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Zone defense and the WNBA

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UcMiami

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So ... with the defensive three second rule in the WNBA, I am wondering how this affects college choice for players who dream of getting to the WNBA - while zone defenses in the pros exist they are very different beasts that the classic 2-3 zone of college and man-to man is more common. There are some coaches and I am thinking about Duke specifically but there are others that only ever play a zone defense. That means that their players for four years never really get schooled in principles of man to man defense and this has to be a disadvantage when they turn pro.

Do kids ever consider this in choosing programs?
Does it effect choices in the men's game for teams like Syracuse?
Or is everyone so focused on their offensive games that it never gets discussed in recruiting?

Would this be one reason for some athletes transferring from a zone defense school?

I had never really thought about this but it came to mind related to our glorious news today.
 

DaddyChoc

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do Syracuse women play zone as well, after they back out of their press?
 
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In my basketball experience, the overwhelming majority of a player's thoughts and decisions concern offense and more offense. Defense is just something we have to play and to work harder at mastering. Jim Boeheim has never been hamstrung recruiting great players because of his affinity for the zone. Good athletes with good footwork always have a chance of being decent defenders.
 

JoePgh

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Not only do the players focus predominantly on offense, but the pro teams making draft decisions also focus predominantly on the offensive skills of the players that they are considering. This is also true of college coaches evaluating high school talent -- even Geno has said that he has never recruited a player because of her outstanding defensive skills. The theory is that defense can be taught and learned with hard work and commitment, but offense requires natural talent.

But I think it is true that a player who has never seriously played man-to-man in college would have difficulty learning to do that at the pro level -- especially if she had to do that in a 3-week training camp or risk being cut.

And yes, the Syracuse women do play a zone in half-court defense, judging by what they did in their final game of this past year.
 
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So ... with the defensive three second rule in the WNBA, I am wondering how this affects college choice for players who dream of getting to the WNBA - while zone defenses in the pros exist they are very different beasts that the classic 2-3 zone of college and man-to man is more common. There are some coaches and I am thinking about Duke specifically but there are others that only ever play a zone defense. That means that their players for four years never really get schooled in principles of man to man defense and this has to be a disadvantage when they turn pro.

Do kids ever consider this in choosing programs?
Does it effect choices in the men's game for teams like Syracuse?
Or is everyone so focused on their offensive games that it never gets discussed in recruiting?

Would this be one reason for some athletes transferring from a zone defense school?

I had never really thought about this but it came to mind related to our glorious news today.
I like what you say---thought provoking, but I doubt kids think far enough ahead (a year is an eternity ) or even think about the school is playing zone--a lot of top 20 school are now playing zone.
Really good AAU or HS coaches teach man. Good coaches know a Zone usually does not contain a dynamic opponent. Harry, Joanne,
Q, are pretty much tied to zone. I'm sure you can layout a 2 dozen more.
Geno has ruined us thinking that all coaches are as dedicated and forceful and rarely use Zone as Uconn.
Syracuse has had top players join the NBA and they usually were selected for their Offense.
 
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do Syracuse women play zone as well, after they back out of their press?
During the NCAA run--Tv did a thing where Q said he and Jim B got together to teach his kids Jim's zones principles.
 

UcMiami

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BI Sweet - there are actually not that many high quality teams that play exclusively zone at least in the women's game - many more play exclusively man or predominantly man. Most of the best teams play man, but are able to switch back and forth to a few different zones to keep opponents off balance or to adjust to a sub playing (Kiah last year for example primarily played center in a two three zone.) And in the last few years Uconn has played significantly more zone than I can ever remember - still primarily man, but much more willing and more frequent switches.

I just had never thought about this topic in terms of player development and future effectiveness - the thought occurred regarding Stevens and I thought i would get others thoughts.

Thanks.
 
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