Bo Ryan Wisconsin Badgers Basketball Zone Offense Part 2 by Mark Chapman

Written by Coach Peterman

I have coached at the NCAA Division 2 (Southwestern Oklahoma State University), NAIA (USAO), and JUCO Levels (Blinn College and Carl Albert State College) as well as high school. I just felt that fellow coaches especially young coaches need to constantly work on their “game”. Just like the basketball players that we coach. We as coaches need to improve ourselves. That is my story and why I do this blog.

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Zone Offense

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September 2, 2014

Bo Ryan Wisconsin Badgers Basketball Zone Offense Part 2 by Mark Chapman

2014 NCAA Tournament
Wisconsin Badgers Basketball Team – Zone offense
Part 2

This is part 2 of what I saw while watching this game and is specifically about Wisconsin’s zone offense against Baylor’s 2-3 zone:

6. Cut to the open space: It always amazes me how many offensive players really aren’t able to see the floor. I’ve coached elementary age through 22 year old college players and many are trained to watch the ball. If you can get your players to see the floor they’ll be amazed at the spaces that are open. When cutting to the open space be ready for the pass, “the ball will find the open man!”

7. When defender turns his head cut to the basket: This goes along with #6 in that an offensive player must be aware of the defense and what they are looking at. When a team play’s a zone they are not seeing the ball & man so it opens up the opportunity to slip in behind a defender. The Wisconsin Badgers Basketball Team not only cut in behind they were very good at getting the ball to the cutter and as Baylor panicked to recover they made one more pass to an open teammate for a GREAT shot!

8. Effective use of the high post: Coach Bo Ryan had a combination of low post players and guards filling the high post. If it was the low post player the opposite short corner player would flash high post when the ball went to the wing. This allowed a couple options. If the ball went high post there was the drive, shot, swing to other wing, or feed to opposite short corner. If the ball was fed to the short corner then the high post player would dive to the basket and more than once they easily scored on Baylor’s 2-3 zone.

9. Patience: One of the reasons a team will run a zone is to get a quick shot. At the high school level there should be no reason to take a quick shot against a zone because there’s no shot clock. For a team to be patient they also have to have a trust among each other. If a player is afraid they’ll never see the ball again there may be a tendency to shoot shots that aren’t a high percentage or the best shot at that time. Compliment the extra pass in practice and your players will look to make one more pass come game time.

10. Great spacing: I’ve talked about Wisconsin Badgers Basketball Team being a very disciplined team and this is very evident in their offensive spacing. Rarely would you find players closer than 10 feet to another one of his teammates. This is important against a zone because it forces the defense to cover more area. While spots on the floor changed they were always in the gap or between two defenders. The only time this principle was violated was when a screen was being set.

Mark Chapman is the Head Boy’s Basketball Coach at Hamilton Township High School in Columbus, Ohio. Coach Mark Chapman always has great basketball plays and basketball coaching clinic notes to share with the basketball coaching world. Make sure that you check out his basketball X’s and O’s material. You will love some of his coaching ideas.