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Attacking the Zone

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Attacking the Zone


Coach Billy Lee
The University of North Carolina
Women's Basketball





This article for The Coaches Insider represents the first three chapters of a book that I have put together on attacking zones. Sending this out through Clell Wade Coaches Directory, Inc. to the high school coaches hopefully will be beneficial to all of us who are in the coaching fraternity

ATTACKING THE ZONE is a comprehensive book that explains our fundamental thoughts in attacking zones. As a Coach try to understand the plans of the enemy and how it thinks once you learn how the Zone thinks and what it reacts to you then can better attack the enemy.

Book Outline


The following pages will help explain the fundamental thoughts in attacking zones.

THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA- WBB
ZONE ATTACK OUTLINE

 

  1. Distort the coverage of the Zone
    1. Use of the dribblesAttack the natural gaps of the Zone
      1. Off the top
      2. Gap penetration
      3. Freeze dribble
      4. To the top
      5. Off the Baseline
    2. Attach the natural gaps of the Zone
       
    3. Attack the Zone while recovering
      1. Reverse Ball to three people
      2. Cross court and Down
    4. Screen the Zone
      1. Back or Bottom
      2. Wings or Tops of the Zone
    5. Using StacksReverse the Ball to three people
      1. Double Low Stacks
      2. Hi-Low Stacks
      3. Triple Stack
    6. Reverse the Ball to three people
  2. All Zones React to the Ball not to the players
    1. Shot Fake
    2. Pass Fake
  3. Cut and Replace (This is needed on Post and perimeter against match-ups).
    1. Keep a man behind the zone
    2. Flash in middle of Zone

 

PHILOSOPHY ON ZONE ATTACK
CHAPTER 1: Zone Attack Thoughts

There are certain fundamental thoughts to keep in mind as we attack the Zone as it relates to how the Zone thinks and operates. First, I have always thought that all zones look alike when the ball goes to the baseline. With that in mind, I think we can attack all zones similarly.

The late Press Maravich, who I had great respect for as a person and a basketball coach, said, "You have to make a decision in attacking zone defenses: Do you want to move the ball, do you want to move the man, or do you want to move both?" This brings me to my second fundamental thought. As we attack zone defenses here at The University of North Carolina, we have decided to move both; the ball and the man.

Our third fundamental thought concerns distortion of the zone's slides. By moving the ball and the man we can force the zone to cover different areas (distortion) than they normally cover in practice. By forcing the zone to cover abnormal areas, by distorting their slides, you also cause distortion in the thinking process their coach has set up.

This third point is the key to our zone offense. Simply passing the ball will not beat a good zone defense. Zones were set up long ago to negate and slide with the different passes. Therefore, the strength of a zone comes through covering the different passes. So, we distort the zone slides to alleviate this natural strength in the zone defense.

An example of how we distort a zone through ball and man movement is to penetrate the natural gaps in a zone with effective use of the dribble. When used intelligently, the dribble can create the necessary distortion. By simply passing the ball around the perimeter, it is difficult to get the zone into unfamiliar double coverage areas. It is of paramount importance in our zone offense to use the dribble for penetrating gaps and making an offense that is hard to play against. In Diagram 1 we see the dribble penetration of the zone gaps:

DIAGRAM 1
1

Here, the ball is driven into the gap between the two defensive players. This causes two defensive players to come to the basketball. This opens a 2 on 1 advantage for our offense elsewhere. And we would step in and move to take advantage of this situation.

A second way to distort the zone's coverage would be the use of stacks, primarily a man movement tactic. We have used a high-low stack, a double low stack, or even a triple stack. As you can see in Diagram 2, there are no logical people to guard in one area. (B, E) One defender may have nobody in his area, while another defender may have two or even three people to guard in his coverage area. (C) This type of distortion, just as gap penetration, causes confusion in the thinking process of the zone's coverage. (Stacks can be used as an entry into the basic zone attacks we will cover later).

DIAGRAM 2
2
Fourthly, we use the principle of ball reversal because zones are weakest when they are recovering. Normally, zones are strongest when they are in a ballside position. So, as we attack the zone defense, we need to concentrate on attacking it during the recovery phase as we reverse the ball quickly. See Diagram 3.

