Half Court Sets vs. 2-3 Zone by Jordan Graneto

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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July 28, 2012

Coach Graneto presents his standards for half court offenses against the 2-3 zone:

One of the biggest problems I see when playing offense against a 2-3 zone is that for some teams there is a lack of creativity while playing against the 2-3. By all means I believe in a base motion offense against the 2-3 zone but, there are ways you can get high percentage shots by going to sets as well. Here are my standards for half court sets against the 2-3 zone:

1. Everyone needs to be in motion: like in my man to man sets, I want to have everyone move around or do something instead of just standing. This makes all five defenders in the 2-3 zone have to communicate and stay focused the whole time. This makes it increasingly more difficult to defend us.

2. Screens need to be set: Often times a team plays a 2-3 zone because they are trying to hide a bad defender who cant get through screens, or a player who is in foul trouble, setting screens forces these players to play more physically, and forces the defense to have to talk and communicate. All this is happening while having your players play against the 2-3 zone while doing something they do in man to man offense; come off screens.

3. A lot of Pick and Rolls (or Pick and Pops): In Jim Boeheim’s video on the Syracuse 2-3 Zone he says, “The most difficult thing to guard while playing the 2-3 zone is a pick and roll (or pick and pop).” If you can obtain the right spacing, have some shooters, and set good screens the pick and roll is a great way to attack the defense and force them to make difficult decisions.

4. Misdirection must occur: Reversing the ball is key against a 2-3 because it makes the defense shift and hopefully opens up the lane for a back screen, flare screen, or misdirection pick and roll.