The goal of any zone offense is to get an uncontested shot we can make, a shot with a good opportunity to get fouled, or a shot we can rebound. It is particularly important to get the ball inside against zones because it can be demoralizing.

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A team will play zone for three main reasons:
1. Your team is strong inside.
2. Your team is a weak outside shooting team.
3. To change the flow and tempo of the game.

But, whenever a team can get the ball inside -- to the "heart" of the zone -- it is a psychological blow to the team playing a zone defense.

Zone Offense Concepts
When we talk about concepts, we talk about general ideas that cover attacking the various zones we will see during the season. Later, we will show you a couple of set plays that are effective against zones. But the first thing any offense must do is recognize just what type of zone a defense is playing.

It is important that players know the slides of each zone, or how it moves against an offense. If the defense knows where to go, your players should, as well. Here are the three common zone alignments:

Once a team recognizes the zone alignments, it can position its players in the gaps of the zone. Tonight, when Missouri plays Syracuse (ESPN, 7 ET), look at how the Tigers to set up against the Orangemen's 2-3 zone. There should never be anyone in front of the Missouri offense. Look for the Tigers to align themselves in a 1-2-2 or 1-3-1 set against Syracuse. Against other types of zones, maybe a 1-2-2 zone, teams might position players in a 2-3 offensive set.

Once we know what kind of zone we are facing, we want to the ball and our men quickly to take the zone out of its shape and make the slides longer. The "skip pass" or cross-court pass is a great way to make the zone run. Tonight, look for Missouri to attack the zone with a skip pass from Jimmy McKinney (2) to Rickey Paulding (3).

Here, we attack the 2-3 with a "skip pass".

For an offense to be effective against any zone, the ball should move faster than the slides of the zone. And, by putting the zone to work, an offense eventually can break the zone down. It may take four or five ball reversals before a crack in the zone appears, but it's important to recognize that the quality of a team's shots against the zone are in direct proportion to the quality of its passes.

Any zone defense will usually react to pass fakes because the defense is geared to move on the flight of the ball. Good pass fakes will move the zone just a little further away from the direction you really want to pass the ball. A good shooter's use of a good shot fake can also get the defender out on the edges of the zone to fly by, so that he can, at least temporarily, play the zone 5-on-4.

Once a team puts its players in the gaps of the zone, it'll want to "make two defenders play us." You can see that, at the top of the 1-2-2 zone, we want to attack the "gaps" to create a 4-on-3 against the rest of the zone. (Diagram 6).

Tonight, against the Syracuse 2-3 zone, if Missouri can attack the top gap of the zone with Ricky Clemons (1) making the Orange "play two", the Tigers will have the advantage elsewhere on the court with Clemons finding teammates like Travon Bryant (4) or Paulding (3) open for good shots.

Another way to create "misdirection" against a zone -- where the ball looks like it is going one way, but is really going in the opposite direction -- is through the use of the dribble. Look for Missouri to try to "overload" the Syracuse zone, with Clemons (1) dribbling back out as Paulding (3) fills in behind him to the wing. In this instance, Arthur Johnson (5) must roll across the middle to occupy the center of the zone. This allows the Tigers shooters to slide in behind on the "short corner" and get a great shot because the weak side of the zone has to be concerned with Paulding (3) on the the wing.

Teams can also create a one-on-one situation with dribble against a slower defender.

Because the zone is geared toward guarding the ball, it's also possible for teams to work people from behind the zone, where it doesn't always see players. The key, however, is to never let the backline defenders to see all five offensive players.

What are some of the things teams can do from behind the zone? First, they can flash to the middle and look for the shot of the inside-out pass.

Second, it can screen the back of the zone.

Next, teams can position players opposite for the offensive rebound off an outside shot. Basketball physics tells us that 70 percent of shots taken from one side of the court bounce to the opposite side. And, finally, teams can be opposite of where the ball is (vs. the 2-3 zone) so that, when the back side forward "bumps out" to help the guard on his side, it can run someone to the "short corner". See how a team has created a 2-on-1 against the back side forward.

So, those are some principles of zone offense. Basically, this is all a team really needs if its running a freelance or "motion zone" offense. Now, lets throw in a couple of set plays against a zone defense -- including some to watch for tonight from Missouri against Syracuse's 2-3 zone.

Against the 2-3 or 1-2-2 zone, start by passing to 2's side and then have him swing it back to 1. Then, 2 cuts through the opposite corner as 4 and 3 set a double screen on the baseline and 1 dribbles over. On the pass to 2, the forward on that side will guard him. It's up to 4 to screen the center, 3 to screen the back side forward and 5 to come underneath where he is wide open to receive the pass from 2. (Diagrams 13, 14).

