For the 2nd straight season, I got bounced out of the NT early (2nd round) with my S. Arkansas Allen team - last time as a #2 seed, and this time as a #1 seed.
I feel like I had the better roster both times, but both times the exact same thing happened....my squad committed a ton of turnovers, but our soft zone defense forced just about none.
Check out this box score - we significantly out shot and out rebounded them......but the turnover differential was huge. Note that our starting SF, with his very solid 60 passer rating, had 0 assists and 5 turnovers.
www.whatifsports.com/hd/GameResults/BoxScore.aspx
Now, dan's team had a very solid FCP defense.....and he built a good squad. This isn't to disparage what he's done. It's more the strange nature of the box score, and how the turnovers made such a difference when we had advantages in all other categories.
So I ask....is it at all possible to realistically win a title running a zone in DII??? Is the power of the press that important?
I believe that in last season's national tournament in DII Allen, 13 of the 16 teams left ran press, and the other 3 ran man. This season, 10 of the sweet 16 teams run press, 4 run man, and 2 run zone. It seems like press is still the very dominant defense.
I've won multiple titles with press and man in DII with other teams. Is it foolish to try to win with a zone? Is press still a magic bullet? What do you guys think? I had planned to win titles with all three kinds of defenses in my HD career - but I think the zone is just too weak.
Also...if I continue this route....how could I better build a zone team that could beat a good press defense? Or is it just a waste of time?
5/1/2014 11:55 AM (edited)