Has there been a zone only NC recently? I run zoneand I think the sweet 16 is as far as I got.. I have a juggernaut team this upcoming year but every team in he Big 12 is good.. advice or your experience would be appreciated

Great question... I do think you guys are title favorites though.

I’ve got to the point where I want to figure out out to win with the zone… we will see how we stack up this year

Oldresorter at Colorado in Rupp is the gold standard

https://www.whatifsports.com/hd/TeamProfile/History.aspx?tid=4270

What OR is doing over there in Rupp is truly the gold standard, but it's not so unprecedented

piman is also running zone/press at UCLA in two worlds and has won several 'ships recently (https://www.whatifsports.com/hd/TeamProfile/History.aspx?tid=11825, https://www.whatifsports.com/hd/TeamProfile/History.aspx?tid=8083)

my CSU program also won a pure zone championship a few seasons back in Iba (https://www.whatifsports.com/hd/TeamProfile/History.aspx?tid=5940)

i love running zone, but am certainly not convinced it's the easiest set to win D1 championships with. though as you can see above, it's clearly still possible

Posted by trail on 2/20/2023 7:12:00 PM (view original):
What OR is doing over there in Rupp is truly the gold standard, but it's not so unprecedented

piman is also running zone/press at UCLA in two worlds and has won several 'ships recently (https://www.whatifsports.com/hd/TeamProfile/History.aspx?tid=11825, https://www.whatifsports.com/hd/TeamProfile/History.aspx?tid=8083)

my CSU program also won a pure zone championship a few seasons back in Iba (https://www.whatifsports.com/hd/TeamProfile/History.aspx?tid=5940)

i love running zone, but am certainly not convinced it's the easiest set to win D1 championships with. though as you can see above, it's clearly still possible

Though he definitely practices both, Piman's UCLA team in Tark is generally running press or zone, not usually combo (he might run it from time to time, I don't recall).

I have a few press/zone combo titles, most recently at UConn 2 seasons ago. I definitely like combo better than straight zone, but it's a personal preference thing, I'm sure. I just prefer to play and recruit wider, so the little extra press is excellent value for me.

As mentioned above, OR’s CU team is the zone gold standard as far as I’m aware. However, cedarberry has serious contenders year after year with his 3 D1 zone teams.

His Phelan Baylor team has 1x NC game appearance, 3x F4, and an E8 in the past 7 seasons. His Knight Utah and Tark Arizona teams have made several NC appearances each which I believe are all with zone (Im pretty sure most are?).

chapelhillne also just lost in the NC running zone with his Smith Arizona team. I’m pretty sure he won B2B titles then swapped defense to zone.. made the NC running zone in his 3rd season.

Posted by upsetcity on 2/20/2023 9:59:00 PM (view original):
As mentioned above, OR’s CU team is the zone gold standard as far as I’m aware. However, cedarberry has serious contenders year after year with his 3 D1 zone teams.

His Phelan Baylor team has 1x NC game appearance, 3x F4, and an E8 in the past 7 seasons. His Knight Utah and Tark Arizona teams have made several NC appearances each which I believe are all with zone (Im pretty sure most are?).

chapelhillne also just lost in the NC running zone with his Smith Arizona team. I’m pretty sure he won B2B titles then swapped defense to zone.. made the NC running zone in his 3rd season.

I almost couldn't believe cedarberry's current D1 zone teams hadn't won a title, I spent 10 minutes looking up and down those resumes. I was sure there were a couple each. Just a bunch of near misses. Those teams are always great, and playing against them in conference is not fun.

Posted by shoe3 on 2/20/2023 10:45:00 PM (view original):

Posted by upsetcity on 2/20/2023 9:59:00 PM (view original):
As mentioned above, OR’s CU team is the zone gold standard as far as I’m aware. However, cedarberry has serious contenders year after year with his 3 D1 zone teams.

His Phelan Baylor team has 1x NC game appearance, 3x F4, and an E8 in the past 7 seasons. His Knight Utah and Tark Arizona teams have made several NC appearances each which I believe are all with zone (Im pretty sure most are?).

chapelhillne also just lost in the NC running zone with his Smith Arizona team. I’m pretty sure he won B2B titles then swapped defense to zone.. made the NC running zone in his 3rd season.

I almost couldn't believe cedarberry's current D1 zone teams hadn't won a title, I spent 10 minutes looking up and down those resumes. I was sure there were a couple each. Just a bunch of near misses. Those teams are always great, and playing against them in conference is not fun.

For sure. I feel like he deserves his own credit for his awesome successes.

For anyone looking for zone success, one commonality between OR/cedar/chapel is that each one runs 3-2. So when you try and compare teams, understanding WHY they run 3-2 and HOW they’re making it work positionally is key.