If not, wtf was Donyell Marshall thinking? Did he even watch the Morgan State tape? Anyway, loved it. If zone defense was illegal in college bball like it used to be in the NBA, I'd like our chances in a LOT more in-conference games this year.
Did CCSU Zone Us Up At All Last Night?
- Thread starter DirtyRU
- Start date
Yes I didn't get to watch the whole game but they played zone against us at some point about 1/2 through the 1st half.
But I agree with you. I would still play zone against us 90% of the time until we prove we can beat it. I still think once B1G play starts we are going to see a heavy dose of it.
But I agree with you. I would still play zone against us 90% of the time until we prove we can beat it. I still think once B1G play starts we are going to see a heavy dose of it.
I think we'll see some, but not a ton. Teams aren't going to change their base defense (if man) because Rutgers is coming to town. Another way to think about it: we haven't played any zone at all this OOC, do you think we'll play zone against teams that don't shoot particularly well in conference? With all the time we've put into man. I don't. Pikiell wants to play tough man to man defense. I just don't see Izzo or Crean or Turgeon, etc changing things up to play us. Time will tell.
you are right --the other coaches won't care that much , especially at the beginning of games or once they are up by a lot. But if we are in the game and an actual threat to win, they're all going to pull it out.
We have definitely played some zone defense in games thus far. Maybe only a few possessions at a time, but we've played it
Nor Purdue, nor Minnesota, nor Penn State. Yeah teams will play zone during the course of a game but not as their base defense.
We'll have some games where we are going to hit threes and some nights where we don't on those nights where we are hitting them hopefully those are the ones we can steal a few games
This makes sense ONLY if the other team is more prone to playing more zone than man to man. If a coach is known for playing straight up man to man D, then they're not going to switch to a zone defense throughout a game, because they won't be as skilled at that and Pikiell knows all of the soft spots in the zone to take advantage of it. Will we be zoned against better competition? Yes. But if so, it doesn't mean we have to just pass the ball around the perimeter until the clock winds down and launch threes. Right now that's not our strong suit. What we do well is penetrate and dish and we are pretty good from fifteen feet out. And that not only includes our guards, but CJ, Freeman, Thiam and Laurent.
It's all well and good to say Pike knows all the soft spots. All coaches generally do (though defensive athleticism can dictate). But we haven't done well against zones this year, soft spots notwithstanding. If we can't hit from the outside, it's going to be difficult to score.
Granted, our strong point of offensive rebounding is enhanced going against a zone, but we're going to be going up against trees in the B1G.
Granted, our strong point of offensive rebounding is enhanced going against a zone, but we're going to be going up against trees in the B1G.
