Defense

Every team has their own identity. Most teams believe that playing man to man is the best way to go about defending. That may be true for most, but then again we aren't most teams. From time to time we have dabbled in the man to man schemes, played a box and one every now and then but for the majority of the time we have stayed in our 2-3 zone. Yes, that isn't very exciting for a team as good as we are, but it works for us for several reasons.

1. There are very few players not wearing an orange jersey who can consistently make 3 point shots throughout the course of a game. So, because of that we know that it is rare that we will encounter a team that has guys who can hurt us from behind the arc. Sure, we have played games where a guy will get hot and make 3 or 4 from back there and we figure oh well, great game. But overall, it's not going to happen when a team is full of players who will beat us by hitting a ton of triples.

2. Our zone is probably a little more passive than most but we can create alot of ball pressure when necessary. This allows us to jump passing lanes, create turnovers and get into what we do best and that is get fast break opportunities for our offense.

3. Rebounding. They say it is more difficult for teams who play zone to be a good rebounding team because everyone is focused on their spot on the floor rather than putting a body on each opposing offensive player. I guess this is true for us but in our zone it allows the guards the freedom to release after a shot is attempted giving us access to a clean easy breakway layup after a missed shot and rebound.

Overall, we are a very strong defensive team who season in and season out is near the top of the league in least points allowed. We play bigger teams, stronger teams, quicker teams than us all of the time but when it comes down to getting stops when we need to, we get the job done. We may stray from that 2-3 zone from time to time but when the game is on the line you can be sure that we will be laying back in that traditional 2-3 scheme.

Just think, a little 1-2-2 full court trapping pressure to cause some havoc and then a little 2-3 zone infused? Wow, the possibilities are endless...now if I can just get the rest of the team to buy into my idea....