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Last night's game seems to have sparked a lot of discussion regarding the zone offense, what was and was not accomplished against it, and whether the coaching staff made the necessary adjustments after getting an extended look at it. When I got home late last night, it surprised me how much grief Ollie was taking on here. Yes, it was brutally ugly for practically the entire half, but being at the game, the lack of results seemed to be a product of shoddy execution more than a lack of preparation. And, despite the requests of many UConn fans to burn all tapes of last night's contest, existing footage of that fateful second half more or less confirmed my initial suspicions following the game. What lies below, is a detailed account of each UConn possession in the second half - from the play design, to the execution, to the result) - that I'm happy to debate with anybody willing to to back and watch the play themselves. Otherwise, you'll just have to take my word that what I have described below is actually what happened:
20:00 – Napier slashes through the paint following a Nolan screen, and after briefly losing control of the ball, flips it to Calhoun in the left corner for an open three. Result: Good shot, miss.
19:28 – Clever double ball screen for Boatright on the left wing results in a mis-match, and after a nice head fake, the Stanford defense is dis-organized and Daniels is able to draw a foul. Result: Two made free throws
18:50 – Napier enters the ball to Nolan about a step behind the right block, and Nolan turns and launches an air-ball. Result: Bad shot, out of bounds.
18:06 – Stanford miss leads to a transition opportunity, and Napier feeds Daniels streaking to the basket along the left side of the floor. Daniels goes up soft and gets his shot blocked. Result: Good shot, miss.
17:40 – Nolan sets an ineffective screen for Napier on the left wing, but Napier’s savvy is on display, as he waits out the Stanford defense and threads the needle with a precise one-handed bounce pass on the door step. Result: Good shot, foul, one of two free throws made.
17:09 – In what was likely UConn’s best possession of the half in terms of player execution, Nolan successfully screens Boatright on the left wing, leading to a mis-match. Boatright easily beats his man off the dribble, gaining easy access to the paint, and feeds the alertly moving Giffey for an easy layup underneath. Result: Good shot, make.
16:30 – Boatright seeks to capitalize in transition off a Stanford make, and when nobody initially picks up the ball, he manages to get into the paint and loft a contested floater. Result: Average shot, miss.
16:07 – (Stanford enters zone) After UConn executes their go-to play against the zone – which sees Napier begin with the ball on the right wing, Giffey screen the first high man, Napier pass the ball to Boatright on the left wing, and then Nolan screening the second high man – Boatright is eventually able to find room to enter the ball to Nolan, who had established deep position, on the left block. Normally, this would be a successful result for the offense, but in this instance, UConn is playing right into Stanford’s hands. Stanford’s defense is designed to funnel the ball into the interior – the underbelly of the UConn offense – and Nolan forces up an ugly shot. Result: Bad shot, miss.
15:17 – Boatright steals the inbounds pass around half court, and beats the two Stanford security defenders down the court for a high percentage layup opportunity. Result: Good shot, miss.
15:10 – After Stanford immediately turns it back over, Napier dives to the floor and alertly taps it to Boatright. Unfortunately, Boatright flubs it in the left corner and is unable to get the ball to an open Calhoun, who was wide open underneath the basket.
14:54 – After Daniels chases down an errant Stanford lob pass in the right corner, he attempts to drive it himself the length of the court and loses control. Result: Carrying violation, Stanford ball.
14:23 – As Napier continues to conduct an impressive point guard clinic, he flips a one-handed pass, on the run, right into Giffey’s pocket on the right wing. Although Giffey may have had room to shoot, he opts to pass it back out and re-start the offense. What followed was one of the worst possessions of the game in terms of off-ball activity and execution. Daniels sets a couple half-hearted screens for Napier on the right wing, but both are mis-timed, and the rest of the possession consists of an unsuccessful Napier isolation which sees him drive into traffic. Result: Bad shot, blocked out of bounds. Following the inbounds, there isn’t enough time on the shot clock for anything other than a contested Kromah three, which misses.
13:30 – A possession featuring little other than confusion ends fittingly, as Napier throws the ball away.
