Coaching Youth Basketball - Chapter 14

Chapter 14 Choose Your Weapon: Man to Man or Zone

You are the only person who can choose what defense you will play. At the younger ages your league may make you play a zone defense, leagues are funny that way. If you do have a choice, here's what you need to decide, are you there to teach the kids, or to win? If you are there to win, you play a zone defense. If you are there to teach your kids, teach them man-2-man defense.

Earlier I have repeatedly stated that coach should equal teacher. Zone defenses don't teach the kids much. M-2-M defense is what most good high schools, and nearly all colleges use. My goal has always been to teach my girls enough so they can make the high school varsity team, so I teach m-2-m defense. As I said, only you can choose for your team, so I am going to go into both defenses.

I will start with the zone defenses. A zone defense is where a player is assigned an area of the court to guard. If an opposing player comes into their area, or zone, they play defense against that player. There may be a 100 different zones, but this gives you the basic concept.

THE BENEFITS OF A ZONE

1. A tight zone will force the other team to have to take longer outside shoots. It is very hard to get the ball inside the paint, for a short short. (See, I used a basketball word, "Paint," and you knew it. Pretty soon you'll be a pro!"

2. Zones allow your players to be in a better position for a rebound.

3. Your players aren't constantly running as much, so your team doesn't tire out as quickly.

THE BENEFITS OF MAN-2-MAN DEFENSE

1. The players that know how to play m-2-m have an edge when they try out for the varsity team.

2. Yes, you have to work harder when you play m-2-m, but you get more steals. You force the other team to take bad shots, and to make bad passes.

3. A good full-court m-2-m will make it harder to throw the ball inbounds, without you stealing it. When someone has to throw the ball in bounds, they only have 5 seconds to do so, or the other team gets the ball. A good m-2-m will stop them from accomplishing this at least 2 to 3 times a game.

4. Once you throw the ball inbounds, you only have 10 seconds to get it across the half-court line, or the other team gets the ball. M-2-M will stop them from accomplishing this, at least several times per game.

On the surface it may seem like it makes sense to play a zone, but a good man-2-man defense will be a good zone defense most of the time.

Simple Zone Offense

Put 5 experienced coaches in a room, tell them they have to agree on whether to play m-2-m defense or a zone defense. Also tell them to choose what type of zone defense they would play, when they do play zone. Then lock the door behind you and leave them alone for two hours. When you come back to check on them, you'll be able to hear the shouting coming out of their room from at least a mile away. Come back after 4 hours, and you will find 5 coaches who have screamed so much they lost their voices. What defense to play is a never ending debate amongst coaches. The one thing all coaches will agree with, if you don't plan on playing defense, then plan on losing.

Rather than try to tackle a million different defenses, I am going to give a few that work well for beginning players and beginning coaches. First we need to go into players position and their roles. All of these will be simple definitions that can be contested by various basketball gurus, but these definitions will work for our purposes.

Some coaches and teams number the positions. Almost every college uses the numbering system. I am going to avoid the number system because I want to make sure I don't lose you.

POINT GUARD OR #1 or PG - Think of the point guard -PG, as your primary ball handler. After you have had several LS's, you'll be able to tell who can dribble and pass the ball the best, this will be your PG. At the younger ages they tend to score a lot. As they get older, they score less and become more of a play maker and floor general.

SHOOTING GUARD OR #2 or SG - This should be your 2nd best ball handler. Your SG and your PG will be the primary people to bring the ball down the court for you.

SHOOTING FORWARD OR #3 or SF - Their primary job is to stay closer to the basket, and get the 8-10 foot shoots and to rebound.

POWER FORWARD OR #4 or PF- Their job is to rebound and shoot from within 3-8 feet of the basket.

CENTER OR #5 or C - Primary rebounder, shot blocker, takes shots close to the basket.

Now before the more experienced of you go off on me, I am giving you simple explanations for youth basketball. A major word of warning, do not use the terms shooting guard or shooting forward in front of your players. If you do, you just gave them a license to shoot every time they touch the ball. Trust me, this will be something that will be nigh unto impossible to break. Just use the terms guards and forwards.

Now isn't this chapter supposed to be about zone defenses? Yep, Yep, Yep, but I had to describe the positions and job descriptions before the rest of this would make sense.

2-1-2 ZONE DEFENSE - Put your PG on one end of your free throw line. Put your SG on the other side. Place your PF on one block and your SF on the other block. Now place your C in the middle of the paint. You should have a big X, or a 2-1-2 zone. Each person has to defend about a 6 foot area that surrounds the spot they are standing in. When an opposing player comes into their area, they must guard that person.

How do you explain this to your players? Have them stand on their assigned spot. You hold a basketball, don't dribble it, and slowly walk the perimeter around your players. As you enter a player's defensive area, have them yell "Mine!" They are informing their team mates that they have the player with the ball. You have also started a major trend, communication amongst your players.

As I said, move around and get the appropriate players to defend you as you enter their area. Start slow and then move faster. Next, place other players outside the defensive players and have them pass the ball around the zone. The purpose is to get your defensive players to cover at the appropriate times.

2-3 ZONE - PG on one end of free throw line, SG on other end. Your other 3 players form a line a foot or so from the block, away from the basket. Place your players and walk around them, making them yell "Mine!" when they are to cover you. You will find that most of the time your players will end up in a 2-1-2 formation anyway, it's one of basketball's mysteries!

1-3-1 ZONE - PG is between top of key and free throw line. SG, C, and SF form a line across paint between the block and the free throw line. The PF is back closer to basket. Again, walk it and make sure they know how to play their positions.

For now this is all you need. Anything else will be too much to learn. I would start with a 2-1-2 and branch out from there. There are all sorts of reasons to use a zone and also different variations of these zones. I am just trying to give you some of the more simpler ones.