Computer fixed, matchup-zone history

Coaches,

First of all, I'm going to get my fixed computer around 4 pm today... ! Will be able to post strategies ASAP.

Second, in this off-season, I think it's time for all of us to expend our knowledge a little bit more. For my part, I decided to really get into the matchup zone ; not just learning the slides by heart, but understanding the whole philosophy. In order to accomplish that, I needed to know where it all starts from... Here's an exerpt from a great Vandy writter:

There are several versions of the match-up defense, but most of them have the same basic rules and strategies. Perhaps, the innovator of matching up out of a zone defense was John Egli, former head coach at Penn State in the 1950’s and 1960’s. Egli called his defense a 2-3 sliding zone. Cutters would be defended by having the initial zone defender slide with the offensive player, thus changing the face of the zone.


While a player at Syracuse, Jim Boeheim teamed with the great Dave Bing. One night, the Orangemen couldn’t handle Penn State’s defense, and the Nittany Lions upset them. That led to Boeheim becoming a devotee of the 2-3 match-up zone. His Syracuse teams have used this defense since the late 1970’s.


Across the Keystone State, the University of Pittsburgh began utilizing a new type of match-up defense. They initiated their zone from a 1-2-2 alignment and played zone with man-to-man principles. The defense kept changing shape to match the offense, and someone cleverly noted that the Panthers’ defense was like an amoeba constantly changing its shape.


Tim Grgurich left his assistant coaching job at Pittsburgh to join Jerry Tarkanian at UNLV. Tark let Grgurich install a new form of amoeba defense out of the 1-1-3 alignment. This defense added an element of pressure and trapping to the standard match-up zone, forcing steals, turnovers, and an up-tempo pace. The Runnin’ Rebels made this defense popular nationwide when they destroyed Duke by more than 30 points in the 1990 NCAA Championship game and then fielded the most dominant modern day team a year later. The Blue Devils figured out how to attack it and pulled off the upset of the year in the 1991 Final Four over the 34-0 Rebels.

Source :

http://vanderbilt.scout.com/2/489772.html

Enjoy summertime, and visit us daily !


Coach M