12:56 – Following a UConn timeout, Stanford goes into a light 2-2-1 press, likely just as means of decreasing UConn’s margin of error with a shorter shot clock. As soon as Napier receives the ball at the top of the key and begins to engineer the offense, and this seems to discombobulate the offense for the remainder of the possession, as Napier tries to squeeze the ball into traffic and has it knocked out of bounds. After the inbound play, UConn runs a nice play. Boatright is screened by Olander on the left side of the top of the key, and Boatright smartly manipulates the nearest low man by penetrating into the teeth of the zone, leaving Kromah – stationed in the left corner – open for a three. Result: Good shot, miss, rebound knocked out of bounds by Stanford. Following the out of bounds play, Kromah smartly penetrates into the teeth of the zone from the left wing and leaves the defense in chase mode. However, he drops it off to Olander, who fails to see the open Napier at the top of the key (pause at about the 11:58 mark in the telecast, there is nobody within ten feet of Napier) and forces up a bad shot. Result: Bad shot, miss.
11:43 – UConn executes fairly well on this trip, as they return to their most commonly utilized play against the zone. Daniels screens the initial high man, Olander screens the second high man seconds later, and suddenly, Napier peels off the screen and passes up an open jumper (pause at about 11:24 to see how much room he had to get a shot off) and feeds Kromah on the baseline. Kromah is unable to finish amongst the trees. Result: Bad shot, miss.
11:08 – After a well-defended Stanford possession, Boatright again is not picked up in transition, and he dribbles right into an open foul line jumper. Result: Good shot, miss.
10:55 – UConn goes back to the identical play they ran two possessions earlier, except this time, Napier reads the defense correctly and steps right into an open mid-range jumper. Result: Good shot, make.
10:23 – After some moderate gap penetration through the use of screens, Napier launches a contested three early in the clock. Result: Bad shot, miss.
9:54 – Napier and Brimah run two high ball screens in concession on the right side of the floor, and on the second attempt, Napier attracts two defenders and feeds a wide open Brimah on the slip. Unfortunately, the Stanford backline help had alertly shifted over, and Brimah forces up a wild dunk attempt. Result: Bad shot, miss.
9:07 – In a generally listless possession, Napier fires the ball across court to Calhoun, who attempts to drive and tosses up a tough shot, which deflects off Stanford out of bounds. On the inbounds, the Stanford defense falls asleep, and Napier feeds Daniels for an easy layup. Result: Good shot, make.
8:15 – UConn looks to have something brewing in the open court following a well-defended possession on the other end, but Boatright over-dribbles and turns it over.
8:03 – After a Stanford make, Napier smartly notices the unbalanced alignment of Stanford players, and he takes the inbounds pass and goes coast to coast for a basket. Result: Good shot, make.
7:35 – Napier, apparently feeling good about himself following the made basket, jogs up the court and launches a contested, NBA three. Result: Bad shot, miss.
7:03 – Ollie draws up a great play out of the timeout. Daniels and Napier engage in a pick and roll on the left wing, however, this only serves as a decoy for further action. Napier dribbles towards the right side of the court, Calhoun pops up to the left wing from the baseline, and Daniels sets an off-ball screen – it was a uniquely set screen, as Daniels was actually facing away from the basket, as if he was boxing out the defender - on the Stanford low man that had popped up to defend the shot. If Daniels had set the screen more firmly, Calhoun would have been wide open. As it was, Daniels only graced the defender, but Calhoun still had plenty of room to get a shot off. Result: Good shot, miss.
6:12 – As Stanford reclaims the lead, UConn runs another nifty play against the zone. On this particular play, Napier begins with the ball on the left side of the floor, about two feet behind the three point line. As Daniel sets a high ball screen on Napier’s right, Giffey shifts from his position on the right side of the floor to the top of the key, screening the high man defending Boatright. Napier takes about a step to the right, and fires a cross court pass to Boatright as Giffey simultaneously allows Boatright to get separation with a solid screen. The key to the play is Omar Calhoun, stationed in the right corner. Because of Giffey’s screen on the high man, Powell – the Stanford player stationed on the left block in the zone – is forced into a dilemma. He needs to retreat out to Calhoun – his initial assignment on the play – or help the high man that had been screened. In this instance, he chooses to stay home on Calhoun, leaving Boatright room to take an open mid-range jumper. Unfortunately, Boatright mis-reads the play, and force-feeds Calhoun the ball. However, Calhoun salvages the play, penetrating a step into the middle of the zone, and firing the ball across the court to a wide open Napier on the right wing. Result: Good shot, miss.
