Are we going to be primarily in a zone defense?

[Amaseinyourface]

I think the plan going into the season was to play man as much as possible, but losing KT threw a wrench into that. The reality now is that we are going to be playing Dom 20-25 mpg at the four and to hide him most effectively, we'll need to zone. Obekpa likes being in the middle of the 2-3 better than playing man to man. Guys have success taking right at him in man defense, but he's lethal off the ball with the help d.

Obviously they will have to mix it up, but I'd think 60/40 zone.

I think the most important thing to do is to press and apply pressure all game. When you run out three guards and a SF playing PF, you want to avoid the half court as much as possible. Dom would be by far the most athletic PF in the country and would essentially give us four defensive guards and Obekpa. None of this man press b.s. Zone press or matchup zone and keep Obekpa back as a goaltender.

Bingo. I don't care what we fall back into in the half court as long as we press. And I don't care if it's man pressure, zone pressure, or, ideally, a mix of both as Dunlap effectuated so well in 10/11. As long as we are dictating the tempo and increasing the amount of possessions in the game. We don't execute well enough in the half court not to do these things.

Deferring to those more astute than I. If you press, don't you usually have to fall back into a zone or else you could lose your man?

Depends on the type of press. If you press man typically you'll fall back into man, if you zone press typically you'll fall back into a zone. Teams do so many sophisticated things now defensively you're not really boxed into anything though.

OF course if you press man to man you can keep playing man. But with a zone press it's a little harder to find a man once you drop back. I'm not aware that you can zone press and fall back into a man, but someone else may add to this dialogue.

Villanova plays a zone press and falls back into man. Its actually my favorite press in college hoops. The 3/4 court diamond. Usually presses do one of two things, either causes turnovers or takes up valuable time from the oppositions shot clock. Nova's however does both very well.

 

[Knight2]

A team playing tough D would gives this group some definition. This is a very thinly talented team that won't scare anyone with their offense.

 

[Marillac]

I could be mistaken, but didn't we have some success last year when we mixed it up on defense and showed different looks so that the other team was kept off guard all night.

That can be said for just about every team. Personally, I love changing defense frequently especially to start the game and out of key timeouts.

 

[Jack Williams]

Regardless of the defense we play this year, whether it be man or zone, the key to having a successful year is limiting second chance points

 

[Marillac]

Regardless of the defense we play this year, whether it be man or zone, the key to having a successful year is limiting second chance points

True story. That was our downfall last year.

 

[bobre45]

I think the plan going into the season was to play man as much as possible, but losing KT threw a wrench into that. The reality now is that we are going to be playing Dom 20-25 mpg at the four and to hide him most effectively, we'll need to zone. Obekpa likes being in the middle of the 2-3 better than playing man to man. Guys have success taking right at him in man defense, but he's lethal off the ball with the help d.

Obviously they will have to mix it up, but I'd think 60/40 zone.

I think the most important thing to do is to press and apply pressure all game. When you run out three guards and a SF playing PF, you want to avoid the half court as much as possible. Dom would be by far the most athletic PF in the country and would essentially give us four defensive guards and Obekpa. None of this man press b.s. Zone press or matchup zone and keep Obekpa back as a goaltender.

Bingo. I don't care what we fall back into in the half court as long as we press. And I don't care if it's man pressure, zone pressure, or, ideally, a mix of both as Dunlap effectuated so well in 10/11. As long as we are dictating the tempo and increasing the amount of possessions in the game. We don't execute well enough in the half court not to do these things.

Deferring to those more astute than I. If you press, don't you usually have to fall back into a zone or else you could lose your man?

Depends on the type of press. If you press man typically you'll fall back into man, if you zone press typically you'll fall back into a zone. Teams do so many sophisticated things now defensively you're not really boxed into anything though.

OF course if you press man to man you can keep playing man. But with a zone press it's a little harder to find a man once you drop back. I'm not aware that you can zone press and fall back into a man, but someone else may add to this dialogue.

Villanova plays a zone press and falls back into man. Its actually my favorite press in college hoops. The 3/4 court diamond. Usually presses do one of two things, either causes turnovers or takes up valuable time from the oppositions shot clock. Nova's however does both very well.

It's annoying to read this stuff when you consider we could have had Jay Wright easily.