensive matchup with Mike Bibby of all people guarding Lebron, gets caught watching the ball and Lebron for the alley-oop dunk.

In the third sequence, you can really see how the Hawks matchup defense left wide open shooters. The Hawks are basically positioned with 1 primary defender on Lebron. Once he receives the pass (which they make it way too easy to allow IMO), the other 3 help-side defenders sag into the lane to help on a Lebron drive,

After the sag, the Cavs run a cutter around, O2 (Szczerbiak) comes up dragging the arc. The defenders have all sagged in an attempt to contain Lebron and therefore O2 is left wide open,


The close out comes eventually but is way late, as Szczerbiak knocks down the open 3-pointer.

Summary:

Against the Heat, this kind of matchup zone (or switching M2M) worked decently. The Heat did manage to shoot better in a few of the games, game 2 in particular. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the Cavs are simply too good of an outside shooting team this year to be left wide open for 3-pointers. What was worse, there was a stretch in the 3rd quarter when the matchup zone failed to stop consecutive Lebron drives. So they were unable to stop Lebron, and contest shots. If I was Mike Woodson, I would probably aggressively trap all ball screens against Lebron and gamble in the passing lanes. But really, defending Lebron and the Cavs is really like picking your poison, they can beat you in so many ways.

For a new video on pick and roll defense, check out Dave Odom's DVD on Defending the Pick and Roll. Coach Odom is the former head coach at the University of Southern Carolina. Don't forget to check out the X's and O's Basketball Forum to discuss this and any of your favorite basketball topics.

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I actually did watch most of the UConn vs Pitt game earlier, what a terrific game, a terrific finish. But since I did a post about Coach Jim Calhoun yesterday, I thought I would switch it up a bit and go with Texas vs Texas A&M in the later game. After a great start, conference play has been pretty rough for A&M so far, they've been competitive, but just haven't put together a complete game. I thought they did that tonight against Texas and as a result pulled out a huge win.

One of the big things A&M did was that they went with a junk defense to take away the scoring threat of AJ Abrams. And it worked too, Abrams only finished with 7 points on 3-for-12 shooting including 1-for-7 from the 3-point line. The junk defense they went with was the diamond-and-1 defense. I took a few clips from the second half,






Diamond and One Junk Defense:

I've never used a diamond and 1 defense, when I've gone junk it's mostly box and 1. But I think the diamond has some unique advantages. In the box and 1, you are vulnerable to penetration of the gap from the top and the shot as well. Like the 1-1-3 vs the 2-3, the 1 man front up top allows you to put pressure on the ball up top easier, against penetration and the shot,


While the diamond and 1 did take away Abrams as a scoring threat, I thought Texas did a decent job (obviously not good enough though because they lost) exploiting the middle of the diamond. That is where the box is probably stronger, against the middle area.

Summary:

I usually don't like junk defenses. But I think if you are playing against a team that has that 1 dominant threat (I know, that is pretty much most Varsity teams), then it works well in stretches. Like anything though, teams adjust, especially late in the season so good teams have usually seen every kind of defense thrown at them. Still, I think it can be an effective change-up to use, something to keep in the repertoire.

I don't think there's any video out there teaching the diamond and one, but if you're interested in the junk stuff, you might want to look at Homer Drew's DVD on the Box and 1 defense. As always, don't forget to check out the the X's and O's of Basketball forum to get all your hoops fill.

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Caught the late game yesterday in Mountain West conference play between Wyoming and New Mexico. Coach Steve Alford had the Lobos on a roll all night and it was great shooting and a tough packline defense that soundly trounced the Cowboys of Wyoming. I thought that Wyoming stuck with their 2-3 zone too long while New Mexico went on like a 15-0 run as they hit back to back to back 3-pointers.