5:30 – After the TV timeout, UConn executes fairly well, as Napier feeds Boatright on the left wing for an open three. Result: Good shot, miss, rebound UConn. Following the offensive rebound, Napier is able to penetrate to the foul line, but his pass is not on target, and Boatright is forced to chase the ball and re-set the offense. Finally, with only a few seconds on the clock, Brimah sets a high ball screen for Boatright, who gets a decent look. Result: Good shot, out of bounds off Stanford. On the third attempt of the possession, Napier is again screened on the left side of the court, this time by Daniels. The screen is successful, and Napier is allotted plenty of room to get off a high percentage mid-range shot. However, he mis-reads the defenses and opts to take it all the way to the basket, missing. Result: Bad shot, miss.
3:28 – Daniels dribbles aimlessly into traffic, and gets tied up, possession arrow Stanford.
2:43 – Little is accomplished for most of the possession other than sub-par ball screening action, and the possession eventually culminates in an off-balance Giffey three with the shot-clock winding down. Result: Bad shot, miss, tip-in good by Daniels.
1:29 – After Napier nearly turns the ball over in the left corner, he attracts two defenders and feeds Daniels with a nifty behind-the-back pass. Daniels briefly has Giffey open in the corner, but he instead opts to drive and is fouled. Following the foul, Boatright takes two dribbles to access the paint, and kicks out to Napier, who gets a decent look from two feet behind the three point line. Result: Good shot, miss, rebound Giffey. Right after the rebound, Giffey feeds Napier at the top of the key, who forces up a contested three. Result: Bad shot, miss, timeout Stanford.
28.2 – Napier peels off a high ball screen shortly after a Kevin Ollie timeout and takes a contested, mid-range jumper. In the context of the situation, it’s probably the best shot you can hope for, but it certainly does not qualify as a high percentage shot. Result: Bad shot, miss.
7.7 – UConn flubs the rebound, which costs them a precious second and a half. By the time Napier crosses half court, only about four seconds remain, and Stanford intelligently picks him up right at the half court line, forcing him to give the ball up to Calhoun for a deep three. Result: Bad shot, game over.
So, what does all this tell us? (Other than I have too much time on my hands?) It tells us that the execution was a mixed bag, but as I examine all the different play designs employed by Ollie in the second half against the zone, I think it also tells us that he absolutely has the intellect to successfully game plan for zone defenses. Additionally, I think it's an indictment on what little trust Ollie has in his big men, because Stanford was trying to funnel the basketball into the low block for the entire half, and UConn rarely took them up on their offer. Instead, the crux of their offensive attack against the zone revolved around continuous ball screening that frequently spilled into an immediate double ball screen on the secondary high man atop the zone. Conventional wisdom seems to frown upon screening a zone with that type of frequency, but the best method attack is generally penetration to collapse the defense, followed by kick outs.
Of the 31 possessions UConn had in the second half last night, by my count, they produced fifteen good or great shots and 13 bad shots. The rest of the possessions ended in average shots, or turnovers. That's not a great ratio, or even a good one, but it's also not as startlingly dismal as it looked live. They executed with varying degrees of success, but when they did fail, I think it was more due to a lack of repetition against the zone than it was structural flaws. There were a lot of intricate configuration, especially directly following timeouts, that produced maneuvering room for our slashers and space for our shooters. Unfortunately, the two guys Kevin Ollie trusts the most with the ball in their hands - Napier and Boatright - regularly mis-read the defense down the stretch, forcing shots when it wasn't there, and passing on shots when they were there. But, that's to be expected to some extent for a team that hasn't seen heavy doses of zone since probably last season against Syracuse, almost ten months ago. Beating a good zone requires patience, attention to detail, and the composure to make shots when they become available. Unfortunately, last night also demonstrated some of the limitations that we currently have, and may still have later in the season. The foul line area in the zone was open for the entire second half, and not once did Kevin Ollie express any interest in putting a forward there - whether it be Daniels, Giffey, or Olander - and asking them to attack off the bounce. I fear that this was because Ollie felt he was hamstrung by his personnel. Aceboon alluded to this in a previous thread, and it's a problem I'm not sure is going to be resolved the rest of the year; Daniels is our only threat from fifteen feet and in, and even he is a bit inconsistent in the face up game due to his shaky ball-handling ability and limited court vision. Napier and Boatright have shown the ability to finish at the rim in the past, but they haven't had much success in this regard this season. It's discouraging when a defense is outright conceding a portion of the floor, and UConn doesn't have the pieces to take advantage. However, I have confidence in Ollie to exploit other inefficiencies within the zone defense like he did last season against Syracuse, and, in some instances, last night. I just watched Duke struggle with a horrific UCLA zone for a few minutes before figuring it out in the second half. If we play Stanford again, I'm confident that we will have a much more diverse plan of attack.
