'No Man is an Island' - John Donne
No man is an island entire of itself; every man
is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;
if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe
is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as
well as any manner of thy friends or of thine
own were; any man's death diminishes me,
because I am involved in mankind.
And therefore never send to know for whom
the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
John Donne's poem "No Man is an Island" reminds me of zone offense, the need for integrated movement. But poetry won't help us. Del Harris wrote Coaching Basketball's Zone Offense in 1976. Plenty of lessons still apply despite five decades of basketball innovation.
He describes four types of zones:
- Containing (sagging)
- Lane-Playing (extended, disrupting passing lanes)
- Special (matchup)
- Pressing
He outlines Eight "Points"
- Fundamentals
- Fast break (beat the defense setting up)
- Movement (passing distorts zones and time allows defensive errors)
- Creating passing lanes (more width, also opening posts) with perimeter rotation
- Inside game (especially high-low action)
- Pressure the blocks and elbows (low and high post)
- Penetrate - pass, dribble, cuts
- Man techniques - screening, give-and-go (automatic high post to corner and dive
Special suggestions
- Patience
- Player and ball movement
- Every 3rd or 4th pass into the post
- Bounce passes into traffic
- Maintain spacing
- Stay under control
- Rebound, rebound, rebound (no assigned defensive rebounding)
"Basic Five" (*Organized free lance)
- Punch it (Dribble into gaps)
- Dribble it (Dribble and rotate)
- Cut it (Find the holes)
- Screen it (post-pt, post-post, baseline-wing, weakside, baseline
- High-low it (Boeheim's best case)
PG attacks the gap (punch it) and players rotate. 1 can feed 3, 4, or 5.
Dribble it. 2 dribbles laterally, there is rotation, and 5 cuts to the block.
Cut it. PG passes and buries to the corner. Many would call it overloading.
Screen it. Harris illustrated an usual wing to post screen. We tend to see more screening of the top defender. Coach Tom Izzo of MSU uses a number of creative actions to screen.
Gonzaga beats the zone with passing. They used a two guard front (moving the 2 up) to force Syracuse to match up."
With a strong post player, x5 shaded to 5 and Gonzaga got a sneaky baseline cut after screening the top.
Gonzaga was unpredictable, occupied low defenders, pressuring the middle with their strong post game with a "punch it" into the gap.
With a strong post player, x5 shaded to 5 and Gonzaga got a sneaky baseline cut after screening the top.
Gonzaga was unpredictable, occupied low defenders, pressuring the middle with their strong post game with a "punch it" into the gap.
Duke's Coach Krzyzewski's teaching spawned an acronym, DR FlaPS
- Drive into gaps (Punch it)
- Reverse the ball (Dribble it)
- Flash into open areas (Cut)
- Post up
- Screen (Screen it)
The decades change but concepts endure.
The posts have to work as a team, reminding us of Villanova's "Roll and Replace."
If that's too obscure, remind players to "Roll and Space."
Lagniappe. "Show your hands" and move your feet.
