I'm a 3rd year div 3 coach. I had a average year this year but I want to be a threat consistently. I was looking at the iq's of the top 25 and o ly 3 or 4 teams were running zone. I don't want to press but was thinking of making the move to m2m.. but then I thought I may could get an advantage in recruiting players geared to zone. I feel a strong zone defender can lack top end athletic ability as long as is speed is high. Thoughts?

I run a 3 2 zone. I'm looking for elite post defenders. Fast perimeter players who can recover as ball is moved around.

I haven't run zone in my career but everything I've read is that in a zone you can hide a weak defender. I'm unsure that the game goes into that much depth when it comes to fast players and the ball moving around. I do know speed/ATH overall will help your players stay out of foul trouble but I'm unsure the game goes as deep as your thinking.

I've been running zone for many seasons with a fair amount of success (D3 Elite Eight runs/D1 Sweet Sixteen).

Athleticism still matters for zone defense. You can't have low ATH across the board and succeed. Zone is predicated on averaging out the ratings of your defenders (the exact algorithm hasn't been cracked, but averaging out the ratings is a good substitute). So as a group, your players need to have good ATH, DEF, SPD, same as man or press. If you recruit low ATH players across the board, your defense will suffer.

The benefit of zone is that the other team can't isolate on a poor defender and abuse him (like they would if you played man). And if you find a player who is a poor defender, you can cover for it by recruiting a player who is a superb defender. When I recruit for zone, at least one player on the team is designed to be a defensive specialist -- a player whose ATH and DEF will help bring up the averages to compensate for weaker defenders. On my Bowling Green team right now, Anderson was recruited to play that role. He is a frosh with 72 ATH and 68 DEF, both green, which means he should end up at 95+ on both of them. Having Anderson on the floor as a senior will mean that I can pair him with a weak defender/explosive scorer and not have my defense take a major hit.

One of the advantages of zone in D3 is competition for recruits. High ATH/DEF are going to be recruited by EVERYBODY from D1 to D3. You can get a lesser player, in everyone's eyes, who excels in specific areas. Last year I had two C with 90+ BLK/REB. I have a SG and 2 PG with 90+ PER on my current team. I don't think I get them if they're genetic freaks with high ATH/DEF(although the PG are 70+ DEF as juniors).

That's what I'm thinking Mike! I guess I need someone to talk me into staying with a zone. There has to be a difference in what kind of player you want to recruit. Of course high ath high speed high def but what can you lack and what do you need to be able to compete with the highly successful press fast break teams in d3. Well in Allen that is what's dominating.

I prefer man because I can recruit a versatile team and game plan. However, press is really nice too in DII and DIII.

Are zones more capable of controlling how a team scores perimeter/inside?? Unlike m2m witch focuses more on the ability of individual matchups a zone is more of a team matchup which you can can move out to guard the perimeter on sink in to stop the inside. That's why i want to play zone and hoping I can be successful with it in a league that is dominated by press and m2m.

Posted by MikeT23 on 6/19/2017 12:21:00 PM (view original):
One of the advantages of zone in D3 is competition for recruits. High ATH/DEF are going to be recruited by EVERYBODY from D1 to D3. You can get a lesser player, in everyone's eyes, who excels in specific areas. Last year I had two C with 90+ BLK/REB. I have a SG and 2 PG with 90+ PER on my current team. I don't think I get them if they're genetic freaks with high ATH/DEF(although the PG are 70+ DEF as juniors).

Re: the comment on ath/def - not necessarily true. If I'm playing Press then I want my guards to be super fast and I'm typically willing to give up ath/def to get it.

Posted by Indianajoinz on 6/19/2017 1:22:00 PM (view original):
Are zones more capable of controlling how a team scores perimeter/inside?? Unlike m2m witch focuses more on the ability of individual matchups a zone is more of a team matchup which you can can move out to guard the perimeter on sink in to stop the inside. That's why i want to play zone and hoping I can be successful with it in a league that is dominated by press and m2m.

With the aforementioned 90+ REB/BLK guys, I played +(take away perimeter) as I felt they would handle the inside in a 3-2.

Who are the top zone players?

Posted by Indianajoinz on 6/19/2017 1:22:00 PM (view original):
Are zones more capable of controlling how a team scores perimeter/inside?? Unlike m2m witch focuses more on the ability of individual matchups a zone is more of a team matchup which you can can move out to guard the perimeter on sink in to stop the inside. That's why i want to play zone and hoping I can be successful with it in a league that is dominated by press and m2m.

3/2 team scores more inside and 2/3 scores on the perimeter.

I find zone incredibly complex to understand as there are no concrete answers on the most important attributes for zone players. I have created multiple threads on this D and I always get varying answers on how this particular defense works. I'd be weary about taking advice from others unless they had/have success using Zone.

I agree mike. Elite LP defenders and your Pg with high def as he will be at the top of the 32 zone and have the most opportunity to disrupt.

Yeah, make sure the guy telling you how to play zone actually uses zone. I got terrible advice from users on zone who didn't understand how it worked.