Attacking the Zone: Marquette game reveals coaching impact

[rambis]

I saw something in yesterday's performance that hadn't gotten much mention in the game thread. A lot of credit has to go to how well we played offensively as a team. And by that I mean the team has started to implement what they've been coached. Things we saw yesterday:

1. Attacking the zone from the right corner. Several first half plays started with White at the top of the key feeding Copeland in the corner who used the angle to feed Josh or Mikael. Josh was able to seal his defender up high as the ball moved. Very well executed a number of times.

2. High - low. A number of times Copeland flashed to the free throw line where he quickly dumped it down to Josh or Mikael. The difference yesterday: no hesitation on the dump down.

3. Attacking the zone off the dribble. Copeland was able to get into the lane with a quick first step from the wing. This is because our ball movement was better (faster). He got shots, Bowen got shots coming from the corner, and Jabril was able to dish to an open shooter as the zone collapsed.

4. Double low post. Earlier in the game, both Josh and Mikael posted on opposite sides of the paint making it difficult to double team. Mikael got an open look at the rim.

5. Finding cutters off the double team. Josh found a cutting Copeland and later Mikael dished to Bowen. These came when they were both double-teamed on the baseline. Our post players know where to look and our wing players know where to make that cut.

After enduring a lot of criticism about our hesitant approach to attacking the zone, we put up 95 points against an aggressive zone defense. This came from a team effort and demonstrated that we were well-prepared and knew what to expect.

Mikael was receiving the ball right at the basket where he could go straight to the rim and draw fouls. Same with Josh. Fewer turnovers were the result of more decisive play initiating the offense and moving the ball effectively out of traps and double teams. We got good looks breaking down the zone with better ball movement than we've shown before.

I've recently felt that zone was our kryptonite. But yesterday's performance shows that we can thrive on it. If we can execute like that consistently over the rest of the season, this could be a very special year.

[SFHoya99]

So much of our better execution seems to be quicker decision-making and faster execution. I wonder if we simply practiced zone offense most of the week.

[EtomicB]

Jan 25, 2015 13:40:08 GMT -5 rambis said:

I saw something in yesterday's performance that hadn't gotten much mention in the game thread. A lot of credit has to go to how well we played offensively as a team. And by that I mean the team has started to implement what they've been coached. Things we saw yesterday:

1. Attacking the zone from the right corner. Several first half plays started with White at the top of the key feeding Copeland in the corner who used the angle to feed Josh or Mikael. Josh was able to seal his defender up high as the ball moved. Very well executed a number of times.

2. High - low. A number of times Copeland flashed to the free throw line where he quickly dumped it down to Josh or Mikael. The difference yesterday: no hesitation on the dump down.

3. Attacking the zone off the dribble. Copeland was able to get into the lane with a quick first step from the wing. This is because our ball movement was better (faster). He got shots, Bowen got shots coming from the corner, and Jabril was able to dish to an open shooter as the zone collapsed.

4. Double low post. Earlier in the game, both Josh and Mikael posted on opposite sides of the paint making it difficult to double team. Mikael got an open look at the rim.

5. Finding cutters off the double team. Josh found a cutting Copeland and later Mikael dished to Bowen. These came when they were both double-teamed on the baseline. Our post players know where to look and our wing players know where to make that cut.

After enduring a lot of criticism about our hesitant approach to attacking the zone, we put up 95 points against an aggressive zone defense. This came from a team effort and demonstrated that we were well-prepared and knew what to expect.

Mikael was receiving the ball right at the basket where he could go straight to the rim and draw fouls. Same with Josh. Fewer turnovers were the result of more decisive play initiating the offense and moving the ball effectively out of traps and double teams. We got good looks breaking down the zone with better ball movement than we've shown before.

I've recently felt that zone was our kryptonite. But yesterday's performance shows that we can thrive on it. If we can execute like that consistently over the rest of the season, this could be a very special year.

The dominant factor in this great post is Copeland, his emergence has opened up so many more possibilities to how the team can/will perform..

He's surprised me with how well he handles the ball, he's pretty close to being on par with White in that regard..

[njhoya78]

GU's ability to successfully attack a zone defense, as we did yesterday against Marquette, will pose some very difficult issues for opposing coaches and teams. If we are moving the ball and creating mismatches against the zone for easy interior shots and/or fouls on the opposing bigs, it becomes a pick-your-poison dilemma. We know what the Hoyas do to man-to-man defenses; if we are as effective against zones, as we were yesterday, we become almost impossible to defend. If that happens, rambis is right; this could be a very special year.

[Eurostar]

Jan 25, 2015 13:57:46 GMT -5 EtomicB said:

The dominant factor in this great post is Copeland, his emergence has opened up so many more possibilities to how the team can/will perform..

