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Has nothing to do with testosterone and everything to do with the principle of "If you can't play good man, you can't play good zone"
Zone defense should be used strategically IMO. If you are early in the season, the idea of playing zone consistently, with a team that most likely isn't where AG wants them in terms of man, will kill you later in the season. The time in practice now needs to be focused on man and not a zone that would be used for situations and matchup issues.
Yes...zone can work really well with certain matchups...like being undersized. But swarming man can be just as effective. Ball State is a team that wants to shoot early and often from the perimeter. Going to a zone may have encouraged better perimeter shooting.
The teams that I played for that were really good at zone...played really good man. The zone was played against teams that we needed it for personnel matchups or because we needed some pressure on certain players to cause turnovers.
The odds are against you if a coach plays zone to bail out bad man. You will not succeed long term. I guarantee Cuse can play good man.
I too like to see zone used sporadically...but preferably in the full court and in the half only when it is time to switch things up. Even 20% of possessions is too much IMO. Play kick ass man to man D and be done with it. It will lead to better rebounding, more steals, more contested shots...if the effort is there.
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