ZippyforPresident Posted March 10, 2011 Report Share Posted March 10, 2011 On defense, the Zips got a boost from playing zone. For whatever reason, this edition of the Zips just can't play man as well as previous editions. Switching to zone at the right time at the Q could pay huge dividends. That zone sucks. It collapses to ball side so much that often two perimeter players are wide open Fortunately, there is no DJ Cooper on EMU. No wonder OU toasted us twice. You just can not leave shooters that open; ever. That was the big thing that I noticed too, not only in the EMU game, but in all of the games that the Zips have played poorly in. When the defense is bad they seem to really over pursue on the ball side and that Cooper kid has really been able to exploit both our late rotations in man to man and over pursuit in zone. In my opinion the big key in this tournament for Akron is going to be not getting out of position and biting on ball fakes, preventing late rotations when going man, and not over pursuing on the ball side when in the 2-3 or 1-1-3 zone that they typically change to. I think perhaps a big reason the zone has been successful for this team is because it forces them to not over pursue and get caught out of position on defense. This is why we got killed on the dribble drive against Can't in my opinion (because guys were late on their assignments in the man defense. Can't would just weave for a favorable match up or to get an angle on someone at the top of the key and drive when they thought they had a good chance to get to the rack). In a nutshell, just don't over pursue and hold your ground and you should be fine. During the 7 game winning streak I noticed players out of good defensive position very seldom. They were pressuring and in your face when they went man and had very few soft spots in their zone. If we play stout defense I have all the confidence in the world that our offense has enough firepower to get us to the championship. If I had any advice for the team for the rest of the tournament it would be to make sure to communicate and trust your teammates on defense. Just my .01 cents... Go Zips! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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