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M
Moseley Hokie OP
Mar 02, 2026 at 10:15 PM ET
For everyone asking why we don’t play much zone defense
I hope you watched NC State play zone tonight against Duke. Total disaster.

15 Replies

U
uber hokie
5mo
As it would have been man to man.
CPVT3 CPVT3
5mo
Yet VT MBB crumbles to press late game 🤷
H
HokieSA
5mo
"Zone defense is all that's worked in the past, and it's all that'll work..
this year." One of the townspeople to new Hickory Head Coach Norman Dale, "Hoosiers" Lol it was right after the minister leaned in and asked him "tell me..do you believe in man to man, or a zone defense?" and Dale just giggled. Side note: some of us thought Neo was gonna be our Jimmy Chitwood this year.
MDHokie79 MDHokie79
5mo
Just like to see it mid-game to force the opponent to adjust
U
uber hokie
5mo
Kind of like how how UVA women came back from a 23 point deficit and
almost won Sunday. Hokies were killing the man and they went zone and Hokies struggled entire second half.
G
GreenvilleVT
5mo
With long distance shooting much more prevalent that in the past,
It’s pretty easy to break a. With even the big guys chucking it up and overall made percentages above 40% it’s difficult to play zone and be effective unless you have guys with crazy wingspan.
E
EDGEMAN
5mo
You also need to practice it. You can't just be a "man to man" defending..
...team, then just drop into zone coverage with minimal practice.
V
Vippie1
5mo
it is situational
I'm not comparing women and men's hoops but on Sunday VT smoked UVa , from the OUTSIDE, in Q1 against a M2M. Everything would say dont go zone , it will only make it worse. But UVa went zone, we started missing from outside, and had no offensive rhythm moving the ball and unable to get decent paint touches and the offense went flat. I firmly agree VT should not be a predominant zone team BUT I beleive in surprising the opposition and making them adjust on the fly. I've never seen a reason why CMY shouldnt work in a 2-3 zone a couple of possessions a game just to see how well the other offense reacts . One shot clock violation or deflected ball run out could be the difference. I have always thought the stubbornness of coaches like Bob Knight m2m or Jim Boeheim 2-3 NEVER to change it up was more about their ego then strategy.
HtownHokie HtownHokie
5mo
so accurate on every point you made.
L
Lancelot Link
5mo
What don’t you practice so you can dabble with a zone? You have to
Sacrifice something.
V
Vippie1
5mo
Every player probably learned the basics of a 2-3 zone by 4th grade
You don't have to play to the level of a Boeheim defense, just survive two or three possessions a game. Practice time would not be extensive. Not to mention they already practice offense agaist a 2-3 zone all the time, so effectively they already do practice it.
HtownHokie HtownHokie
5mo
we learned 1-3-1 on 8th and 9th grade team. requires a mindset and hustle,
but it is doable and can cause at least temporary confusion for an opponent that as Vippie1 says can disrupt a team that isn’t familiar with how to break it and rebound within it. just one or two turnovers that result in points could change the winners name in a close contest.
H
HokieBrazil
5mo
Yeah,rather talk about Box and 1
H
Hokie98
5mo
If you’re playing in middle school maybe
H
HokiesACC2004
5mo
No kidding