DIAGRAM 3
3
As the zone shifts from the ballside to the recovery side, they leave the object which they are guarding – the basket. This can give us a great chance to drive by the defenders who are running toward their new coverage areas because, many times, they will not be in control. An important additional factor is that we desire the ball to be reversed to 3 people, distorting the zone as much as possible.

A related thought with regard to the weakness of a zone defense during its recovery phase, is my opinion that the zone will not recover the same way twice. This difference in recovery may be caused by fatigue (the defender may come hard one time and slow the next because of fatigue) and/or the angle of recovery (because of different offensive and defensive positioning). This weakness coupled with the inherent weakness of the recovery phase is why we believe this is the primary time to attack the zone.

A final fundamental thought in this introduction to our zone offense philosophy and attack relates to patience. It only requires a little patience to get an uncontested jump shot. It is not necessary to shoot contested perimeter jump shots. This patience factor is directly related to the ball reversal concept and the fact a zone defense is weakest while recovering from ballside attack. We encourage displaying this patience by reversing the ball to at least 3 people, thus creating the recovery phase weakness discussed earlier.

DIAGRAM 4
4
CHAPTER 2

Just as our entire system is built on fundamentals and simplicity, so is our zone attack. Though many great programs are successful with change and surprise, our philosophy focuses on executing the basics of the game in the easiest manner. Within this philosophy, we think the zone naturally reacts to the basketball and what it does. Therefore, it is our desire to use this natural tendency to our advantage; using several simple fundamentals to attack the zone defense.

In this chapter we will cover the use of the shot fake and pass fake. The following chapter will demonstrate the effective use of the dribble along with the principle of ball reversal.

Because of the sensitivity of the zone's reaction to the ball, the use of shot and pass fakes becomes an extremely important fundamental. (Note: These 2 fundamentals are also important in our passing game versus man to man.) These components of the zone attack will increase in their effectiveness when used against the recovery phase of the zone defense. In this situation it is critical to emphasize that we keep good shooters spread opposite the basketball for the attack during ball reversal and the recovery of the zone. Do not bring the ball down and go immediately to your shooters.

The pass fake is vital to move and hold the zone. (Remember zones react to the ball.) These fakes can open opportunities for better passing angles, driving opportunities, plus shooting opportunities. Your offense must understand how to take advantage of the pass fake in reading the defensive movement. (See Diagram # 5)

DIAGRAM 5
5
The shot fake creates zone reaction similar to the pass fake. A specific example of the type of opportunities that will open when the zone reacts to a shot fake is a dribble penetration from the wing for the short jump shot:

DIAGRAM 6
6
These 2 simple fundamentals combined with the effective use of the dribble (which I will illustrate later), can serve to distort the slides of the zone. To incorporate these simple fundamentals, we must combine our normal offense drills to include pass fakes and shot fakes. (We also must make it a point of emphasis during all segments of offense practice so their importance is over emphasized in the players' minds.) An appropriate example would be a shooting drill that uses a shot fake. See diagram # 7.

DIAGRAM 7
7
The drill should be repeated going right and left. It is important that they be able to do this without thinking and without taking the jump out of their legs, i.e., the fake should be short – not a long pump fake.

At this stage in my coaching career, all of our shooting drills possess at least one of these three characteristics:
1. Movement to get open
2. Pressure on the shot
3. Shot fake

These characteristics expand on the above point of incorporating these simple fundamentals into combination drills. Because of this thinking, we do not encourage free shooting. For every drill in which you shoot, you need to use shot fakes. We want all of our players to be very good at deception through the execution of shot fakes and pass fakes and movement fakes.

CHAPTER 3

EFFECTIVE USE OF THE DRIBBLE

Effective use of the dribble reflects our premise that zones react to the ball, not to the players. The diagram below shows a 2-3 (Diagram # 8) zone and the circles represent each defensive player coverage areas. The overlapse in the circles show the area, or gaps where we want to force the zone into double coverage. When we can penetrate the zone with a dribble at one of these gap areas we have forced the defense to make a critical decision on who will cover the penetration. This usually will force the 2 defensive players involved to momentarily commit themselves to the ball. At this point, we must read the defense and take the ball to the action (or scoring opportunity) creating: a 2 on 1 offensive situation elsewhere.

