Zone

[Hogfaniam]

Thank you Mike

[Hawg Red]

Why has it taken so long?

Oh well. Just kept it up.

[upperdeck_hawg]

The importance of switching to a zone can not be overstated. Mike Anderson needs to make this his staple defense. The man press isn't working.

[ADavisTheGOAT]

The zone defense has put our bigs in a better position to defend the rim and be in the right spot for rebounds.

[PORKULATOR]

Ikr.... I thought we looked like a solid matchup zone team by build and tonight, we showed it a few times. I'd like to see more.

[PonderinHog]

The zone defense has put our bigs in a better position to defend the rim and be in the right spot for rebounds.

Trey and Moses were out there together more than usual.

[Hog Solo]

Ikr.... I thought we looked like a solid matchup zone team by build and tonight, we showed it a few times. I'd like to see more.

It was a great move to go to.  I would love if he would mix up the defenses a bit.  Zone them up and then throw a touch of man and full court defense.  If you look at the 94 nat champs they weren't full court pressing the entire game.  The trapping of all defense schemes is what gets me. Stop running it.

[cableguy]

CMA Stevie Wonder could see that South Carolina was killing us in our man defense, Michael Jackson was singing just Beat It from his grave when he saw us in man. Why did it take us being down 14 before CMA got it. I love CMA but my heart can't take his stubbornness for years to come. Can we  start a petition to force CMA to play more zone defense?

[BrooklynRoss]

That zone? Exactly what we needed.

[LRHawg]

They made some smart plays, avoided some cheap fouls that the last few games they've had mental lapses and gave them up. Definitely saw improvement on defense.

[Hogfaniam]

The importance of switching to a zone can not be overstated. Mike Anderson needs to make this his staple defense. The man press isn't working.

But it does work, when its used strategically, not constantly.

[Hog Solo]

But it does work, when its used strategically, not constantly.

Yes, please mix it up. Less zone for higher percentage three point teams as well.

[ShadowHawg]

But it does work, when its used strategically, not constantly.

This. We should never be married to one type of defense.

[lynbug]

Do you think lessons learned will be remembered come Saturday?

[rude1]

Two great coaching moves tonight, the zone of course, then staying out of the press, we were able to keep them from shooting a ton of free throws because we concentrated on playing half court defense instead of chasing all over the court then fouling because we were out of position.

[Hogfaniam]

Do you think lessons learned will be remembered come Saturday?

That is the $265,791 question

[BDSCT51]

The zone defense has put our bigs in a better position to defend the rim and be in the right spot for rebounds.

I saw more Hogs in position for rebounds this game than all season, both ends of the floor. And this is a good thing!

[Youngsta71701]

Thank you Mike

Should be our primary defense for the rest of the year. No doubt...

[PonderinHog]

Should be our primary defense for the rest of the year. No doubt...

I think some of that depends on our opponent.

[The_Iceman]

Against opponents with poor guards (alabama), our pressure is still the way to go. Against teams with strong guards, gotta go with the zone.

[ShadowHawg]

Against opponents with poor guards (alabama), our pressure is still the way to go. Against teams with strong guards, gotta go with the zone.

Gotta mix em up regardless. A combination is best. It slows the opponent down when you switch because you can catch them with a bad personnel grouping on the floor for one or the other and maybe gain or regain momentum.

I like your take though on which to run predominantly when playing against various teams.

[Cmheinley]

Surely Mike knew this all along. I'm just glad he's coming around. Timeouts seemed to be well managed as well. If these guys get super efficient at switching strategically between zone and man press, look out

[rude1]

Gotta mix em up regardless. A combination is best. It slows the opponent down when you switch because you can catch them with a bad personnel grouping on the floor for one or the other and maybe gain or regain momentum.

I like your take though on which to run predominantly when playing against various teams.

Yep gotta mix the defenses to keep offenses off guard, the zone is throwing teams off because we have been strictly man come hell or high water. Don't know if it will be as effective if teams know it's coming and we use it as the base defense. I thought we scouted SC man defense very well too and took advantage by spreading the floor and taking advantage of their overplaying everything. This was one of the biggest surprises to me, how effectively we were able to run our offense against their defense.

[ChicoHog]

Two great coaching moves tonight, the zone of course, then staying out of the press, we were able to keep them from shooting a ton of free throws because we concentrated on playing half court defense instead of chasing all over the court then fouling because we were out of position.

Yes, the zone worked pretty well.  Saw a few open 3's taken and most of them missed.  Still much better than our trapping/giving up free dunks and open 3's all night long defense we usually employ.  Most of all the difference tonight is we made shots.  That is true for most teams in most games so let's hope we keep shooting well. 

[lynbug]

I think some of that depends on our opponent.

Thank you! Strategize, observe the flow of the game and adapt.  Something we haven't been doing much of.  Sometimes you just have to make changes. Duh!

