YBCA

As a team we play man excusively however most of the teams in our league play zone defence.  I struggle on on how practice against a zone since we really don't stress it and I don't want to take alot to teach it.(less is more)  How can we have an effective practice without spending too much time teaching the zone d.

Plus how can you structure you practice so that against a zone and make it competive or game like.

Thanks

AT

I know I am quite new in this forum, but I have coached at the youth level for many years now. Our league has many teams who predominately use Zone defenses.

I hope I might be able to add something to this post that will help.

What I always did in my practices was to set my second and third string players up in a zone such as a 2-1-2, 1-2-2, 2-3, etc. I did not worry so much about them learning the zone perfectly, I would merely go over which area they should guard in relation to the ball. Then I would run my key players against this zone in half court setting over and over to help them get a feel for seeing the gaps in the zone.

The key to breaking through any Zone is good ball movement and rotation. If your players can do this, and learn to see and attack the areas a Zone breaks down then they will be successful.

Also, another very simple, time efficient, and great way to exploit the Zone at the youth level is to incorporate a few SET PLAYS(or “quick-hitters”) to take advantage of the gaps that naturally occur in most Zones. We have used set plays with much success at every level I have coached at, and they are do not have to be complicated. They can be simple, and easy to teach.

The set plays should give you, at the least, a shot at getting good looks against the Zone.

If you are seeking to get good looks at the basket by way of jump shots, and have the shooters to do it, then a pick is as relevant against a Zone as it is vs. a Man.

You do not have to teach all the types or rotations of a Zone to learn the basics of the Zone, but in order to learn to play against the Zone, you do have to practice against it. If all else fails, stress to your players the importance of moving without the ball, passing(ball-movement), cutting, and picking against the Zone just as if they were facing a M2M, and I'm sure ya'll will do just fine.

Ball Rotation: for shots

Cuts: for scoring in the lane

Ball Rotation + Cuts: =scoring everywhere!