He's surprised me with how well he handles the ball, he's pretty close to being on par with White in that regard..

Agreed. In the Xavier and Providence losses where we looked poor against the zone, Copeland didnt play much. I think his understanding of how to beat the zone is opening it up for the other guys.

[hoyacane11]

Jan 25, 2015 14:14:12 GMT -5 Eurostar said:

Jan 25, 2015 13:57:46 GMT -5 EtomicB said:

The dominant factor in this great post is Copeland, his emergence has opened up so many more possibilities to how the team can/will perform..

He's surprised me with how well he handles the ball, he's pretty close to being on par with White in that regard..

Agreed. In the Xavier and Providence losses where we looked poor against the zone, Copeland didnt play much. I think his understanding of how to beat the zone is opening it up for the other guys.

Those games made the coaches go back to the drawing board to improve the our strategy in attacking the zone, and it worked. Kudos to them.

[calhoya]

It is really simple. Copeland in particular and White to a lesser extent present an offensive threat from beyond 5 feet that neither Hopkins nor Smith can. Therefore it opens up the zone and makes the offense run rather than breaking down when defenses back off the high post or corner and crowd the lane. It also opened things up for the outside game with DSR starting off hot from beyond the arc. If Copeland keeps playing like this and White continues to grow (he had some bad passes yesterday and seemed a little careless) everyone on this team will benefit.

[SirSaxa]

Wait!

Is this thread really about the coaching staff knowing what they are doing and teaching the kids how to play more effectively?

[hoyainspirit]

Don't look now, but after that 130 Offensive Efficiency we put on Marquette's zone, our Adj. Efficiency is up to 111.9 (from 109.7, #41 before the game), good for #30 in the nation.

[rambis]

Jan 25, 2015 13:57:46 GMT -5 EtomicB said:

Jan 25, 2015 13:40:08 GMT -5 rambis said:

I saw something in yesterday's performance that hadn't gotten much mention in the game thread. A lot of credit has to go to how well we played offensively as a team. And by that I mean the team has started to implement what they've been coached. Things we saw yesterday:

1. Attacking the zone from the right corner. Several first half plays started with White at the top of the key feeding Copeland in the corner who used the angle to feed Josh or Mikael. Josh was able to seal his defender up high as the ball moved. Very well executed a number of times.

2. High - low. A number of times Copeland flashed to the free throw line where he quickly dumped it down to Josh or Mikael. The difference yesterday: no hesitation on the dump down.

3. Attacking the zone off the dribble. Copeland was able to get into the lane with a quick first step from the wing. This is because our ball movement was better (faster). He got shots, Bowen got shots coming from the corner, and Jabril was able to dish to an open shooter as the zone collapsed.

4. Double low post. Earlier in the game, both Josh and Mikael posted on opposite sides of the paint making it difficult to double team. Mikael got an open look at the rim.

5. Finding cutters off the double team. Josh found a cutting Copeland and later Mikael dished to Bowen. These came when they were both double-teamed on the baseline. Our post players know where to look and our wing players know where to make that cut.

After enduring a lot of criticism about our hesitant approach to attacking the zone, we put up 95 points against an aggressive zone defense. This came from a team effort and demonstrated that we were well-prepared and knew what to expect.

Mikael was receiving the ball right at the basket where he could go straight to the rim and draw fouls. Same with Josh. Fewer turnovers were the result of more decisive play initiating the offense and moving the ball effectively out of traps and double teams. We got good looks breaking down the zone with better ball movement than we've shown before.

I've recently felt that zone was our kryptonite. But yesterday's performance shows that we can thrive on it. If we can execute like that consistently over the rest of the season, this could be a very special year.

The dominant factor in this great post is Copeland, his emergence has opened up so many more possibilities to how the team can/will perform..

He's surprised me with how well he handles the ball, he's pretty close to being on par with White in that regard..

I saw Copeland a bit during Kenner and saw glimpses of his passing ability. It was more that he demonstrated a high degree of awareness of everyone around him that struck me as unusual for a freshman. White has that too. The two of them playing together looked great yesterday. Even though White had a couple unforced turnovers, he had a lot of passes that set up assists.

If any of you watched Duke play St. John's today, you had to feel that we could have put them to the sword in a way the Johnnies couldn't. They lost their composure and their cohesion after Duke closed the gap on St. John's 10 point second half lead. For those of you that missed it, Coach K is now trying to play zone - and they're really bad at it. I like our chances against them next year.