DIAGRAM 8:
8
There are 3 types of dribbles we use to penetrate the zone and distort their slides. Each dribble's purpose is to cause distortion and/or double coverage. I will show each of these dribbles within the context of a team zone offense drill.

We begin our zone offense the first day of practice. As we begin preparing for the season, we realize that we are probably going to play against more zone defenses than man defenses. With regard to penetration of the gaps, the first dribble we can use is "to drive the gap." The ball is driven into the gap with one dribble, then quickly pulled back, stepping back toward the perimeter. By doing so, you force 2 players to guard you. This causes the necessary double coverage which creates the possible 2 on 1 opportunity. You have also placed yourself in a position to move the ball on to action of the open people for scoring opportunities. These are our objectives in penetrating the gaps with the dribble.

The 1st drill we introduce to teach gap penetration is to put up a 1-2-2 zone and place our offense in a box alignment.

DIAGRAM 9: 'Gap Penetration'
9
This is simply called 'Gap Penetration.' The offense must drive the gaps and pass the ball to their teammates. Driving the gaps are emphasized. To compliment the ball movement of the gap penetration, we want man movement by flashing a man from behind the zone. If the man who flashes is not open then a teammate will replace and slide into his spot. The objective, as you recall, is double coverage. (It is interesting to note that we can cause double coverage with man movement just as we do with the ball movement of the dribble. This occurs with the man flashing. He is looking to penetrate the internal gaps of the zone defense just as a man with the ball is looking to penetrate external or perimeter gaps. (See Diagram # 10)

DIAGRAM 10:
10
By man movement into these internal gaps, we can cause double coverage on a potential pass receiver. The zone can be particularly sensitive to this type of movement because the potential receiver is moving into a high percentage scoring area.

Continuing with our Gap Penetration drill we want to especially emphasize the shot fake and pass fake. We are not trying to "shoot" the ball in this drill. (A good idea is to later use restrictions on the offense as to when and who will shoot. This will create discipline, communication, and concentration while it keeps the defense more realistic and honest than if you told the offense they could not shoot.) The main drill objective is to work on the execution of our zone offense fundamentals: gap penetration (step back dribble), flashing from behind the zone (into internal gaps), pass fakes, and shot fakes. An added benefit of the drill is the 4 on 5 aspect for the offense. Even with the disadvantage, they should be able to create scoring opportunities which should increase their confidence when they face the zone 5 on 5.

The second drill we employ has a 4 on 4 situation. It involves a 2-3 zone with no middle man, 3 perimeter players, and 1 post offensive players. The 3 perimeter players attack external gaps or flash from behind into the internal gaps. The post will flash from behind as well, looking for daylight within the internal gaps. The perimeter can use the step-back dribble and drop the ball off to a teammate when they penetrate. At this point I will then introduce our next dribble: 'take it off the top of the key.'

Taking the ball 'off the top,' as we call it, is a method of dribbling the ball off the top of the key toward the corner. The objective is to move the top of the zone over and open a good opportunity to attack the zone with ball reversal. Notice that all five men on defense have moved because the zone is reacting to the ball being dribbled. See Diagram # 11 below:

DIAGRAM 11:
11
In the above diagram, the guard takes the ball off the top of the key dragging the top of the 2-3 zone with him. As this occurs, we position ourselves to use our principle of ball reversal to 3 players. At this point, we have done 3 things: we have enticed the zone – another form of deception if you will – to move toward the ball and, lined ourselves up with another guard by moving a man to the top of the key. (He could come from anywhere on the helpside or he could come from the ballside wing as he replaces the dribbler.) Our offense is then spread opposite on the helpside ready to attack the zone during its recovery phase.

