i started co-coaching a zone program, having no idea how to play zone, with jjwarden over at ohio state in smith. i was asking around there if people knew of any really good d1 zone programs, hoping to find somebody to observe to get some ideas. thats what ive always done in the past, but im struggling, it seems like the best d1 zone programs really struggle to win a championship, and dont come anywhere close to the great man programs of the day. if thats as good as it gets, thats OK, but i figured id ask a wider audience. id be curious to know of non-active great d1 zone programs just because i am always curious about that stuff :) but really am hoping to find someone actively playing zone who has managed to win the big one, maybe two, running zone in d1. that way we have a starting point, something to model after. i have a rough theoretical understanding of zone but very little actual experience, so if anyone has any tips (no highly successful d1 zone program necessary), id be very interested to hear them!!

Dwoelfin at Texas in Phelan may have won one I think. I'm not sure if he still coaches though.

At Maryland in Iba, we run zone - although I have been moving toward a combo man/zone capability.  We have been to 5 final fours in the last 10 years, 2 championships........................PIT that is

 

66	metsmax	19-11	7-3	10-6	2-2	7-9		29	29	A	NT At-large Bid NT (2nd Round)
65	metsmax	16-16	3-7	12-7	1-2	3-13		40	15	A	PI (Championship Game)
64	metsmax	20-12	7-5	11-6	2-1	5-11		36	27	A	PI Champion
63	metsmax	15-16	5-6	10-8	0-2	4-12		46	15	A	PI (Final Four)
62	metsmax	22-9	8-1	11-6	3-2	9-7		15	16	A-	NT At-large Bid NT (2nd Round)
61	metsmax	14-15	6-4	8-10	0-1	4-12		48	21	B+	PI (2nd Round)
60	metsmax	18-14	5-6	11-7	2-1	3-13		32	16	B+	PI Champion
59	metsmax	10-17	3-6	7-10	0-1	2-14		80	17	B+
58	metsmax	14-15	5-8	9-6	0-1	4-12		69	32	B+	PI (2nd Round)
57	metsmax	14-18	5-7	8-9	1-2	3-13		56	17	A-	PI (Championship Game)
56	metsmax	12-16	6-8	6-7	0-1	2-14		80	22	B	PI (1st Round)

I'm trying to run zone with my Drake team (in Smith), which I also took on as a total rebuild because I wanted to see what it was like to recruit with a D- prestige and how long it would take to significantly raise it.  We made the dance last year but it was probably more a function of having five seniors than running the zone.  I don't have a prestige level high enough yet to get the kinds of players that a true contender has, so I won't really have a feel for whether a zone is feasible until I can kick the prestige up a little higher to get better recruits.

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I run zone at Loyola Marymount in Allen. While not world beaters, I have reached a Final Four and a couple Elite Eights in recent seasons. Rogelio in Smith runs zone at Penn State and has multiple NT championships and finals appearances. He taught me a lot about zone.

Posted by dacamel14 on 9/13/2018 9:43:00 AM (view original):
I run zone at Loyola Marymount in Allen. While not world beaters, I have reached a Final Four and a couple Elite Eights in recent seasons. Rogelio in Smith runs zone at Penn State and has multiple NT championships and finals appearances. He taught me a lot about zone.

There are a number of reasons I like zone, but I've always wondered if it's harder to win a championship at D-1 compared to playing man. You can easily say man to man usually wins championships, but most elite teams are playing man to man, so that can be a bit misleading.

Pros: a)can focus on shutting down perimeter or inside scoring b) keeps the other team off the free throw line c)you can get away with a 7-9 man team, depending on stamina.

If you have an 8 man team every year, you have cash and APs for 4 open scholarships(3 early, 1 late) right off the bat. You can also afford to have rotten luck in recruiting and still have a competitive team.

I have never had that much luck with Zone, and Gillispie never did win one with the zone despite having multiple titles with other defenses. But I have seen it done.

3 D1 final 4s with 3 different teams with a press/zone. I’ll get one eventually.

My UCLA team in Tark has done okay, if you don't mind me saying so. Sorry, hate kind of bragging for myself, but it fits the topic.

A Championship game appearance plus 3 Elite 8s during the past 5 seasons at Missouri in Iba. Not quite there yet.

I do like the ability to run a shorter bench and all of the reasons cited by thewizard17 above. With EEs and potentially catastrophic recruiting (it happens), I think it's a better choice than press for consistent success. It's just easier to recover from roster turnover. Seen too many good coaches lose players and not get enough talent to effectively run press.

In this version HD with hyper-competitive recruiting for top talent, why wouldn't you want those elite recruits playing as many minutes as possible?

Posted by piman314 on 9/13/2018 10:07:00 PM (view original):
My UCLA team in Tark has done okay, if you don't mind me saying so. Sorry, hate kind of bragging for myself, but it fits the topic.

Nice - I did not realize that was a zone team. Very nice!