[dailey247]

Jan 25, 2015 13:40:08 GMT -5 rambis said:

I saw something in yesterday's performance that hadn't gotten much mention in the game thread. A lot of credit has to go to how well we played offensively as a team. And by that I mean the team has started to implement what they've been coached. Things we saw yesterday:

1. Attacking the zone from the right corner. Several first half plays started with White at the top of the key feeding Copeland in the corner who used the angle to feed Josh or Mikael. Josh was able to seal his defender up high as the ball moved. Very well executed a number of times.

2. High - low. A number of times Copeland flashed to the free throw line where he quickly dumped it down to Josh or Mikael. The difference yesterday: no hesitation on the dump down.

3. Attacking the zone off the dribble. Copeland was able to get into the lane with a quick first step from the wing. This is because our ball movement was better (faster). He got shots, Bowen got shots coming from the corner, and Jabril was able to dish to an open shooter as the zone collapsed.

4. Double low post. Earlier in the game, both Josh and Mikael posted on opposite sides of the paint making it difficult to double team. Mikael got an open look at the rim.

5. Finding cutters off the double team. Josh found a cutting Copeland and later Mikael dished to Bowen. These came when they were both double-teamed on the baseline. Our post players know where to look and our wing players know where to make that cut.

After enduring a lot of criticism about our hesitant approach to attacking the zone, we put up 95 points against an aggressive zone defense. This came from a team effort and demonstrated that we were well-prepared and knew what to expect.

Mikael was receiving the ball right at the basket where he could go straight to the rim and draw fouls. Same with Josh. Fewer turnovers were the result of more decisive play initiating the offense and moving the ball effectively out of traps and double teams. We got good looks breaking down the zone with better ball movement than we've shown before.

I've recently felt that zone was our kryptonite. But yesterday's performance shows that we can thrive on it. If we can execute like that consistently over the rest of the season, this could be a very special year.

Want to bump this to highlight how we did the exact opposite last night. Copeland got 2 looks in the short corner, going 1 for 2, and a nice cut to the soft spot for a jumper. Plus there was one high-low action to Josh for a dunk, but the zone wasn't completely set up for that one. Other than that, we did not do the things that 50 years of basketball have shown to be effective against a 2-3 zone. Which we basically haven't done since Sweetney graduated. Otto was a natural zone killer, and we had good success against zones with him in the soft spot. Maybe Copeland has the same natural aspect to his game, and as he grows into a leadership role on this team he'll demand the ball in the weak spots. But for the last 2 minutes of the game last night, we did the same pass-around-the-perimeter;-run-a-few-diagonal-cuts;-PUT-NOBODY-IN-THE-SOFT-SPOT-AND-HOPE-THE-DEFENSE-FORGETS-TO-ROTATE-ON-ONE-OF-THESE-PASSES BULL$#!T we always do, and we lost a winnable game because of it. You can beat a zone with 6th graders and 20 minutes of practice, but we don't ever seem to do it unless a player takes it on himself to do LITERALLY THE ONLY THING THAT WORKS.

Maybe we can just bump this every time a zone makes us look like a team that has never seen the game of basketball, but only had it described to us. It'll hit 100 pages by the end of next year.

[hoyaboya]

Feb 5, 2015 11:37:30 GMT -5 dailey247 said:

Jan 25, 2015 13:40:08 GMT -5 rambis said:

I saw something in yesterday's performance that hadn't gotten much mention in the game thread. A lot of credit has to go to how well we played offensively as a team. And by that I mean the team has started to implement what they've been coached. Things we saw yesterday:

1. Attacking the zone from the right corner. Several first half plays started with White at the top of the key feeding Copeland in the corner who used the angle to feed Josh or Mikael. Josh was able to seal his defender up high as the ball moved. Very well executed a number of times.

2. High - low. A number of times Copeland flashed to the free throw line where he quickly dumped it down to Josh or Mikael. The difference yesterday: no hesitation on the dump down.

3. Attacking the zone off the dribble. Copeland was able to get into the lane with a quick first step from the wing. This is because our ball movement was better (faster). He got shots, Bowen got shots coming from the corner, and Jabril was able to dish to an open shooter as the zone collapsed.

4. Double low post. Earlier in the game, both Josh and Mikael posted on opposite sides of the paint making it difficult to double team. Mikael got an open look at the rim.

5. Finding cutters off the double team. Josh found a cutting Copeland and later Mikael dished to Bowen. These came when they were both double-teamed on the baseline. Our post players know where to look and our wing players know where to make that cut.

After enduring a lot of criticism about our hesitant approach to attacking the zone, we put up 95 points against an aggressive zone defense. This came from a team effort and demonstrated that we were well-prepared and knew what to expect.

