The Dirty "Z Word"

[jake14mw]

I'm no expert on this, but every coach teaches his team how to move the ball against a zone and find the soft spots (corner, 4 hole) so why would it be so hard to teach the team how to play a zone on occasion?

There is actually a lot to teach regarding zone defenses and movements/assignments with it. The couple of times we have tried it this year has not looked good. That's not to say though that it's not worth the practice time to at least have an acceptable amount of proficiency with it. Given our problems guarding the 4 spot, it may be.

 

[UCLJ0211]

Save it for the Canadiens

 

[UCMBBFan]

I think this quote from Coach Hurley captures his thoughts on playing zone defense: "We've used some zone strategically, and it's worked for us. It worked in the Xavier game. But elite teams don't really trick you defensively. They have the core thing that they do, and they do that elite, championship-level, and then they have some other things they can do at times."

 

[HooperScooper]

Another weakness is that Hurley basically refuses to use any type of Zone defense. While pretty much every other BE coach is willing to mix things up a bit with their half court defenses, we're fed quotes that we just need to work harder and "gut it out" in man. Playing a zone defense at times would:

*** Protect players from foul trouble
*** Help avoid bad mismatches such as Karaban vs. (insert name of quality 4)
*** Allow the 2 bigs to be on the floor together

Saying: "I've always been a man to man guy and won't play any Zone" is a bit stubborn in this day and age. You can still hang your hat on man D, but show some defensive creativity here and there.

Might get your wish today although he mentions it and then sounds reluctant to use it. We'll see. From the New Haven Register today.

Clingan and Adama Sanogo shared the floor for the most they have all season on Wednesday, and while that creates issues on both ends of the floor, expect to see more of it. In fact, Hurley may even use a little more zone than usual with the two bigs on the floor together.

"It puts you in that position," the coach noted. "We've used some zone strategically, and it's worked for us. It worked in the Xavier game. But elite teams don't really trick you defensively. They have the core thing that they do, and they do that elite, championship-level, and then they have some other things they can do at times."