20:00 – Napier slashes through the paint following a Nolan screen, and after briefly losing control of the ball, flips it to Calhoun in the left corner for an open three. Result: Good shot, miss.
19:28 – Clever double ball screen for Boatright on the left wing results in a mis-match, and after a nice head fake, the Stanford defense is dis-organized and Daniels is able to draw a foul. Result: Two made free throws
18:50 – Napier enters the ball to Nolan about a step behind the right block, and Nolan turns and launches an air-ball. Result: Bad shot, out of bounds.
18:06 – Stanford miss leads to a transition opportunity, and Napier feeds Daniels streaking to the basket along the left side of the floor. Daniels goes up soft and gets his shot blocked. Result: Good shot, miss.
17:40 – Nolan sets an ineffective screen for Napier on the left wing, but Napier’s savvy is on display, as he waits out the Stanford defense and threads the needle with a precise one-handed bounce pass on the door step. Result: Good shot, foul, one of two free throws made.
17:09 – In what was likely UConn’s best possession of the half in terms of player execution, Nolan successfully screens Boatright on the left wing, leading to a mis-match. Boatright easily beats his man off the dribble, gaining easy access to the paint, and feeds the alertly moving Giffey for an easy layup underneath. Result: Good shot, make.
16:30 – Boatright seeks to capitalize in transition off a Stanford make, and when nobody initially picks up the ball, he manages to get into the paint and loft a contested floater. Result: Average shot, miss.
16:07 – (Stanford enters zone) After UConn executes their go-to play against the zone – which sees Napier begin with the ball on the right wing, Giffey screen the first high man, Napier pass the ball to Boatright on the left wing, and then Nolan screening the second high man – Boatright is eventually able to find room to enter the ball to Nolan, who had established deep position, on the left block. Normally, this would be a successful result for the offense, but in this instance, UConn is playing right into Stanford’s hands. Stanford’s defense is designed to funnel the ball into the interior – the underbelly of the UConn offense – and Nolan forces up an ugly shot. Result: Bad shot, miss.
15:17 – Boatright steals the inbounds pass around half court, and beats the two Stanford security defenders down the court for a high percentage layup opportunity. Result: Good shot, miss.
15:10 – After Stanford immediately turns it back over, Napier dives to the floor and alertly taps it to Boatright. Unfortunately, Boatright flubs it in the left corner and is unable to get the ball to an open Calhoun, who was wide open underneath the basket.
14:54 – After Daniels chases down an errant Stanford lob pass in the right corner, he attempts to drive it himself the length of the court and loses control. Result: Carrying violation, Stanford ball.
14:23 – As Napier continues to conduct an impressive point guard clinic, he flips a one-handed pass, on the run, right into Giffey’s pocket on the right wing. Although Giffey may have had room to shoot, he opts to pass it back out and re-start the offense. What followed was one of the worst possessions of the game in terms of off-ball activity and execution. Daniels sets a couple half-hearted screens for Napier on the right wing, but both are mis-timed, and the rest of the possession consists of an unsuccessful Napier isolation which sees him drive into traffic. Result: Bad shot, blocked out of bounds. Following the inbounds, there isn’t enough time on the shot clock for anything other than a contested Kromah three, which misses.
13:30 – A possession featuring little other than confusion ends fittingly, as Napier throws the ball away.
12:56 – Following a UConn timeout, Stanford goes into a light 2-2-1 press, likely just as means of decreasing UConn’s margin of error with a shorter shot clock. As soon as Napier receives the ball at the top of the key and begins to engineer the offense, and this seems to discombobulate the offense for the remainder of the possession, as Napier tries to squeeze the ball into traffic and has it knocked out of bounds. After the inbound play, UConn runs a nice play. Boatright is screened by Olander on the left side of the top of the key, and Boatright smartly manipulates the nearest low man by penetrating into the teeth of the zone, leaving Kromah – stationed in the left corner – open for a three. Result: Good shot, miss, rebound knocked out of bounds by Stanford. Following the out of bounds play, Kromah smartly penetrates into the teeth of the zone from the left wing and leaves the defense in chase mode. However, he drops it off to Olander, who fails to see the open Napier at the top of the key (pause at about the 11:58 mark in the telecast, there is nobody within ten feet of Napier) and forces up a bad shot. Result: Bad shot, miss.
