You still need guards with high def. In a zone you can hide 1 or 2 bad defenders, but you can't have all bad defenders at the guard position. Remember in a 2-3 they take the sf and pf and avg them together. C is on an island, so your C needs to be a stud at reb, def, ath, and blk. I rely on sp more in guards in a zone. If play 2-3 than sf needs to be good in reb. If play 3-2 than more of a guard type sf.

I mostly play a 3-2 so take this for what it's worth.....Two things I do differently........1.  I look at block more than I normally do for bigs.....2. I am willing to recruit a crappy defending guard IF IF IF he is a stud on offense AND I can pair him with one of the 80/80 DEF/ATH guys and play the "defender" at the 3, those 80/80 guy tend to have sucky BH/PASS (and usually rebounding) but they are worth it, IMO, if you have a 90/90 PER/SPD guy on the court

Terps, Question? You say in a 3-2 the guards are averaged together and the SF and PF are averaged together and the center is by himself. How are the averaged in a 2-3? PG alone and SG and SF, PF and C.

I believe in a 2-3, the guards are averaged together, the forwards are averaged together and the C is on an island. In a 3-2, the PG, SG and SF are averaged together and the PF and C are averaged together.

3-2 is PG/SG/SF averaged as a group and the PF/C averaged as a group
2-3 is PG/SG averaged, SF/PF averaged and the C all alone

I play the 3-2 mostly because I understand it better....and it's easier to hide a bad defender when averaging 3 guys

Posted by Trentonjoe on 2/23/2015 1:39:00 PM (view original):
3-2 is PG/SG/SF averaged as a group and the PF/C averaged as a group
2-3 is PG/SG averaged, SF/PF averaged and the C all alone

I play the 3-2 mostly because I understand it better....and it's easier to hide a bad defender when averaging 3 guys

I agree.  I am starting to be a big believer in 3-2 over 2-3.  You just have to make sure you have two bigs who can more than hold their own at the bottom of that 3-2.

After a tough loss last night that got my guard in foul trouble by playing 2-3, you will have to really convince me otherwise to not play 3-2.

If you have two awaome defensive guards and a big sMall forward, 2-3 is the way to go.

I really think the 2-3 is the easiest to plan against.   A good perimeter shooter at the 3 will murder it.

The biggest advantage of zone is that you can play BOTH 3-2 and 2-3!  I understand some people want to only play 3-2 or only play 2-3, but by doing that you're ignoring a huge gameplanning advantage that you have based on your players' IQ.  Maybe your personnel fits one better than the other, but if you're only playing 3-2 or only playing 2-3, you're shooting yourself in the foot.  

I'm only a season into a switch from press to zone in D-II but:

Good players are good players. So far, I'll recruit similar to how I did before except for:

1) Zone allows you to consider lower STA players that man/press teams can't ( or shouldn't) consider. We all want higher STA, but you can mix in lower STA guys in zone. There's less competition for low STA guys. I have 9 guys (10 active scholarship players) that average 10+ minutes per game, including 3 guys with 66, 70, & 71 STA. Press teams need better STA numbers.

2) Because I can get by with 10 (or maybe even 9), I might be more inclined to pursue better players through drop down or maybe even battles. Carrying a walk on isn't much of a penalty in zone versus other sets. The stars will make more of a difference in zone, because they stay on the floor longer. And this helps on the offensive end too.

Since this game seems to emphasize perimeter scoring, I like the 3-2 set, but a versatile defender at SF allows to flip as needed.

I play zone, and I figured out that having a bad defender, while you can hide him, still won't get you far. I go 3-2... Took sometimes to figure out how to max it out.

PG-SG-SF --- you add Ath, Spe, Def = you want 150 min in DIII. It's where it's tougher. 160 + in DII. I never played zone D1 and won't do it.

PF- C - you add Ath, Def, Blk, basically want to be higher, close to 160 DIII and 170 DII, I reached it a couple of times. All your three rotated players (you only need three) need to be solid rebounders.

Again, these are minimals. I still haven't won anything, but I know it is only going to get better as I understand zone better. You do a recruiting error, you pay for four years, you forget the importance of the block, your player is not suited for your team. I made my own little formula to see what players fit better while recruiting. It works to some extend, but you need the blues on the FSS to be sure they'll develop into something better.

If that is the case then who do I start at C? http://www.whatifsports.com/hd/TeamProfile/Ratings.aspx?tid=14324
I ask a couple people before and they say Yazzie unless team is real good in lp then parks. What do you value more def or blk.

Always value defense more. Block is a very nice bonus, but it doesn't compare to defense, IMHO.

But hey, why compromise just get a guy with both.