Dixon's Zone

[Zaratoughda]

Just got finished watching the Pitt/Louisville game at the Pete. Well, only the first half as it was pretty much over after that (down by 10).

Early on... Louisville was shooting hot... 4-5 from the floor. Contested shots mostly but they were hitting them. But, we were scoring also and the game was tied or a 2 point lead for us.

But then, Dixon decided to go to the zone.... and immediately two WIDE OPEN (no defender in sight actually) 3balls from the corner, which they nailed and that put is in a 6 point hole.

So, Dixon went back to the man and we spent the middle part of the half trying to make up that deficit.. almost did when James Robinson made a 3ball and a 3 point play consecutively.

Dixon tried the zone AGAIN... and it was a contested shot this time but another 3ball nailed. So, he got out of it again.

Late in the half.. the team kind of fell apart. Jones turned the ball over twice against the press.... defensive mistakes and the like.

Seemed like the biggest problem... not enough good players and the ones we had... too inexperienced and making too many mistakes. What with the grad transfers in and the additional year of experience otherwise, hopefully we will not have this problem this year.

But, as far as the zone.... good grief. We are NOT that good at it and every well coached team we play against will have plays all set to beat our zone.... which almost always means getting a player open in the corner for a wide open 3ball. It has sometimes worked against lesser teams, but against Pitino and the like, they will eat it alive every time.

The funny thing... is early in the season Dixon stated that he did not expect to be using the zone that much. But, there were problems with the hedging, etc, with the man and he not only tried the zone but a lot of other stuff as well.

So, hopefully the only thing we will be seeing this coming year is the man with hedging and little if anything of anything else. IMO, we should go back to the defensive strategy of just playing one style of defense and sticking with it and keeping at it until we are good at it.

Last year we had a big dropoff in our defense and have to bounce back if we are gonna get back to playing at the level we used to play at... or better.

Thoughts??

 

[Chescat]

Dixon is most likely as much a NON zone coach as anyone in college ball. He obviously went to the zone last year because his man to man defense was so incredibly bad (especially for a team like Pitt which used to specialize in tough man D). I agree with you concerning the need to "bounce back" on the defensive end.

Another way to look at it is...if you can't play good man to man D, your zone D won't be that good either. Good offensive teams can always beat a zone, even a good zone (look what we consistently do to Syracuse's zone, supposedly one of the best in America)..however if the ball doesn't go in, the zone often gets the credit, even when it gives up an open shot. One thing that should help next year is an inside presence which we might now have. BUT...our players need to improve BIG TIME on the DEF, side.

 

[Zaratoughda]

Well, agreed that the man defense wasn't what it should be but... the zone was worse... and even worse than that was the hideous switchoff 1-5. THAT defense was only used at the very end of games and lost a number of games for us where we had like 10 point leads... and ALMOST lost some others (like, the ND game).

(Hmmm... ya know... one thing I really hate... is starting to hear the voice from an online ad and ya can't find the fricking ad on the web page to turn the sucker off. Muted my speakers this time :-()

I just feel that Dixon deserves part of the blame for last years miserable defensive performance for experimenting with too much bizarre stuff. Hopefully he gets back to playing just one defense (man with hedging) and having his players keep at it until they are good at it.

 

[Chescat]

Did you ever find yourself, as the saying goes..."between a rock and a hard place." That, last year is where
IMO Dixon was regarding defense. He WANTED tough Man to Man D from his players, but he couldn't get them to deliver. Was it his coaching?...or was it the players inability to make it work? Personally I believe it was the players, thus forcing Dixon to go away from what he likes, teaches, and preaches (tight Man D). The result
was, as you pointed out an ineffective zone. That isn't what he's comfortable with, and he probably isn't a strong
Zone type coach. Mix that with poor defensive players fundamentally, teams could easily find holes and gaps in a weak zone and BINGO...you get the results you previously mentioned...wide open looks .

As to your point about "getting back to playing just one defense ( man with hedging )...ok I get it. But, my fear
is we're still going to see the same fundamentally poor defense...getting beat off the dribble, no weakside help,
poor hedging, and lack of concentration, etc. I would like to see the same result as you...but, do they have it in them?...time will tell.

 

[DT_PITT]

Just got finished watching the Pitt/Louisville game at the Pete. Well, only the first half as it was pretty much over after that (down by 10).

Early on... Louisville was shooting hot... 4-5 from the floor. Contested shots mostly but they were hitting them. But, we were scoring also and the game was tied or a 2 point lead for us.

But then, Dixon decided to go to the zone.... and immediately two WIDE OPEN (no defender in sight actually) 3balls from the corner, which they nailed and that put is in a 6 point hole.

So, Dixon went back to the man and we spent the middle part of the half trying to make up that deficit.. almost did when James Robinson made a 3ball and a 3 point play consecutively.

Dixon tried the zone AGAIN... and it was a contested shot this time but another 3ball nailed. So, he got out of it again.

Late in the half.. the team kind of fell apart. Jones turned the ball over twice against the press.... defensive mistakes and the like.

Seemed like the biggest problem... not enough good players and the ones we had... too inexperienced and making too many mistakes. What with the grad transfers in and the additional year of experience otherwise, hopefully we will not have this problem this year.

But, as far as the zone.... good grief. We are NOT that good at it and every well coached team we play against will have plays all set to beat our zone.... which almost always means getting a player open in the corner for a wide open 3ball. It has sometimes worked against lesser teams, but against Pitino and the like, they will eat it alive every time.

The funny thing... is early in the season Dixon stated that he did not expect to be using the zone that much. But, there were problems with the hedging, etc, with the man and he not only tried the zone but a lot of other stuff as well.

So, hopefully the only thing we will be seeing this coming year is the man with hedging and little if anything of anything else. IMO, we should go back to the defensive strategy of just playing one style of defense and sticking with it and keeping at it until we are good at it.

Last year we had a big dropoff in our defense and have to bounce back if we are gonna get back to playing at the level we used to play at... or better.

Thoughts??

In that game, the Cards (and Terry Rozier) were dribble penetrating us to death and scored and scored and scored on us. I think that game may have been our worst defensive efficiency of the season.

We got close because our offense was almost keeping up with them.

The move to zone was to try to reduce that dribble penetration, and the impact was just what you described.

The bottom line is that L-ville scored against us that day when we were in man, and the L-ville scored against us that day when we were in zone.

Pretty much the story for the whole season, really.

 

[JRPITT]

Attended only a few games last season. Went to the last game (NIT). Was very disappointed by the effort by a few of our players. Witnessed one of our players and Coach Knight both confronting another player for lack of effort (not going to name the player). My point? After last season Coach Dixon was fed up with the lack of consistent defense and rebounding. Solution? 3 bigs entering the program with one primary role. Play defense and rebound. Message to returning players; play defense and rebound or sit the BENCH.

 

[NTOP]

Attended only a few games last season. Went to the last game (NIT). Was very disappointed by the effort by a few of our players. Witnessed one of our players and Coach Knight both confronting another player for lack of effort (not going to name the player). My point? After last season Coach Dixon was fed up with the lack of consistent defense and rebounding. Solution? 3 bigs entering the program with one primary role. Play defense and rebound. Message to returning players; play defense and rebound or sit the BENCH.

That game was really disappointing. At least our guys tried to salvage something in the CBI games. They quit vs. GW. That hasn't happened often since Howland & Dixon arrived. If we see that becoming a trend......