I am not complaining.....actually I should probably say nothing. BUT......I am a first year coach and I switched my team from a zone defense to a man-to-man. The highest man-to-man IQ on my team is B+ and that is from a player I don't play much. Now here is the Kicker........My Defense is playing outstanding! These are overall Div III Statistics for my team:

#1.....Fewest points allowed

#5.....FG% Defense

#2.....Least Fouls

#11....3FG% Defense

I keep track of my Defense Effieciency and it is "73". I do play a Slow tempo but fewest points is the only thing that would effect. Maybe fouls also. You Veterans explain my Good Fortune. Oh yeah, I have a pretty good SOS and an RPI of 18. 25th Ranked in the Nation. I know next year is going to be tough.

This appears to be mostly a fluke and your team will play better in every single aspect going with a Zone. It seems as if switching to M2M was a miracle for you and is working great, BUT in reality the reason it is working is because you are playing 6 terrific SR's and 1 good JR IMO.

I would recommend switching to Zone ASAP and running it for the rest of the season. Could be the difference in winning the NT and getting knocked out in round #1.

I would also strongly advise you to only practice Zone. Any minutes that you put in any other set then Motion or Zone is a waste.

You are doing a great job for a new coach and I hope you stick around here for a while. Welcome to HD!

I would follow that advice. And +1 on the Welcome.

Do you really think that this could be an 11 game FLUKE? I could see a game or two.

With a team average of 58 and a C or better in Man, this team will do more than okay in the man, but they are almost all better in Zone.

If you were 7-4 or worse, I'd recommend sticking with Man, but like pork said, with 20 minutes in zone and solid defensive ratings they could be primed for a deep run.

Not to say they couldn't do it in the man, but they should be even better in the zone.

You guys are the experts! No doubt about it, I checked your records. But, I am a Dick Bennett, Bo Ryan, Rick Majerus Slow tempo man-to-man Guy. I need to stick with Man.

Thanks to fencer024 & porkpower for making me feel welcome. This mostly seems like a nice community here. Oh yeah.....Wish me luck! I KNOW I should have never brought this up....Knocking on Wood!

if you are planning on staying at DIII for more than a couple of years, you may want to rethink playing M2M. in DIII recruiting, it is tough to find that many good players with a high D rating, that aren't low in other key ratings. It is not impossible, since there are some successful coaches playing M2M in DIII, it is just a little difficult since you can get away with lower D ratings for zone.

Also, if you are planning to move to DII after this season, why play the M2M this season? go with the better IQ's and ride it farther.

I am looking to stay at Div III for a few seasons. I also like the challenge of finding those good Man-to-man players that can still help my team in Key areas. I know I probably sound like a rookie over zealous coach.

Quote: Originally posted by kspoorman on 11/24/2009I am looking to stay at Div III for a few seasons.  I also like the challenge of finding those good Man-to-man players that can still help my team in Key areas.  I know I probably sound like a rookie over zealous coach.

Your problem is you are trying to use a coaching style from real life and put it into this game.

Where are all the Strong Man-to-man coaches coming to my "DEFENSE?" No pun intended.

Quote: Originally Posted By kspoorman on 11/24/2009Where are all the Strong Man-to-man coaches coming to my "DEFENSE?" No pun intended

I've had moderate success running M2M in D3, although I have had some teams who almost certainly would have made legit runs using press (not saying it's a gimic, just that my team was built for it).

Quote: Originally Posted By kspoorman on 11/24/2009
You guys are the experts! No doubt about it, I checked your records. But, I am a Dick Bennett, Bo Ryan, Rick Majerus Slow tempo man-to-man Guy. I need to stick with Man.

kspoorman, you're in good company here, there are a decent number of Badger fans, myself and oldresorter included. I wish they were playing this kind of defense right now vs. Gonzaga.

I think a big part of it is fortunate scheduling. You've played one really strong team, and they spanked you. You've played a handful of really bad teams, and the rest (so far) have rpi's that are just decent enough to be respectable or semi-respectable, but nobody that's remotely noteworthy. There's also no substitute in this game for a veteran team, so that's helping you along quite a bit as well.

I very much prefer m2m in this game. But at DIII, if you go hard after def rating, you're going to suffer a lot in other areas. For instance, the guards you signed this season are very lacking in sp and ath. The pf can't rebound. You're going to have to decide if that's worth it. Quite honestly, I think if you keep signing players identical to these freshman, you will struggle.

(That doesn't mean you can't play m2m, just that I wouldn't concentrate so heavily on def rating.)

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Welcome. Good luck for the rest of the season. That said, my slightly more experience perspective is to agree with the others on sticking with zone. But, hey, part of what makes this game fun is doing your own thing... and I am not sure how you could measure the effectiveness of zone vs m2m unless you take a sample of so many games while in the zone def and compare. Even then it will be hard to know since you will be going against different opponents.

For what it's worth, you low rebounding skill may also haunt you some games.

The challenge I have found in D III is deciding what weakness do you want to accept since you must compromise somewhere due to the types of players found in DIII.