Attacking Zone Defense

[spudzj6]

I'm sure there has been threads on this topic, as it. Pertains to the lack of offense shown against the zone lately, but here's my two sense, and I want to know if im just going crazy or if other people see the same thing.

1. First off, I know boneyarders take one comment about one instance and people react as if that that persons whole morale compass is pass the point of sanity. I full heartedly agree that this season is a process, as coach Ollie describes. And I believe that process is working...the team looked immensely better last night in terms of looking like the game is slowing down and finding good shots. I think this team is going to get to where it needs, but it'll take patience on the teams part and the fans part.

2. With that said, I know beating a zone means patience and the right passes at the right time to the right person. UConn seems to be hesitant on a lot of passes. At the top of the zone, a lot of times a guard will hold the ball for just 2 second straight too long before swinging and switching sides. Reading the defense takes maturity and expereience so I get that, but at some point, you have to make quicker passes to get the defense in a compromising position.

3. I got really frustrated at times over this season with the lack of attacking the zone BEFORE they get set up. I'm not talking about fast breaks, I know we are short handed and we need Adams as fresh as can be down the stretch, but there were 4 or 5 instances Monday night where UConn was set up incense before the zone was fully set. Yet the ball handler would back off and let curse sink into position. With such a young defense, if you don't hesitate, and drive at the two guards up top, the defense will overreact compromising that zone. I rewatched the game and saw plays that would have developed for an easy bunny multiple times. I hope this is part of ollies process,where they are too young, and he is teaching patience for the zone, finding the man in the middle, and will instill more of the attack piece as the season moves. Either way, I believe being tentative on offense may be preventing them from just going out and balling. Fast forward to 8:26 in the replay from Monday, you will see an excellent outlet pass from a defensive rebound. It should have set CV up for an uncontested layup, but resulted in the offense slowing down and letting cuse sink into their zone (the offense that trip was actual good following that, with a wide open, but missed 3). Purvis drew the middle defender to him, and would have an easy one bounce pass to the free throw line, except CV didn't run with Purvis, he slowed and stopped at the 3 point line. I know they are young, and I'm sure the coaching staff is telling these guys to be patient against he zone, but gotta know your lanes and how to get open without the ball.

Again, not saying I don't like where the team is going, not saying the coaching staff or any player sucks. Just a couple things I look at with teams needing to find answers against the zone. I am far from an expert in basketball strategy, but just want to know if I am the right track?

Ps maybe it has something to do with our guys playing in jerseys small enough for middle schoolers...seriously, are our guys that much more jacked than the opposing teams, or did our equipment manager buy jerseys 2 times smaller for the intimidation factor??

 

[Sphinx]

I'm sure there has been threads on this topic, as it. Pertains to the lack of offense shown against the zone lately, but here's my two sense, and I want to know if im just going crazy or if other people see the same thing.

1. First off, I know boneyarders take one comment about one instance and people react as if that that persons whole morale compass is pass the point of sanity. I full heartedly agree that this season is a process, as coach Ollie describes. And I believe that process is working...the team looked immensely better last night in terms of looking like the game is slowing down and finding good shots. I think this team is going to get to where it needs, but it'll take patience on the teams part and the fans part.

2. With that said, I know beating a zone means patience and the right passes at the right time to the right person. UConn seems to be hesitant on a lot of passes. At the top of the zone, a lot of times a guard will hold the ball for just 2 second straight too long before swinging and switching sides. Reading the defense takes maturity and expereience so I get that, but at some point, you have to make quicker passes to get the defense in a compromising position.

3. I got really frustrated at times over this season with the lack of attacking the zone BEFORE they get set up. I'm not talking about fast breaks, I know we are short handed and we need Adams as fresh as can be down the stretch, but there were 4 or 5 instances Monday night where UConn was set up incense before the zone was fully set. Yet the ball handler would back off and let curse sink into position. With such a young defense, if you don't hesitate, and drive at the two guards up top, the defense will overreact compromising that zone. I rewatched the game and saw plays that would have developed for an easy bunny multiple times. I hope this is part of ollies process,where they are too young, and he is teaching patience for the zone, finding the man in the middle, and will instill more of the attack piece as the season moves. Either way, I believe being tentative on offense may be preventing them from just going out and balling. Fast forward to 8:26 in the replay from Monday, you will see an excellent outlet pass from a defensive rebound. It should have set CV up for an uncontested layup, but resulted in the offense slowing down and letting cuse sink into their zone (the offense that trip was actual good following that, with a wide open, but missed 3). Purvis drew the middle defender to him, and would have an easy one bounce pass to the free throw line, except CV didn't run with Purvis, he slowed and stopped at the 3 point line. I know they are young, and I'm sure the coaching staff is telling these guys to be patient against he zone, but gotta know your lanes and how to get open without the ball.

Again, not saying I don't like where the team is going, not saying the coaching staff or any player sucks. Just a couple things I look at with teams needing to find answers against the zone. I am far from an expert in basketball strategy, but just want to know if I am the right track?

Ps maybe it has something to do with our guys playing in jerseys small enough for middle schoolers...seriously, are our guys that much more jacked than the opposing teams, or did our equipment manager buy jerseys 2 times smaller for the intimidation factor??

