I remember a while back discussions where the consensus was that it is tougher to win with a zone defense. Is there any validity to that thought?

Zone is the defense that we as a community know the least about. Few people understand the nuances of it.

There’s lots of great threads discussing Zone, here’s one I have saved where Gilliespie essentially wrote a paper about it.

https://www.whatifsports.com/forums/Posts.aspx?topicID=490619

A lot of people (including me) have trouble gameplanning against zone and will treat it like man. That makes it great for getting upsets and winning games that you shouldn’t win.

I run it with my VT team because I don’t have a high baseline prestige so I have a harder time recruiting against Duke and NC and other high baseline teams around me, so I try to focus on a couple of really good guys, invest all of my resources and AP into them and hope I win dice rolls. It allows me to not worry about taking walk ons. You can have a team that can win games in the NT with 7 players, easy. It has less fouls so your players are not fouling out, and it doesn’t tire your players out as much. If you recruit right you can be able to switch between 2-3 and 3-2 which gives you great flexibility and unpredictability in gameplanning. I have just reached this with my tech team for the first time, with Mikulski being a 3-2 SF and Dennis and High being a 2-3 SF’s, and with a couple of guys with the BLK and core ratings to be the C in the 2-3. Hoops Dynasty – College Basketball Sim Games - Team Profile.
I was able to get 11 good players with this team because Dennis didn’t leave last season and I won my only dice roll this recruiting session for High. It’s kind of a waste, and I would redshirt someone if I could, because you only need 10 players at the most with zone.

It’s harder to be dominant with it, with top teams they generally avoid upsets by getting more possessions into the games, and with zone they get less possessions, maybe that’s it, I can’t really tell you why it’s the case. But it is easier to get upsets with it.

If you have the right personnel, and if you know what you’re doing, the zone can be a great defense. It is very strong in terms of holding your opponents field goal percentage down, and it doesn’t require everyone to have elite cores (ath, speed, defense), so you can utilize other guys with elite skills (rebounding, point skills, shooting) you may be able to get with less recruiting effort.

What you gain in opponents FG%, you give up in turnovers and rebounding, so you have to find ways to mitigate those weaknesses with personnel, settings, etc. I personally like the HCP to go along with it, but then you’re giving up some development minutes. Pick your poison.

Hoops Dynasty – College Basketball Sim Games - Game Boxscore - Colorado vs. Stevens Tech.

shoes game agonist me in the NT is a perfect example of zone beating a better team. I made a mistake in going -5, and got a bad sim but I see more often than in other defenses of zone D causing “bad sims”.

I have won multiple championships with zone at d3 and d2/

I won my one and only championship running zone in D2.

I love zone because it lets me be flexible. I switch between 2-3 and 3-2 almost every game, and have different starting lineup sets for each depending on matchups. That being said, I haven't experienced any NT success so take what I say with a grain of salt.

Posted by MonsterTurtl on 4/3/2018 8:11:00 PM (view original):
Zone is the defense that we as a community know the least about. Few people understand the nuances of it.

There’s lots of great threads discussing Zone, here’s one I have saved where Gilliespie essentially wrote a paper about it.

https://www.whatifsports.com/forums/Posts.aspx?topicID=490619

A lot of people (including me) have trouble gameplanning against zone and will treat it like man. That makes it great for getting upsets and winning games that you shouldn’t win.

I run it with my VT team because I don’t have a high baseline prestige so I have a harder time recruiting against Duke and NC and other high baseline teams around me, so I try to focus on a couple of really good guys, invest all of my resources and AP into them and hope I win dice rolls. It allows me to not worry about taking walk ons. You can have a team that can win games in the NT with 7 players, easy. It has less fouls so your players are not fouling out, and it doesn’t tire your players out as much. If you recruit right you can be able to switch between 2-3 and 3-2 which gives you great flexibility and unpredictability in gameplanning. I have just reached this with my tech team for the first time, with Mikulski being a 3-2 SF and Dennis and High being a 2-3 SF’s, and with a couple of guys with the BLK and core ratings to be the C in the 2-3. Hoops Dynasty – College Basketball Sim Games - Team Profile.
I was able to get 11 good players with this team because Dennis didn’t leave last season and I won my only dice roll this recruiting session for High. It’s kind of a waste, and I would redshirt someone if I could, because you only need 10 players at the most with zone.

It’s harder to be dominant with it, with top teams they generally avoid upsets by getting more possessions into the games, and with zone they get less possessions, maybe that’s it, I can’t really tell you why it’s the case. But it is easier to get upsets with it.

I miss that guy.

Posted by Benis on 4/4/2018 12:44:00 PM (view original):

Posted by MonsterTurtl on 4/3/2018 8:11:00 PM (view original):
Zone is the defense that we as a community know the least about. Few people understand the nuances of it.

There’s lots of great threads discussing Zone, here’s one I have saved where Gilliespie essentially wrote a paper about it.

https://www.whatifsports.com/forums/Posts.aspx?topicID=490619

A lot of people (including me) have trouble gameplanning against zone and will treat it like man. That makes it great for getting upsets and winning games that you shouldn’t win.

I run it with my VT team because I don’t have a high baseline prestige so I have a harder time recruiting against Duke and NC and other high baseline teams around me, so I try to focus on a couple of really good guys, invest all of my resources and AP into them and hope I win dice rolls. It allows me to not worry about taking walk ons. You can have a team that can win games in the NT with 7 players, easy. It has less fouls so your players are not fouling out, and it doesn’t tire your players out as much. If you recruit right you can be able to switch between 2-3 and 3-2 which gives you great flexibility and unpredictability in gameplanning. I have just reached this with my tech team for the first time, with Mikulski being a 3-2 SF and Dennis and High being a 2-3 SF’s, and with a couple of guys with the BLK and core ratings to be the C in the 2-3. Hoops Dynasty – College Basketball Sim Games - Team Profile.
I was able to get 11 good players with this team because Dennis didn’t leave last season and I won my only dice roll this recruiting session for High. It’s kind of a waste, and I would redshirt someone if I could, because you only need 10 players at the most with zone.

It’s harder to be dominant with it, with top teams they generally avoid upsets by getting more possessions into the games, and with zone they get less possessions, maybe that’s it, I can’t really tell you why it’s the case. But it is easier to get upsets with it.

I miss that guy.

+1

Monster, thanks for the Gilliespie paper tip!