Will Bills ever use a Zone?

[Taj79]

There is an overall decline in basketball skills across the country. That's why they are trying to eliminate the charge call --- to pep up offenses. I see that around the A10 and we are not immune to it. The mid range game is dead. It's either Sportscenter Dunk City or the Davidesque employ of the three ball. The area in between is deadsville.

So, if you employ a zone, I would say you can't do it against a team that has a few skilled shooters. VCWho is not that team. I wouldn't zone Duke. However, the trade off is usually rebounding and Syracuse's works because they still have three 6'10" on the back line to swat missed offensive rebounds. In other words, it's not for everybody.

Now, I think it should be a part of the overall arsenal. Every coach we play knows, as Archie did with 40 seconds to go in that first half Wednesday night, that when he's diagramming a play, the Bills WILL come out in man-to-man. Why not change it up? In high school, high school mind you 40 years ago, we played a match-up MAN-TO-MAN zone. And we were 15 years old. I don't remember the concept but it was zone as the opposition approached the key and then we went man-to-man when the ball went below the foul line extended. Or something like that.

All I'm saying is the option might be a good thing to have.

[JettFlight5]

I think we have some problems on D that can trace back to the fact that we are playing two hurt guys. I don't think the defense we are running or a lack of defensive adjustments are the problem. Also, Dayton is a pretty damn good offensive team. 25th best in the country according to Pomeroy.

The two hurt guys are the biggest reason. Jett is one of the league's better defenders, and Evans isn't a highway to the goal. I'd like to see a zone, but it's 30 games in and probably too late to do much with it. Figuring out the offense and being not as hurt are more important.

[pjjack]

Umass struggles against the zone.

[slufan13]

I didn't think Jett was hurt before the Dayton game. Banged and beat up maybe, but everyone is. Not sure injuries are as big of an excuse as people want them to be. Yes our best 2 players are hurt now and that's a big deal, but again was Jett hurt the last 4 games? Evans was. But as a team we haven't looked that efficient on offense all year.

The offense isn't good. It's extremely predictable. Last month there was some article where Evans and Crews hinted that there are things in our offense that haven't left the practice floor yet. Where is that? Still on the practice floor I guess. Teams pack the paint against us and dare us to shoot because they know we can't. McCall and McBroom get blocked when they drive to the hoop. Jett is seeing extra attention. Evans might be hurt but he can't be consistently effective even when healthy against the defense that we're seeing. I have no idea how you fix that because I'm not a coach. It doesn't seem like our spacing is great. It also seems like sometimes we miss the open guy on offense. Evans doesn't see the open man in the double team. Jett misses the wide open guy in the corner. More shooters would help open things up. Teams dare Barnett to shoot the ball. Crawford. Lancona. They aren't proven, but if I was making a scouting report for SLU and I was going through the bench guys, I'd say that Crawford is a good shooter and that you have to give him attention.

The defense is still really good but again teams know how to beat us. For some reason, McCall and Jett are struggling more than usual defending a guy driving to the basket. And this hasn't just been an issue the last 3 games. And then our big men leave their guy to help. They can contest the shot, but then their guy is unmarked for an offensive rebound. Crews talked about this in the radio show last week. Then maybe one of our guards packs in a bit to help out and then there's a guy open for 3. Dayton and Duquesne went 18-41 from 3 against us. 44%. I exclude VCU from that because they haven't shot well against anyone. We play great team defense and I think teams are trying a lot more one on one against us. We do have great on ball defenders but I also don't think they have been as good this year.

I still think fatigue is an issue. I don't care how many minutes they've played compared to last year. This isn't last year's team. Last year Evans could play more minutes but not see as much attention which kept him fresher. Same with Jett. Same with McCall. Same with Loe. I'm not saying they took possessions off last year. I'm saying last year Mitchell (who could play 40 mins a game. he was a strength and conditioning All American for a reason) could handle the ball and let Jett and McCall play off the ball more which gave us more options offensively. Handling the ball a ton takes more out of you and Jett is doing that a ton this year. Ellis opened things up for Evans obviously which meant that Evans wasn't constantly trying to battle through double teams. Again that takes more out of you. Loe is being asked to play in the paint and on the perimeter way more than last year because Ellis could play out there a lot last year. Again that takes more out of you. I do think Evans is trying to do too much especially if he's hurt. There's no reason for him to always try to back his guy down or beat the double team. He has to see the guys that are open when they double him.