11:43 – UConn executes fairly well on this trip, as they return to their most commonly utilized play against the zone. Daniels screens the initial high man, Olander screens the second high man seconds later, and suddenly, Napier peels off the screen and passes up an open jumper (pause at about 11:24 to see how much room he had to get a shot off) and feeds Kromah on the baseline. Kromah is unable to finish amongst the trees. Result: Bad shot, miss.
11:08 – After a well-defended Stanford possession, Boatright again is not picked up in transition, and he dribbles right into an open foul line jumper. Result: Good shot, miss.
10:55 – UConn goes back to the identical play they ran two possessions earlier, except this time, Napier reads the defense correctly and steps right into an open mid-range jumper. Result: Good shot, make.
10:23 – After some moderate gap penetration through the use of screens, Napier launches a contested three early in the clock. Result: Bad shot, miss.
9:54 – Napier and Brimah run two high ball screens in concession on the right side of the floor, and on the second attempt, Napier attracts two defenders and feeds a wide open Brimah on the slip. Unfortunately, the Stanford backline help had alertly shifted over, and Brimah forces up a wild dunk attempt. Result: Bad shot, miss.
9:07 – In a generally listless possession, Napier fires the ball across court to Calhoun, who attempts to drive and tosses up a tough shot, which deflects off Stanford out of bounds. On the inbounds, the Stanford defense falls asleep, and Napier feeds Daniels for an easy layup. Result: Good shot, make.
8:15 – UConn looks to have something brewing in the open court following a well-defended possession on the other end, but Boatright over-dribbles and turns it over.
8:03 – After a Stanford make, Napier smartly notices the unbalanced alignment of Stanford players, and he takes the inbounds pass and goes coast to coast for a basket. Result: Good shot, make.
7:35 – Napier, apparently feeling good about himself following the made basket, jogs up the court and launches a contested, NBA three. Result: Bad shot, miss.
7:03 – Ollie draws up a great play out of the timeout. Daniels and Napier engage in a pick and roll on the left wing, however, this only serves as a decoy for further action. Napier dribbles towards the right side of the court, Calhoun pops up to the left wing from the baseline, and Daniels sets an off-ball screen – it was a uniquely set screen, as Daniels was actually facing away from the basket, as if he was boxing out the defender - on the Stanford low man that had popped up to defend the shot. If Daniels had set the screen more firmly, Calhoun would have been wide open. As it was, Daniels only graced the defender, but Calhoun still had plenty of room to get a shot off. Result: Good shot, miss.
6:12 – As Stanford reclaims the lead, UConn runs another nifty play against the zone. On this particular play, Napier begins with the ball on the left side of the floor, about two feet behind the three point line. As Daniel sets a high ball screen on Napier’s right, Giffey shifts from his position on the right side of the floor to the top of the key, screening the high man defending Boatright. Napier takes about a step to the right, and fires a cross court pass to Boatright as Giffey simultaneously allows Boatright to get separation with a solid screen. The key to the play is Omar Calhoun, stationed in the right corner. Because of Giffey’s screen on the high man, Powell – the Stanford player stationed on the left block in the zone – is forced into a dilemma. He needs to retreat out to Calhoun – his initial assignment on the play – or help the high man that had been screened. In this instance, he chooses to stay home on Calhoun, leaving Boatright room to take an open mid-range jumper. Unfortunately, Boatright mis-reads the play, and force-feeds Calhoun the ball. However, Calhoun salvages the play, penetrating a step into the middle of the zone, and firing the ball across the court to a wide open Napier on the right wing. Result: Good shot, miss.
5:30 – After the TV timeout, UConn executes fairly well, as Napier feeds Boatright on the left wing for an open three. Result: Good shot, miss, rebound UConn. Following the offensive rebound, Napier is able to penetrate to the foul line, but his pass is not on target, and Boatright is forced to chase the ball and re-set the offense. Finally, with only a few seconds on the clock, Brimah sets a high ball screen for Boatright, who gets a decent look. Result: Good shot, out of bounds off Stanford. On the third attempt of the possession, Napier is again screened on the left side of the court, this time by Daniels. The screen is successful, and Napier is allotted plenty of room to get off a high percentage mid-range shot. However, he mis-reads the defenses and opts to take it all the way to the basket, missing. Result: Bad shot, miss.
