Expert: Michael Muro - 11/25/2006

Question
Hi,
      I'm in a very remote part of India, and every local basketball team use Zone Defence , which I considered is weaker to "Men to men" or man on man (whatever you prefer).And what's your opinion and, what is the best offensive strategy to penetrate or attrrack Zonal defence, is there any simpy to break it down. I'll keep in touch. Thanks for your participation.

Answer
Hi Vanlala,

I also prefer man-to-man defense but you have to evaluate your personnel and decide what is better for the team as a whole. I have had teams where I was forced to play zone because I simply didn't have the right type of players to play a man-to-man defense.

Some of the basics that I have learned and apply to my teams is if the defense is in a odd man front I attack with an even man front and if they are in a even man front I attack with a odd man front. Example if they are in a 1-2-2 zone I attack with 2 players at the top and if they are in a 2-3 zone I attack with 1 player at the top. You need to be patient against a zone and swinging the ball from one side of the court to the other helps set up the offense. You want to attack the gaps against a zone. You can do this with passing which is preferred or dribbling. You have to pass the ball before the pressure, don't wait to get trapped or stuck before you pass the ball. Here is a good free basketball site that covers everything about basketball. Just copy and paste into your address bar. Scroll down to the bottom as there are about 10 zone offenses. Good luck and let me know how everything works out!

http://www.coachesclipboard.net/BasketballOffenses.html