View attachment 17441

I respect your opinion but take an opposite view. I think a team has to use its strengths, and UConn's greatest potential strength, post injuries, is its ultra-long forecourt. It has three 6-11 guys who can turn and hit a pop shot. This team should absolutely focus on hitting the middle man against the zone. Durham, to my eye, is the ultimate zone-breaker. More generally, the zone is UConn's road to success this year. It should be their principal defense, and they should hope to God the opponent employs it against them. The last two games have shown that you can neutralize the other teams 3-point threats by denying them the chance to run their patterns and forcing them to shoot over a zone. Further, it protects a short-handed team from over-fouling. Meanwhile, UConn's only effective offense of late has been to find the middle man in the zone, eventually forcing the defense to sag and leave a wing man open for a three. If UConn can slow it down, play set-up ball and draw its big men into the action, there is no limit to the ugly wins it can post this year. If the wings can occasionally drill a three, "ugly" can become a winning paradigm.

 

[QDOG5]

I'm sure there has been threads on this topic, as it. Pertains to the lack of offense shown against the zone lately, but here's my two sense, and I want to know if im just going crazy or if other people see the same thing.

1. First off, I know boneyarders take one comment about one instance and people react as if that that persons whole morale compass is pass the point of sanity. I full heartedly agree that this season is a process, as coach Ollie describes. And I believe that process is working...the team looked immensely better last night in terms of looking like the game is slowing down and finding good shots. I think this team is going to get to where it needs, but it'll take patience on the teams part and the fans part.

2. With that said, I know beating a zone means patience and the right passes at the right time to the right person. UConn seems to be hesitant on a lot of passes. At the top of the zone, a lot of times a guard will hold the ball for just 2 second straight too long before swinging and switching sides. Reading the defense takes maturity and expereience so I get that, but at some point, you have to make quicker passes to get the defense in a compromising position.

3. I got really frustrated at times over this season with the lack of attacking the zone BEFORE they get set up. I'm not talking about fast breaks, I know we are short handed and we need Adams as fresh as can be down the stretch, but there were 4 or 5 instances Monday night where UConn was set up incense before the zone was fully set. Yet the ball handler would back off and let curse sink into position. With such a young defense, if you don't hesitate, and drive at the two guards up top, the defense will overreact compromising that zone. I rewatched the game and saw plays that would have developed for an easy bunny multiple times. I hope this is part of ollies process,where they are too young, and he is teaching patience for the zone, finding the man in the middle, and will instill more of the attack piece as the season moves. Either way, I believe being tentative on offense may be preventing them from just going out and balling. Fast forward to 8:26 in the replay from Monday, you will see an excellent outlet pass from a defensive rebound. It should have set CV up for an uncontested layup, but resulted in the offense slowing down and letting cuse sink into their zone (the offense that trip was actual good following that, with a wide open, but missed 3). Purvis drew the middle defender to him, and would have an easy one bounce pass to the free throw line, except CV didn't run with Purvis, he slowed and stopped at the 3 point line. I know they are young, and I'm sure the coaching staff is telling these guys to be patient against he zone, but gotta know your lanes and how to get open without the ball.

Again, not saying I don't like where the team is going, not saying the coaching staff or any player sucks. Just a couple things I look at with teams needing to find answers against the zone. I am far from an expert in basketball strategy, but just want to know if I am the right track?

Ps maybe it has something to do with our guys playing in jerseys small enough for middle schoolers...seriously, are our guys that much more jacked than the opposing teams, or did our equipment manager buy jerseys 2 times smaller for the intimidation factor??

View attachment 17441

 

[QDOG5]

On point 3 my guess is that Ollie doesn't want to play uptempo because he's short 3 players. So, unless there's an obvious breakaway they are being instructed to pull it back out. That is unless JA wants to throw an uncatchable lob to RP. Then it is OK. We will see a lot of games in the 50's and 60's this year.

 

[UConnSwag11]

TL;DR...?

I thought our zone execution was very good against cuse. Missed a lot of open shots from three and some bunnies

 

[Mr. French]

TL;DR...?

I thought our zone execution was very good against cuse. Missed a lot of open shots from three and some bunnies

Agreed. Last few games our zone O hasn't been bad, we've just missed so many open looks.

 

[Excalibur]

We got the shots we wanted all night and didn't turn it over too much. We just can't shoot or finish.

 

[spudzj6]

TL;DR...?

I thought our zone execution was very good against cuse. Missed a lot of open shots from three and some bunnies

I'm agree, they executed pretty decent, found the guy at the foul line, and once purvis started hitting 3s the zone had to stretch. What I am talking about is the 4 or 5 times our offense was down court ready to execute before cuse had their zone fully set, with guys back to the ball. If you pick those spots to attack right off the bat, the defense overreacts to cover a missed assignment. My thoughts are that Ollie has been preaching patience to the point where creative thinking is closed for the time being. Not saying that it's a bad idea, when freshman play 20-30 minutes a game, you give them little bits at a time, that process Ollie preaches.

