© BACK OF BASKETBALL

 

Shifting Zone Defense Necessitates
High Degree of Teamwork on Hardwood

Seventh of 20 instructive basketball articles by famous coaches.

wt

BY PHOG ALLEN
Coach, University of Kansas
Saas common conception of teamwork in basketball is that it applies
only to offense, but in reality it operates best on defense—zone
style—which, at Kansas, is a simple transition from man-to-man ac-
cording to situations which might develop—namely, when the defense

is outnumbered.

etc.)

When a defense is not outnum-
bered it should be eee
the offense, but
where it is out-
numbered it
should expect
the offense to
shoot.

We strive for
an economy of :
defense, con- :
serving our
forces near the
basket, yet we :
project our de-
fensive ten- :
tacles in all di-
rections.

We pick our
offensive opponents at the start of
the game and then switch as the
situation develops. The two de-
fensive forwards play a man-to-
man while the center and guards
form a triangle. When they out-
number our defensive setup we
play the zone principle, ready to
shift to a man-to-man when the
tension eases.

% & Do

pS brief we play a man-to-man

on any offensive player who
has the ball ready to shoot. Some-
body must cover him. While the
offense is setting up their chance
at a basket we go into the zone,
which has the two forwards in a

 

Phog Allen

(One defensive
man opposed by two offensive;
two defensive by three offensive,

 

 

parallel line out front in scoring
territory, the guards in a line near
the basket, and the center at a
spot near the foul line, forming
a triangle with the«two guards.

The most vulnerable positions
of the attack are situated where
the three men form the triangle.
These three men range outward
or backward conjointly and co-
ordinately as the offensive situa-
tion indicates.

% * %

HEY know the offensive men

near the basket create the
most perilous situation and con-
centrate on them, yelling, stomp-

_ing, and waving their arms men-

acingly, attempting to force a bad
pass, or cause an offensive player
to fumble.

This closely knit unit, which
always moves in the direction in
which the ball has been passed,
often is so successful that the
offense finds it extremely difficult
to work the ball close enough for
a good shot.

The defense forces the offense
to take shots from farther out,
and then, because they work so
much in harmony, the three men
forming the triangle swing back
to the basket for rebound work
and usually are in the best posi-
tion to get the ball off the back-
board.

 

NEXT: Penetrating the zone
defense, by Roy Mundorff of
Georgia Tech.

(Copyright, 1938, NEA