3:28 – Daniels dribbles aimlessly into traffic, and gets tied up, possession arrow Stanford.
2:43 – Little is accomplished for most of the possession other than sub-par ball screening action, and the possession eventually culminates in an off-balance Giffey three with the shot-clock winding down. Result: Bad shot, miss, tip-in good by Daniels.
1:29 – After Napier nearly turns the ball over in the left corner, he attracts two defenders and feeds Daniels with a nifty behind-the-back pass. Daniels briefly has Giffey open in the corner, but he instead opts to drive and is fouled. Following the foul, Boatright takes two dribbles to access the paint, and kicks out to Napier, who gets a decent look from two feet behind the three point line. Result: Good shot, miss, rebound Giffey. Right after the rebound, Giffey feeds Napier at the top of the key, who forces up a contested three. Result: Bad shot, miss, timeout Stanford.
28.2 – Napier peels off a high ball screen shortly after a Kevin Ollie timeout and takes a contested, mid-range jumper. In the context of the situation, it’s probably the best shot you can hope for, but it certainly does not qualify as a high percentage shot. Result: Bad shot, miss.
7.7 – UConn flubs the rebound, which costs them a precious second and a half. By the time Napier crosses half court, only about four seconds remain, and Stanford intelligently picks him up right at the half court line, forcing him to give the ball up to Calhoun for a deep three. Result: Bad shot, game over.
So, what does all this tell us? (Other than I have too much time on my hands?) It tells us that the execution was a mixed bag, but as I examine all the different play designs employed by Ollie in the second half against the zone, I think it also tells us that he absolutely has the intellect to successfully game plan for zone defenses. Additionally, I think it's an indictment on what little trust Ollie has in his big men, because Stanford was trying to funnel the basketball into the low block for the entire half, and UConn rarely took them up on their offer. Instead, the crux of their offensive attack against the zone revolved around continuous ball screening that frequently spilled into an immediate double ball screen on the secondary high man atop the zone. Conventional wisdom seems to frown upon screening a zone with that type of frequency, but the best method attack is generally penetration to collapse the defense, followed by kick outs.
Of the 31 possessions UConn had in the second half last night, by my count, they produced fifteen good or great shots and 13 bad shots. The rest of the possessions ended in average shots, or turnovers. That's not a great ratio, or even a good one, but it's also not as startlingly dismal as it looked live. They executed with varying degrees of success, but when they did fail, I think it was more due to a lack of repetition against the zone than it was structural flaws. There were a lot of intricate configuration, especially directly following timeouts, that produced maneuvering room for our slashers and space for our shooters. Unfortunately, the two guys Kevin Ollie trusts the most with the ball in their hands - Napier and Boatright - regularly mis-read the defense down the stretch, forcing shots when it wasn't there, and passing on shots when they were there. But, that's to be expected to some extent for a team that hasn't seen heavy doses of zone since probably last season against Syracuse, almost ten months ago. Beating a good zone requires patience, attention to detail, and the composure to make shots when they become available. Unfortunately, last night also demonstrated some of the limitations that we currently have, and may still have later in the season. The foul line area in the zone was open for the entire second half, and not once did Kevin Ollie express any interest in putting a forward there - whether it be Daniels, Giffey, or Olander - and asking them to attack off the bounce. I fear that this was because Ollie felt he was hamstrung by his personnel. Aceboon alluded to this in a previous thread, and it's a problem I'm not sure is going to be resolved the rest of the year; Daniels is our only threat from fifteen feet and in, and even he is a bit inconsistent in the face up game due to his shaky ball-handling ability and limited court vision. Napier and Boatright have shown the ability to finish at the rim in the past, but they haven't had much success in this regard this season. It's discouraging when a defense is outright conceding a portion of the floor, and UConn doesn't have the pieces to take advantage. However, I have confidence in Ollie to exploit other inefficiencies within the zone defense like he did last season against Syracuse, and, in some instances, last night. I just watched Duke struggle with a horrific UCLA zone for a few minutes before figuring it out in the second half. If we play Stanford again, I'm confident that we will have a much more diverse plan of attack.
