Wouldn't it be great if all of your original basketball coaching ideas and concepts panned out? Even though we resist at times, we all know the game is constantly changing and with that comes the need for innovation and adaptation on your part.

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Four Ways to Tweak and Improve a 2-3 Zone Defense-hoopskills.com
Four Ways to Tweak and Improve a 2-3
Zone Defense
-by Coach Dave Stricklin
http://www.hoopskills.com
Wouldn't it be great if all of your original coaching ideas and concepts panned
out? Even though we resist at times, we all know the game is constantly changing
and with that comes the need for innovation and adaptation on your part.
For many of us, this is one of the fundamental reasons we love the game and we
take it as a personal challenge to find a way to win year in and year out. With that
in mind, the topic I want to discuss today is what do you do if your zone defense is
not stopping the opposing team's offense?
The first solution that comes to mind is usually to completely throw it out the
window so to speak and start a whole new defensive scheme. Bur before you do
this, try adding one of these four wrinkles to your zone defense.
1. Pick Up and Pressure Early

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Four Ways to Tweak and Improve a 2-3 Zone Defense-hoopskills.com
This concept was borrowed from the 1-1-3 zone defense that Lute Olson once ran
when he was coaching at the University of Arizona. One of the things that made
this zone different and effective was the pickup point of the top guard.
Try designating one of your top defenders in your 2-3 to inch forward and pick up
the ball handler between half court and the volleyball 10 foot line. It is important
to keep the second guard back on the three point line because once the ball is
passed to start the half-court offense; this guard would then take the ball.
While this is happening, the defender pressuring the ball would then drop back.
This simple adjustment will allow the defense to put additional pressure on the
ball handler, force additional turnovers, and confuse the offense by giving it an
unfamiliar look.
2. Double the Post
Doubling the post is a popular concept within man to man defenses but it is
nearly nonexistent in most zones. This is because most teams put a priority on
fronting the low block and or pushing the offense off the block in order to
discourage low post play.
The next time you face a dominant post player on your schedule have the middle
defender in your zone play directly behind him. When the ball is thrown into the
post, have the middle defender jump to the offensive player's baseline shoulder
(forcing him middle) while having the weak side top guard sprint down and trap
the ball in order to provide additional pressure.
When this happens it is vital that the strong side forward AND the remaining top
guard deny the passing lanes back out from the post. This is a great strategy for
forcing a traveling violation, stealing the pass back out and discouraging future
entry passes.

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Four Ways to Tweak and Improve a 2-3 Zone Defense-hoopskills.com
3. Trap Any Skip Pass
In order to gain a complete perspective of this next defensive tactic you must first
view this from an offensive point of view. All coaches know that when utilizing a
2-3 zone defense there are some things that you will give up and one of these
things is the skip pass. From an offensive standpoint skip passing forces the
defense to shift quickly.
When the defense shifts like this one of the problems they face is the possibility
of sending two players (top guard and outside forward) out to the ball at the
same time. When this happens confusion often ensues as both defenders
sometimes drop off thinking the other one will take responsibility for the ball.
When this happens the result is that the offensive player usually has an open
"catch and shoot" opportunity. Instead of letting this happen try trapping the ball
after any skip pass with the weak side top guard and the outside forward. This
could certainly cause the pass receiver to panic and may result in forcing another
turnover. If nothing else you will have prevented the offense form getting off a
wide open shot.
4. Extend the Zone
One of the more common assumptions in the basketball world is that teams that
play zone defenses are doing so because they are trying to hide poor defenders.
While I am sure this is true at times, a zone defense can also be a very aggressive
and proactive weapon.
Next time your play a team who lacks either an excellent ball handler or
outstanding decision makers, extend your zone and turn it into a quarter court

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Four Ways to Tweak and Improve a 2-3 Zone Defense-hoopskills.com
trap. Coach Russ Davis and his teams at Vanguard University use this tactic as well
as anyone I've ever seen and it has generated win after win year after year.
Final Thoughts
These are certainly not the only tweaks that you can make to fortify your
struggling 2-3 zone, just some of the most common. They say that necessity is the
mother of invention and so if you are committed to playing a zone don't hesitate
to be creative and devise something that will give your team its best opportunity
to win.