[drkelsey55]

I would hope that we at least practice against a zone. If we do, then some of the players need to know how to use one, If they know how to use it, why wouldn't it be beneficial to just use it for a couple of possesions during a game just to make the other team have to think about it.

[hsmith19]

We might be the guys with the 5.

In what universe?

[slu72]

I think the defense is part of the problem. 72 points to Dayton? That's an issue.

It's not the biggest problem, but it isn't right either.

Two games against GM in the 80s. 70s given to SVU and the last place Dookies? I'd say our defense has lost a bit of it's sting. It's all a combo of tired legs, little bench support, teams knowing us better, and maybe a little overconfidence.

[doowop]

I would hope that we at least practice against a zone. If we do, then some of the players need to know how to use one, If they know how to use it, why wouldn't it be beneficial to just use it for a couple of possesions during a game just to make the other team have to think about it.

Makes sense to me. I've been wanting that to happen for a long time now.

[eastsidejoe]

Whoever thinks our defense is fine is nuts/ Guards cannot stop dribble penetration, Bigs help and get burned on the weakside. We should be allowing about 60-65 points per game not 70.

[billiken class of 15]

Whoever thinks our defense is fine is nuts/ Guards cannot stop dribble penetration, Bigs help and get burned on the weakside. We should be allowing about 60-65 points per game not 70.

+1

[Bills By 40]

Whoever thinks our defense is fine is nuts/ Guards cannot stop dribble penetration, Bigs help and get burned on the weakside. We should be allowing about 60-65 points per game not 70.

Or 55-60...

[For-DaLove]

Zones are not that hard to install or play.

I typically agree with what you say but this makes me question your basic understanding of basketball. Zones are extremely hard to install and play well. That's why there's only a few good zone teams in the country.

[Clock_Tower]

What exactly have teams figured out and adjusted to?

Our offense has sucked all year. Nobody has adjusted to make our offense worse. Our two best players are hurt. That has been the biggest change.

Now on offense I would have liked to seen the team do some things differently this year. I would have liked to play at a much slower tempo. I wish they would have stuck much closer to the Majerus offense. I think it much better fits the talent currently on the roster.

That said...............

This isn't Majerus's team anymore. Crews wanted to start inserting his offense for the types of players he wants to recruit. It, also, takes a ton of practice time to properly run Majerus's system. Could it have even been run properly without Majerus's great eye for detail? Would our defense have been as effective with much more time devoted to offensive prep every game? Hell, we probably don't have enough effective outside shooters on the roster for it to have made that big of difference.

Brian. Just look to last game where UD conceded the outside shot to JJ but packed the interior and prevented JJ from getting to the hoop - especially to his left. They were waiting for him, saw him coming and one time had 2 other guys step in the lane. JJ tried to make it to he hoop anyway and was not successful going up against 3 defenders. UD also used depth to foul him and others to frustrate him and to send him to the line -- both worked. JJ was more frustrated by UD's defense and by his own FT shooting than he was injured. Read the line from your own signature -- no excuses (injuries) this year. Also, UD's guard was waiting for DE to begin his deliberate post up moves, noticed this and dropped off his man to not only double down on DE but to intercept DE's dribble - one of his weakness. Earlier in the year, teams would not focus on DE's dribble, they do now. DE, of course, takes a long time before making his move and of course DE's dribbling/guard skills are suspect but UD was ready for DE nearly each time. In short, UD was not going to allow JJ to take over and score 20 points in the second half like he did against other A10 earlier in the year or to allow DE to beat UD. Instead, they focused on them and dared MM and JB to win -- and we didn't. In contrast, JM is still an unproven commodity. Teams don't really know what he's going to do -- well, maybe the coaches do, but they are not worried about. Twice against UD, JM was inserted into the game and twice JM scored with immediate layups. I sure do hope that JC does have some new looks to show teams -- we will need them. But yes, teams of late do know what we are going to do, are focusing on that and we are struggling because of it.