Zone?

[Brad Palmer]

Wondering if KO will throw some zone in there for the times we get in foul trouble, out-rebounded, muscled up on the block, etc...

Curious for thoughts from everyone on the following: The traditional mindset has always been to play man to man when the other team has good outside shooters, or needs a 3. With the quickness and ballhandling abilities of so many d1 guards these days, I honestly believe an extended zone can stop good shooting teams much easier.

Think of the 3s that Bazz and Boat gave up at the end of the first OT. One, off a deep 3 and the other off a wicked crossover that spun Boat around and caused some serious separation.

 

[ConnEd]

If you think the defensive rebounding is bad now...

 

[BLUEDOGHOUSE]

It could be mixed in judiciously. Deferring to the logic of Kevin Ollie right now appears to be a safe bet. The guy has been Einstein like in everything he has done especially skipping the St. Thomas extracurricular activities amongst several other on court decisions. I was lukewarm on Ollie before the season. He has done an incredible job. I'm SOLD on him.

Man is this guy easy to root for.

 

[Brad Palmer]

Don't get me wrong, I love Ollie so far. Just wondering how much he will potentially "think outside the box", especially since he did allude to zone defenses and some pressing early in the pre-season. Let's be honest, we were an amazing final 90 seconds away from losing in regulation to Quinnipiac tonight.

And don't read too much into the skipping of the extracurricular activities. Quinny went and they seemed to be just fine. But I do get your point about his business-like approach, which will definitely pay off down the road.

4-0!

 

[Husky1964]

We have played M-M with zone principles for all of the JC years. In BIG games against good teams (Big Dance) zones usually are un sucessful. Ask Jim Boeheim!!

 

[Brad Palmer]

Good coaches tend to throw some zone into their defensive mix. The reason I started the thread is because KO actually mentioned it in the pre-season. Curious to see if he sprinkles it in, as he seems to be very resourceful in trying things that can help at some point.

Zone ain't such an ugly word; it's all basketball. And Syracuse's lack of success in tournaments certainly can't be attributed solely to its use of the zone defense.