With this dribble, one man has done the work of two men passing, as far as ball position is concerned, and he has done the job more effectively because of the use of his dribble. A key teaching point in taking it off the top is that the dribbler must take it as far as the coverage will go – to the defensive man's coverage area limits. Then, he must take one more dribble and penetrate, forcing the defense to take one more critical step. This sets up our ball reversal a little better and will cause the next defensive player over to make a decision about his coverage because our man with the ball is in a gap, at the edge of his coverage area. So, take the defensive player off the top to the limits of the player's coverage area, then take one more dribble in, forcing the defense to take one more step, and now reverse the ball quickly. See diagram # 12:

DIAGRAM 12:
12
This creates the moment in our ball reversal when we can introduce our 3rd zone attack dribble. The guard who has relocated to the top must freeze the defensive man who has moved over to the ballside limits of his coverage area. Ideally, this defensive player would like to continue his recovery slide to the helpside limits of his coverage area so he can be ready to defend the wing area on helpside. But, our offensive player at the top with the ball will execute what is known as a 'freeze dribble.' See Diagram # 13 below.

DIAGRAM 13:
13
Now, the man with the ball, "O2", must with his left hand, drop it off to his teammate on the wing, who then will have a large gap to drive into. See Diagram # 14 below.

DIAGRAM 14:
14
O3 now has the responsibility of gap penetration for a short shot, or if he is a very good shooter, a shot fake and a quick drive can open up a short shot. If the back man of the zone does not come up, we take a quick penetrating dribble and shoot it. If the back man is drawn up with a shot fake, we take that quick dribble baseline for another short shot.

A final scoring opportunity is possible when we penetrate this large gap. If the back man reacts to the penetration, a post player (or perimeter player in the post area) can be available for the pass, by stepping out to the short corner. See Diagram 15 below.

DIAGRAM 15:
15
In the use of each of these 3 different types of dribbles, we have distorted the coverage of the slides of the zone; forcing it into double coverage and to the outer limits of specific coverage areas. In doing so, we have given ourselves some good scoring opportunities. Generally, we would tell the man at the top of the key to take the ball off the top about 50% of the time. (Scouting reports could increase or decrease this percentage.) But, he does not have to take if off the top all of the time. It is important then, when he decides (or you decide for him) not to take it off the top, that he simply penetrates the natural gap then kick it.

When we use the step-back dribble at the top after gap penetration, we create a situation similar to what we want to occur when we have dribble penetration versus a man to man. That is, when the step-back dribble is used, we want a post man to flash to the ball. The step-back dribble is the key for the post man to flash. This brings us to our next chapter and how we attack the middle man of the zone. This will be the next step in our teaching progression and the use of effective dribbling.

Note: 3 other dribbles which are equally important are "take it to the top," "take if off the baseline", and the "gap penetration dribble." These will be covered in future chapters on "Attacking the Middle Man" and "Post Principles," rather than in this chapter on the dribble. I believe it will be more appropriate to introduce and incorporate these other 3 dribbles into more specific situations.

 
 

About the Author...
Billy Lee is in his first year as the director of video services and scouting for women's basketball. A well-respected coach with a long history in the state of North Carolina, Lee has over three decades of coaching experience.

A 1969 graduate of Mount Olive College, Lee was an assistant coach at East Carolina for two seasons before taking the head job at Pembroke State (now UNC Pembroke) in 1978. During his time in Lumberton, Lee won three conference titles, advanced to the NAIA National Tournament and posted back-to-back 20-win seasons.

In 1985, Lee took over as the head men's coach at Campbell, where he led the Camels for 18 seasons. A five-time conference coach of the year, Lee guided Campbell to the 1992 Big South Conference title and a bid to the NCAA Tournament, where his team faced eventual national champion Duke. In addition to winning over 400 games in his career, Lee was the director the Campbell University Basketball School, considered to be the largest and oldest of its kind in the United States.

After leaving Campbell in 2003, Lee spent three seasons at St. Andrews before retiring from the coaching ranks to work as a basketball consultant and television analyst.

In addition to his work on the sidelines, Lee has authored two books on basketball strategy. Lee has also been part of a number of organizations including the USA Basketball committee, the Board of Directors for the North Carolina Amateur Sports Association, the National Association of Basketball Coaches, the Board of Advisors for the NC High School Athletic Association and the National Speakers Association. In 2009, Lee was inducted into the Mount Olive College Athletics Hall of Fame.

Lee is married to Wendy Lee, the head women's basketball coach at Mount Olive. His son Brooks is the director of operations for the men's basketball team at UNC Wilmington.