[Letsroll1200]

I think we cant stay in the zone against Ole Miss. They were 9-22 from 3 at Vandy and they will be able to knock down open threes that South Carolina did not knock down. I really believe this game we might be able to pressure the guards and try to get some baskets in transition.

[azhog10]

CMA Stevie Wonder could see that South Carolina was killing us in our man defense, Michael Jackson was singing just Beat It from his grave when he saw us in man. Why did it take us being down 14 before CMA got it. I love CMA but my heart can't take his stubbornness for years to come. Can we  start a petition to force CMA to play more zone defense?

You do realize we were down 14 in like the first four minutes. You say it like it took him all game to finally get in the zone. It didn't take that long, and as many can see it's a long game and Mike got there quick enough for us to be up 9 with 8 mins to go in the first half.

[azhog10]

Our guys are more engaged and talk more when we are in a zone vs. man. You could see guys constantly communicating as baseline runners and cutters made there way through the defense. You don't see that same type of engagement when we are in man. Also, ball screens aren't as lethal against our zone as they are against our man switching defense.

[azhog10]

Yep gotta mix the defenses to keep offenses off guard, the zone is throwing teams off because we have been strictly man come hell or high water. Don't know if it will be as effective if teams know it's coming and we use it as the base defense. I thought we scouted SC man defense very well too and took advantage by spreading the floor and taking advantage of their overplaying everything. This was one of the biggest surprises to me, how effectively we were able to run our offense against their defense.

He should switch between the 1-1-3, 3-2, and matchup zone. Those three are defenses we've ran this season and get us out of that switching man.

[TheSportsGuy]

I feel that even though our zone may not be perfect, it lets the guys rest a bit so to speak on D, instead of running around like crazy trying to trap and expending all their energy with no success.  You could see they were cutting and screening constantly on offense.  They had the energy to actually run the motion offense.  Extremely refreshing.  That was exciting to watch

[cableguy]

You do realize we were down 14 in like the first four minutes. You say it like it took him all game to finally get in the zone. It didn't take that long, and as many can see it's a long game and Mike got there quick enough for us to be up 9 with 8 mins to go in the first half.

I was disappointed that we started the game in man in the 1st place. It should not take us getting down by 14 in order us to switch defense. If Burford wasn't on fire we would had been down by 20. I congratulate CMA on the win, but I still realize he was the coach that lost on his home court too. No one is above critique even in a win.

[Youngsta71701]

I think some of that depends on our opponent.

No doubt, gotta mix them up according to the personnel. Seems like we play zone better than anything though. It makes them communicate and talk on the court.

[Youngsta71701]

Against opponents with poor guards (alabama), our pressure is still the way to go. Against teams with strong guards, gotta go with the zone.

+1

[Youngsta71701]

Gotta mix em up regardless. A combination is best. It slows the opponent down when you switch because you can catch them with a bad personnel grouping on the floor for one or the other and maybe gain or regain momentum.

I like your take though on which to run predominantly when playing against various teams.

Yep, keep them guessing.

[Youngsta71701]

I was disappointed that we started the game in man in the 1st place. It should not take us getting down by 14 in order us to switch defense. If Burford wasn't on fire we would had been down by 20. I congratulate CMA on the win, but I still realize he was the coach that lost on his home court too. No one is above critique even in a win.

I hate to agree with this but I have to. I was thinking we would start the game in zone considering the way finished the game in LSU in it. I was also hoping we started the game with the same starting lineup we started in the 2nd half against LSU when we started that come back. Barford, Macon, Hannahs, Whoever, and Kingsley. Seems like Thomas is playing better these last two games with the exception of a mental lapse here and there that he seem to have in every game.

But ole well we won. Just wish we would get off to better starts though. That's all...WooPig!! :razorback:

[hogfan10]

The zone defense has put our bigs in a better position to defend the rim and be in the right spot for rebounds.

Agree, and it seems to coincide with us having a more fluid offense.

[razorbackfan4life]

I'm glad we used it.  But we still have some major issues from time to time when we run it.

Guys were constantly out of position with it last night.  We were fortunate that it didn't bite us. 

Communication is key too.  South Carolina set a lot of backside screens/picks with it.  Everybody has to work together. 

[latrops]

The importance of switching to a zone can not be overstated. Mike Anderson needs to make this his staple defense. The man press isn't working.

I don't think it much matters what the "staple" is.  The main thing is that you are either really good at what you do OR that you mix it up so the opponent has to execute against different looks.  The big gripe with CMA's in game coaching has been that he sticks with his preferred system even when it clearly is not working.

He went to the zone some in the win over LSU, with good results.  He used it even more against SC, and came away with a road win over a legitimately good team.  Mixing it up should make the pressing/trapping defense more effective because it went be so predictable.  Hopefully CMA is accepting that he needs to be a little more flexible.

[hobhog]

We seemed to trap/double team out of it better last night. Will be interesting to see it against OM and a better offensive team.

[cityhog]

Finally. I've been crying for it all season long.