I have always been more of a lurker than a poster on the boards, however I've been discussion strategy with a friend off and on all week. We've gone through a few strategies that Buzz may employ here but I'm wondering what better basketball minds may think.
Defensively, what do we do?
Option 1: Let Zion get his, shut-down Barrett and Reddish aka opposite of the Duke blueprint. This method would keep the middle open, make sure not to foul Zion and let him rack up 40 (I am assuming he can't outscore us completely on his own). Lock down Barrett and Reddish by putting Outlaw, Hill, and KBJ on rotation. Concern would be allowing Zion to run free, there are easy fouls to pick up if anyone tries to slide in the lane to contest his shots.
Option 2: Duke blueprint, jam the middle and force them to shoot.
Play some hybrid zone, 1-3-1 potentially. Put cinderblocks on KBJ's feet to keep him within 5 ft of the rim at all times. Outlaw at the free throw line and NAW and HIll at the wings. Outlaw has become a solid shot blocker and could provide help, and Hill and NAW would funnel Zion to KBJ who SHOULD be standing completely still hoping to pick up a charge. Zion is dynamic and can maneuver well, so don't chase him, just let it happen and DON'T get fouls.
Option 3: Use Horne as a human foul shield.
Similar to option 2, but allow Horne to aggressively contest. Play him 12-15 min and when he's in, allow him to go after Zion. Attempt at 50/50 calls, but if he picks up the fouls so be it. Keep KBJ CLEAN.
These are just some ramblings we've had from amateur fan minds. Feel free to poke holes in any of these theories.
Comments
score more points than them.
or, hear me out on this....
...don't let them score more points than us
Any theory posited by "VTflatearther" is canon as far as I'm concerned.
Traditionally, you put your quickest sideline-to-sideline wing at the bottom of a 1-3-1, as they're forced to cover the paint and both corners. Putting KJ there would be a disaster and lead to way too many baseline drives. You want your wings and baseline runner to be able to trap the corner, and KJ wouldn't be able to close out and/or recover quick enough. He'd be best suited at the center of the 1-3-1.
So what would you call a zone where KBJ plays where Tacko did last week? Or would you leave KBJ low and still play man on the wings and guards? If we want to stop Zion, I think we have to have presence at the low post at all times (and to keep KBJ from chasing guards and picking up fouls on the perimeter)
As noted in your original post, there are a number of ways to skin the cat. KJ isn't the rim protector Tacko is, but he's certainly more agile and able to follow Zion around the court more.
I was thinking about this issue yesterday and the idea of a Box-and-1 came to mind, with four defenders in a zone and KJ (or someone else) marking Zion. The worry I would have with this approach is that ball rotation — as well as using Zion as a decoy — could provide too many lanes for Duke to drive. A 2-3 might be the simplest way to approach it. You can cover the entire floor while providing ample cover down low, with the hope that you can limit any high-low game that Duke chooses to play. You can collapse on drivers and pack the lane, if you choose, knowing that you're facing a statistically poor perimeter shooting team.
I think that however Buzz & Co. choose to play it, you want to force Duke into as many low-percentage perimeter shots as possible. It worked great for UCF. Make them beat you where they're weakest, and if their shots fall, so be it. Work to slow Zion down, but don't pick up cheap/stupid fouls in the process. KJ got whistled twice against Liberty for reaching in far from the basket. Those types of mistakes need to be limited, especially by him.
Those cheap fouls are something KBJ seemed to really improve upon when Robinson went out. Not proposing causality, just perception. I remember one against Liberty, but your are absolutely right, that can't happen against Duke. We have no fouls to spare for KBJ.
Any credence to the Horne idea? I think it's a clever wrinkle that no one has seen yet, and not being worried about him fouling out could be the buffer KBJ needs to go all 40.
Yeah UCF played basically a reverse Box and 1 (There may be a name for this) where Tacko essentially played zone (under the basket) and everyone else was in man. IMO that's a great strategy if you have the personnel, imo we don't. It'd put KBJ in the heart of every drive eventually that's going to lead to foul issues. I still think some match up zone is going work best. I believe we've allowed the fewest paint points in the country or close to it. We're good at clogging up the lane. I don't see a reason to get too fancy.
basically you have your big "guard" the least threatening opposing player and clog the lane at the expense of letting the other guy brick threes all day long. Golden state did this against Memphis (Tony Allen) and it's the basis of the Milwaukee Bucks defense (with Giannis as the "safety")
2-3 Zone usually puts your big under the basket.
Close the lane hard on the Zion bounce. Be okay with them shooting, they've been hot lately but are historically pretty bad. IMO if you look at the quality of our offense vs the quality of their defense there's a bigger gap in our favor than looking at their offense vs our defense.
I'm sure that Buzz will figure out a way...but what do I know
Shoot 3's far better than we have been (I know that we are a strong 3pt team). There have been points where we have struggled to do so in the past two games.
Live by the 3 die by the 3. I prefer the former.
Make sure Zion plays with an old pair of shoes again?
But in all seriousness I hope we stick to man to man. Rebounding out of a zone is really tough and I'd rather not watch Zion get double digit offensive boards
Leg for Carl Spackler.
The most important thing is to keep the ball out of Zion's hands in the paint. If he gets it down low, he's going to draw fouls and we cannot afford for Blackshear to get into foul trouble under any circumstances. Deny entry passes and double team if they get into the paint to force a kickout.
Take the ball to Zion on offense to draw fouls, and stand you ground when has the ball to draw fouls. We need to have him carry more fouls than Kerry all game.
Shoot the 3 with confidence and make them.
Make the Dookies that don't shoot well take the three's,
Don't quit. They have a tendency to have lazy possessions if they get up, so just because they get up double digits does not mean they will win. They also tend to press if down, and give opportunities to draw fouls on Zion being to aggressive, or getting rebounds off rushed 3's.
Or just bring over some of the dork magic from football and mind control the zebras.
That would require the refs to call fouls on Duke. Coach K, the ACC, and CBS can't allow that to happen
Its option two above. Sink the defense to cut off driving lanes and double team their paint touches. Make them kick the ball back out to the perimeter and have them try beat you with the 3. They haven't been able to shoot well enough to make teams pay. On offense KBJ needs to play a high post and keep Zion away from the basket or and run switches at him to make him play help defense most of the game. Duke doesn't crash on drives as hard knowing that Zion can cover a lot of ground in the paint so attacking the basket will have to come in the form of slashing wings.
We have seen a lot of the slashing wings the 12 games Robinson is out. I do think we have a couple styles of offense we have become proficient at to keep them on their toes, and make adjustments throughout the game. If they shoot 40% from three (they are averaging the last two games) I think we may be dead in the water, personally. Hoping they regress to the mean pretty hard and go 5-20 to give us a shot to stick to our gameplan.
Did you see Barrett and Zion in game one vs UVA. It's very likely those two can take over a game. I think they scored 75% of the points in that game.
SWEEP THE LEG, P.J.!
PJ takes off his mask to reveal he's been Chris Clarke the whole time!
Take a lesson straight from Duke and trip like Grayson Allen. \s
EDIT: completely failed to read the comment above before making mine. Love that movie.
Call in an anonymous tip to Durham PD?
All this talk of stopping Zion makes me feel like we are the Machines in "The Matrix".
I'm no genius, but I'm thinking "have one of your top three point shooters benched for drug possession" isn't high on list of strategies. I really hope Outlaw can go Friday.
He's gonna play.