Diagram 13

Diagram 14

Remember what we said earlier about the psychological damage of getting the ball inside? Well, here is a common "lob" play that you will likely see tonight and during the season.

The play starts by passing the ball to the team's best wing athlete, who is usually the 3. He passes it back to the point guard (1), who, as a decoy, takes a dribble or two toward the off-guard (2). The center (5) flashes into the middle to occupy the center, and the power forward (4) screens the back side forward as 1 throws the lob to 3.

Diagram 15

One of the great things about basketball is the ability, as a player and as a coach, to adjust during the course of the game or during the course of the season. One night you compete against a quick team that presses. The next night, you are playing a big team that zones. In adjusting to the various zone defenses, it is important, not to take what the defense gives you, but take what you want by getting the ball inside.

Remember, "Cut the zone's heart out."

Q & A with Fran Fraschilla

Send in your Hoops 101 questions. Fran Fraschilla will answer a few each week as the season continues.

"As a high school coach I use the 2-2-1 press religiously as a very effective tool for offense and defense. The only problem I see with it is that when our opposing team breaks the press I always have to send my team back to a 2-3 zone because they cannot get back and play man-to-man. I find this to be a big problem if we are down in a game and have to press. Dropping back into a 2-3 zone is obviously not effective to pressure the ball in a half-court situation. Is this a big problem? What can we do? What does UConn do?"
Jon Krawchuk,
Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada

Jon,
You make some good points. Gonzaga does a nice job of playing the 2-2-1 press back to 2-3 zone to change the flow of a game. Their size on the backline makes it difficult to score inside against the zone.

If you are pressing 2-2-1 back to man-to-man, it is really important to, first, get your team to "sprint out of the traps" and not lolly-gag in the back court. We always sprinted to the "paint" and built our man-to-man defense from the inside out, so that we could protect the basket. Good communication is important out of the press because sometimes your men will not have time to recover to their own man. They must talk to each other in order to switch.

You may give up an occasional quick jump shot in the transition out of the press, so you must gauge that "risk" vs. the "reward" of speeding up the game and possibly forcing turnovers.

"How many defensive sets do you normally use in a given game and how do you call them out? I once read about a system Dean Smith used where he would use 2 digit numbers to call out his difference defense. The first digit would be the defensive set (2-3 zone, man, etc) and the second digit would be how far up the court the defense would be (1 might be a tight zone, while 5 might mean pick up full court). Any thoughts?"
-- Daniel Goldblatt,
Los Angeles

Daniel,
You are right on target. Coach Smith believed in "multiple defensive" looks in both the man and zone defenses. He subscribed to the "surprise and change" theory, where Bob Knight has always been a man to man coach. Using baseball as an analogy, man-to-man defense would always be North Carolinas' "fastball", while the various zones and trapping defenses would be their "off-speed" pitch, so that teams would not get comfortable seeing one defense.

In the "Carolina System", the "20" defense would be straight man-to-man. Within that defense, they would play sagging man-to-man inside the 3-point line called "21"; half-court, man-to-man "22"; three-quarter court, man-to-man "23"; and full-court, man-to-man "24".

UNC's "run-and-jump" defense, which looked like man but, in reality, became a zone press was the "30" series. "31", "32", "33" and "34" indicated at what level of the court the trap took place.

Finally, the "50" series was their pure zone defense, which, again, could be adjusted to the level of the floor where they set up their zone.

Fran,
I have noticed a lot of high school coaches in Illinois and Wisconsin changing to the swing offense. This style has been very successful for Bo Ryan (now at Wisconsin) over the past 20 years. Can you explain its principles and break it down? Thanks!
-- Doug,
Hoffman Estates, Ill.

Good question, Doug.
First of all, it is not unusual at all for coaches in a particular geographic region to be exposed to a system of play because they see that system on TV locally and probably have access to that coach via clinics, camps, etc.

Coach Ryan's offense is a well-thought out combination of the "flex" offense and the "UCLA high post" offense -- both of which we will cover this year. The beauty of the "swing" offense is that all five players are interchangeable in the offense. I would describe it as a "continuity" offense because there are specific spots on the floor that must be occupied by the offensive players.

This offense takes advantage of the post-up ability of a physical guard like the Badgers' Kirk Penney and the perimeter skills of a big man like Mike Wilkinson. It, therefore, forces defenders to guard their men in spots on the court where they are uncomfortable.

Fran Fraschilla spent 23 years on the sidelines as a college basketball coach before joining ESPN this season as an broadcast analyst. He guided both Manhattan (1993, 1995) and St. John's (1998) to the NCAA Tournament in his nine seasons as a Division I head coach, leaving New Mexico following the end of the 2001-02 season.