Primary Defense Going Forward

[K-oach Q]

I was pretty excited what K had to say after the game last night....that our primary defense moving forward will be a zone with the Man to Man as a complimentary defense to it...

While I think our zone has flaws and can get better....the one thing I think it will do is this....we won’t see teams scoring 40-50 pts a half on us....it slows the tempo...makes teams pretty stationary...and they have to be patient and knock down shots consistently....our bigs get to stay home...and Carter gets to rock the paint defensively.....our back line is pretty athletic at recovering there also...

If for no other reasons...even when our offense is bad we are putting up points...we will be hard to beat if we hold teams under 70pts most nights....this team will score...even on off nights we rebound well and our bigs keep us in the game....I think if K sticks to it...can be a big big game changer for this group....

I’m not under the illusion our zone is some superior defense...it’s not....but it will keep us in games....and let us accumulate some stops on consecutive trips....and our offense can give us some separation....could be a game changer.....

 

[LetsGoDukies]

I agree! I'm excited to see the zone going forward and hopefully move up on KenPom!

 

[DukeRulesBasketball]

Me as well! Very excited to see the zone utilized as the primary defense!

 

[tripleb71]

This is great news! Now they can get better with the zone. The likelihood of them getting zone to an elite level is much greater than them ever getting the man to that level.

 

[dukiejay]

I'm not a fan of zone defense, but I'm not sure I'd be able to defend it not being the best option for this team right now.

We just need to be respectable on that end of the floor. If we value offensive possessions and stop with the stretches of brainless basketball, then this team can reach all of their goals.

 

[DukiesDohK]

I think with the structure of this Duke team (Lots of Bigs) compared to the predominant structure of teams nationally (small ball) this 2-3 is the best option we have to also have our best guys on the court most often. Like last night we can play 3 bigs (Bolden, Carter, Delaurier - though moving forward will be Bagley) and be ok as they're all athletic enough in the zone to contest shooters, while still protecting the rim and usually not giving up easy ones inside. K took a while, but this is his calling card of adjusting his coaching to his team. I feel real good about this.

 

[dachampishere2]

Not a believer in the zone, but if that's the defense that'll get them to play hard all game then so be it. All we need is a top 40 defense and we should win because of how dominant the offense has been all year. Only thing about that zone is it surrenders so many uncontested threes. I know shooters get excited when they see that zone coming. A little ball movement and the shots are open. Too risky in tournament play to play majority zone. They will have to suck it up in the tournament

 

[jwill133]

If (and this is a massive IF) we get to the Final Four. Give me the zone all day in the 65k seat AlamaDome.
You want an open 3? Sure, good luck with that massive backdrop behind the basket.
Shooting dips way down when basketball games are played in massive stadiums, so there's that.

 

[Duke Blu]

Didn’t the 2010 team play a form of zone or at least pack it in with Zoubek being vulnerable?

 

[jwill133]

Didn’t the 2010 team play a form of zone or at least pack it in with Zoubek being vulnerable?

Man-to-man pack line defense, very similar to the UVA defense of the past few years.

 

[dachampishere2]

Didn’t the 2010 team play a form of zone or at least pack it in with Zoubek being vulnerable?

I don't think people were running as much pick and roll back then either. We weren't super athletic so packing it in was the best way to defend with that group

 

[dachampishere2]

Man-to-man pack line defense, very similar to the UVA defense of the past few years.

The problem is Coach K thinks because he has some athletes that he has to play full out denying defense. That's the problem. Plus with the rule changes it is harder to guard people. I think we would do better playing a packed in defense or something like a 3-2 zone. I just don't trust the 2-3. When I used to play basketball I loved to see a 2-3 because I knew I would get a lot of open 3s