Zone??

Last thread I'll start today (probably)

Can the Gophers play zone? We don't defend on the ball well in man to man and a 3-2 zone with Sampson, Mbakwe, Rodney, Al and Blake/Devoe would cause problems for teams, help defend against the 3 and give us a different look. I have seen the 2-3 zone a few times but that doesnt work because Blake isn't athletic enough to get to the corners and rotate and Ralph can't help quick enough.

Rodney up top would create all sorts of passing lane issues and if a team can penetrate they run into Trevor, Ralph (or Colt).

I dont think Tubby likes to play zone, but sometimes you have to go against what you like to be successful.

Any input would be appreciated. I'm too young to have followed Tubby real closely at Kentucky (or before) so I don't know if he is a big advocate of man-to-man, I just like a different look every now and then.

No way

As bad as our defensive rotations have been, the last thing I want to do is go to a zone more than 10% of the time. We just need to hussle more and fight through screens rather than switching to zone. That switching defense against the Badgers was brutal. Joran Taylor vs Ralph Samspson, yeah, thats smart.

khoffman43 said:

I have seen the 2-3 zone a few times but that doesnt work because Blake isn't athletic enough to get to the corners and rotate and Ralph can't help quick enough.

Rodney up top would create all sorts of passing lane issues and if a team can penetrate they run into Trevor, Ralph (or Colt).

I dont think Tubby likes to play zone, but sometimes you have to go against what you like to be successful.

Any input would be appreciated. I'm too young to have followed Tubby real closely at Kentucky (or before) so I don't know if he is a big advocate of man-to-man, I just like a different look every now and then.

Click to expand...

You obviously haven't been paying attention then.

Hoffarber never guards the corners, he's only been one of the 2 guards up top. Tubby never plays him on the baseline, it's either he or Nolen/Joseph on the elbows (I haven't seen us play zone w/a 3 guard lineup yet). Sampson, Williams, Hollins, etc. have played the bottom wings/corners. The problem lately has been with Sampson not rotating quick enough to get out on the corner shooters, ditto for Hollins (although his appears to be more a lack of concentration when the ball swings then lack of athleticism/quickness). Williams has been getting out there, but he's fouled the 3-pt shooter now 3 games in a row.

He's never taken advantage of Williams' length at the top, he's always down low.

The one thing I'd think we would've tried/seen by now is a different formation. 2-3 is usually synonymous with packing it in, not allowing penetration, and getting rebounds (all of which haven't been our problem for the most part). Our rebounding, based on our size/athleticism has been fine for the most part, and we haven't allowed a boatload of penetration. Our problem has often been slow on rotations, and the automatic doubling the post which leaves our guards scrambling.

Why don't we try a 3-2 zone, or a 1-2-2? That way, we're out on shooters, and rely on our bigs to get the boards. I'm surprised we haven't seen any other zone variations besides the 2-3 yet.