On defense, I really liked what the Lobos did, essentially running a combo or junk defense. They run a packline defense, but they adjusted it to take away Wyoming's best player Brandon Ewing. At times, they left other Wyoming players wide open to shoot 3-pointers, which they missed. Here are a few sequences from throughout the game,




Packline Defense:

When Brandon Ewing went to the bench, New Mexico went with the traditional packline. Everyone 1 foot inside the 3-point line, the ball defender closing out hard on the ball with high hands,



Pack And 1:

When Brandon Ewing was on the floor, New Mexico would switch up to a Pack and 1. Basically, once the ball was passed out of Ewing, X1 would stay with in denial defense. The ball defender was closing out hard with high hands. The other 3 players were in normal packline position,



Summary:

I like the packline defense generally because it allows you to keep M2M principles but adjust it based on the situation as shown by New Mexico last night. You can still play up the line on the line as an option out of packline as well. So basically, you can play up, down, or a mixture of both depending on the opponent. In a way, it's probably easier for your players to run than switching up different zone defenses, especially if you want your players to still keep their M2M principles in the back of their mind.

For more info on New Mexico and how they practice their defense, take a look at Steve Alford's DVD on M2M Progression Drills. As always, be sure to check out the X's and O's of Basketball Forum to discuss this and more of your favorite basketball topics.

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Went through some archived NBA games and came across this game between the Philadelphia 76ers and the Los Angeles Clippers. 2 teams that had a lot of high expectations going into the season but have so far disappointed. The 76ers won the game, but they really made it a lot harder on themselves. They are a good team defensively, but they just don't have enough offense right now to beat the better teams in the NBA.

The 76ers ran a matchup zone the entire game. Personally, I wouldn't run it the entire the game, but I think that it helped to force the Clippers to become a perimeter team. Here are a few sequences from throughout the game of the 76ers matchup zone,



The matchup zone is perhaps as confusing to run as it is to play against. Is it a zone defense, or is it a switching M2M? Every matchup zone is specific in that there are set rules to defend against different situations. Therefore, each matchup zone will most likely not like another, and depending on what you want to do defensively, the rules may go counter to what you would normally do in a traditional M2M or zone defense. The rules that you need to specify how your matchup zone will defend are:

1. How will you defend PNRs and other screens? Will you switch, double, hedge, fight through, etc..
2. How will you defend against cutters into the lane? Will the defender follow all basket cuts, baseline cuts, etc...
3. How will you defend penetration into the gaps? Who will help and from where. Who rotates to closeout? Who do you leave open?

PNR Defense Stop the Ball and Rotate:

For the Sixers, they always stop the ball first, then rotate to the next pass. They always stop penetration first, then every one must rotate to the first pass away. The PNR is set by O4, then O4 pops out. X4 and X1 stop the ball,

X1 and X4 stop the ball. X2, X3, and X5 are basically zoned up in a mini-triangle. Once the ball goes to O4, X2 closes him out. The ball is reversed to O2, X3 closes him out,

The ball is finally reversed all the way to O3. X2 rotates from O4 and closes out O3. Note, instead of X4 rotating down to take O5 and X5 rotating to close out O3, X5 moves with his check O5 (not sure why, probably one of the Sixers matchup rules for bigs on bigs). In this case, X4 rotates back to his original check O4,


Defending Cutters:

In this specific case, the 76ers decide not to follow O3 cutting baseline into the lane. X3 first looks to trail, then comes back to the ball, presumably to help on penetration against O2 (Baron Davis),

After O3 cuts, you'll see X4 and X3 zoned up. Again, it is probably built into their rules that O3 is to be left semi-open on purpose,

I didn't show the entire sequence, but eventually the ball is skipped to O3 in the short corner, but X3 closes out, and the ball is kicked back out.

Summary:

The matchup zone is a great way to disrupt the offense. Because of the specific rules, the defense is very unpredictable and as an offense sometimes teams tend to play to break the zone instead of just running their normal sets. The matchup zone has its flaws though. First, you give up more offensive rebounds due to all the switching and closing out, forwards crashing the boards tend to get overlooked. Second, it is inherently complex, and so players tend to sometimes forget rules, or 2 players get mixed up on exactly what to do at a given moment and the offense takes advantage. I think the Sixers did a good job with it, but like I said, I wouldn't run it all game. I'd run it once in a while say out of a timeout, just to throw off the other team.

For a brand new video on the matchup zone defense, take a look at Dave Odom's DVD on his 10-Rule Matchup Zone. Coach Odom is a former head coach of South Carolina and Wake Forest. Discuss your favorite offenses at the X's and O's Basketball Forum with other coaches from around the world.

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