The biggest example of seeing the team get tentative happens around 8:20 on the YouTube replay. Seriously, go watch it. Impossible to miss that CV could have had an easy transition layup, but faded off to the 3 point line and our whole offense stopped until the defense was set back in place. Patience was their friend Monday, but you the ball handlers need to read when to attack and when to play the patience game (but when you play the patience game, make the defense struggle to recover from your movement, quicker passes)

Thanks for all the thoughts you guys!

 

[Walker11]

I'm agree, they executed pretty decent, found the guy at the foul line, and once purvis started hitting 3s the zone had to stretch. What I am talking about is the 4 or 5 times our offense was down court ready to execute before cuse had their zone fully set, with guys back to the ball. If you pick those spots to attack right off the bat, the defense overreacts to cover a missed assignment. My thoughts are that Ollie has been preaching patience to the point where creative thinking is closed for the time being. Not saying that it's a bad idea, when freshman play 20-30 minutes a game, you give them little bits at a time, that process Ollie preaches.

The biggest example of seeing the team get tentative happens around 8:20 on the YouTube replay. Seriously, go watch it. Impossible to miss that CV could have had an easy transition layup, but faded off to the 3 point line and our whole offense stopped until the defense was set back in place. Patience was their friend Monday, but you the ball handlers need to read when to attack and when to play the patience game (but when you play the patience game, make the defense struggle to recover from your movement, quicker passes)

Thanks for all the thoughts you guys!

Thanks for your detailed thoughts. I wish the guards were more patient on their high post deliveries. Too often we see the windshield wiper offense. A simple pass fake shifts the defense and allows the pass to the high post. I haven't seen this much this year, and the high post is always the way to dissect a 2/3.

 

[mauconnfan]

Did anyone else notice the Cuse zone the other night came out deep on high wings, basically when the ball rotated they had a 3-2 (always was similar but this was exaggerated leaving lots of space as no respect to the bigs) look depending on the side of the ball, making sure they got to the shooters stronger especially on Rodney's end. The fact Facey started to grab rebounds made them bring it back a bit actually I think. Also noted was the fact we are so weak on the interior we could;t make them do that until we made shots. In other words if Lydon was playing strong high on Rodney even when the ball was opposite he was cheating the wing, we had easy lobs under him but we have no confidence completing that pass and that's ashame. Could have drove them crazy and made them collapse earlier but between not making shots and not making that pass, we made them look good in that hybrid 3-2 for a while. Having said that we did move the ball and got open looks, but a little more interior game could have been fun to watch.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Did anyone else notice the Cuse zone the other night came out deep on high wings, basically when the ball rotated they had a 3-2 (always was similar but this was exaggerated leaving lots of space as no respect to the bigs) look depending on the side of the ball, making sure they got to the shooters stronger especially on Rodney's end. The fact Facey started to grab rebounds made them bring it back a bit actually I think. Also noted was the fact we are so weak on the interior we could;t make them do that until we made shots. In other words if Lydon was playing strong high on Rodney even when the ball was opposite he was cheating the wing, we had easy lobs under him but we have no confidence completing that pass and that's ashame. Could have drove them crazy and made them collapse earlier but between not making shots and not making that pass, we made them look good in that hybrid 3-2 for a while. Having said that we did move the ball and got open looks, but a little more interior game could have been fun to watch.

Okafor would have put up 30 on them. Even a Jeff Adrien level big would be good for over 20. We blew so many clean scoring chances.

 

[spudzj6]

Did anyone else notice the Cuse zone the other night came out deep on high wings, basically when the ball rotated they had a 3-2 (always was similar but this was exaggerated leaving lots of space as no respect to the bigs) look depending on the side of the ball, making sure they got to the shooters stronger especially on Rodney's end. The fact Facey started to grab rebounds made them bring it back a bit actually I think. Also noted was the fact we are so weak on the interior we could;t make them do that until we made shots. In other words if Lydon was playing strong high on Rodney even when the ball was opposite he was cheating the wing, we had easy lobs under him but we have no confidence completing that pass and that's ashame. Could have drove them crazy and made them collapse earlier but between not making shots and not making that pass, we made them look good in that hybrid 3-2 for a while. Having said that we did move the ball and got open looks, but a little more interior game could have been fun to watch.

Absolutely when Rodney started catching fire they extended pressure, and that leads to what looks similar to a 3-2. The rotations put the weak side wing in a compromising position, where they should sink in slightly to defend the low block/wing. With a hot purvis ready for his catch and shoot, Lydon cheats up, just as you say but we didn't take advantage. Could be because the lack of skilled big men. I know early on and occasionally later in the game we had the short corner open. What ended up happening was Brimah catching and spotting up from 10 feet. Adams had one hell of a pass that cut through the zone setting up a wide open jumper (a miss, go figure). That would be where having Larrier would have been useful. Kinda hoping that's where Durhams skill set develops. Having that 4 who has the skill of a 3 guard would have decimated Lydon's cheating on the wing.

And for real - does no one else see how tight the jerseys for our guys seem to be compared to other teams?? Anyone have inside info on if our S&C is really working, or if they ordered them kid sized mediums?