Mikael was receiving the ball right at the basket where he could go straight to the rim and draw fouls. Same with Josh. Fewer turnovers were the result of more decisive play initiating the offense and moving the ball effectively out of traps and double teams. We got good looks breaking down the zone with better ball movement than we've shown before.

I've recently felt that zone was our kryptonite. But yesterday's performance shows that we can thrive on it. If we can execute like that consistently over the rest of the season, this could be a very special year.

Want to bump this to highlight how we did the exact opposite last night. Copeland got 2 looks in the short corner, going 1 for 2, and a nice cut to the soft spot for a jumper. Plus there was one high-low action to Josh for a dunk, but the zone wasn't completely set up for that one. Other than that, we did not do the things that 50 years of basketball have shown to be effective against a 2-3 zone. Which we basically haven't done since Sweetney graduated. Otto was a natural zone killer, and we had good success against zones with him in the soft spot. Maybe Copeland has the same natural aspect to his game, and as he grows into a leadership role on this team he'll demand the ball in the weak spots. But for the last 2 minutes of the game last night, we did the same pass-around-the-perimeter;-run-a-few-diagonal-cuts;-PUT-NOBODY-IN-THE-SOFT-SPOT-AND-HOPE-THE-DEFENSE-FORGETS-TO-ROTATE-ON-ONE-OF-THESE-PASSES BULL$#!T we always do, and we lost a winnable game because of it. You can beat a zone with 6th graders and 20 minutes of practice, but we don't ever seem to do it unless a player takes it on himself to do LITERALLY THE ONLY THING THAT WORKS.

Maybe we can just bump this every time a zone makes us look like a team that has never seen the game of basketball, but only had it described to us. It'll hit 100 pages by the end of next year.

Providence is longer and more athletic than Marquette, which makes Providence's zone tougher to run offense against, IMO. That said, the Hoyas scored 41 in the first half with a beautiful mixture of getting out on the break and carving up the zone. Guys got tight in the last ten minutes and I don't think the coaching staff helped too much, would have liked to have seen them have some sets to run when the pass around the perimeter thing didn't work. But I do think you have to give Providence's zone credit, it's pretty effective and a good use of their length. I don't know if they play zone much when they're not playing the Hoyas, but it's a great strategy against this year's Georgetown team. As I said before the Villanova game, any coach that doesn't play zone against the Hoyas (or the UVA-style man which is essentially a zone, like Xavier used) needs to have his head examined. The facts are right there in the tapes of this season's games. Will be great to have Jay Wright do his Bobby Knight thing again this weekend and play exclusively man-to-man.

[SFHoya99]

We attacked the zone well last night in the first half and much of the second. We got sloppy down the stretch, mostly on passes into the zone or ball-handling once it was in there.

[DanMcQ]

Against PC in the second half yesterday, a Hoya flashed to the foul line a couple of times... but it was the wrong one: Trawick. Not tall enough to easily get an entry pass to against PC's length and not enough of a turn and shoot threat. Copeland and White are made for that spot. Trawick is better used as a spot up shooter and/or slasher to the hoop.

[TBird41]

Feb 5, 2015 15:17:06 GMT -5 DanMcQ said:

Against PC in the second half yesterday, a Hoya flashed to the foul line a couple of times... but it was the wrong one: Trawick. Not tall enough to easily get an entry pass to against PC's length and not enough of a turn and shoot threat. Copeland and White are made for that spot. Trawick is better used as a spot up shooter and/or slasher to the hoop.

Probably, though we had a lot of success running the offense against Cuse through Chris Wright in the high post. Trawick isn't Chris, obviously, but the skill set isn't too dissimilar.

That being said, obviously White and Copeland should be used there as well.

[FLHoya]

Feb 5, 2015 13:34:32 GMT -5 hoyaboya said:

Providence is longer and more athletic than Marquette, which makes Providence's zone tougher to run offense against, IMO. That said, the Hoyas scored 41 in the first half with a beautiful mixture of getting out on the break and carving up the zone. Guys got tight in the last ten minutes and I don't think the coaching staff helped too much, would have liked to have seen them have some sets to run when the pass around the perimeter thing didn't work. But I do think you have to give Providence's zone credit, it's pretty effective and a good use of their length. I don't know if they play zone much when they're not playing the Hoyas, but it's a great strategy against this year's Georgetown team. As I said before the Villanova game, any coach that doesn't play zone against the Hoyas (or the UVA-style man which is essentially a zone, like Xavier used) needs to have his head examined. The facts are right there in the tapes of this season's games. Will be great to have Jay Wright do his Bobby Knight thing again this weekend and play exclusively man-to-man.

I want to believe your argument, but too little of it is in all caps and connected by dashes for my taste.