`It's a 1-1-3,' the coach yells out. The point guard nods her head and sets up the offense for an odd-front zone.
Now the zone shifts, with pressure on the ball. `It's a man, Stacey' yells out a parent in the stands.
Most likely, it's not a man. Most likely, it's not a 1-1-3 zone either. Most likely, you've just run into what's known as a matchup zone -- and if your high school team is anything like ours, you're in for a confusing and frustrating night.
Every matchup zone is different in the details, but the basic principles are the same: By keeping pressure on the ball, the zone has the advantages of a man-to-man; and by guarding zones rather than players, more defensive presence can be kept around the basket, making it difficult both to enter the ball to the post, and to drive.
`It's an area defense with man-to-man principles,' says Fred Litzenberg, an assistant coach for the University of Oregon who's widely credited with developing the matchup zone. `We try to play man principles on the ball and zone principles away from the ball -- which allows for more help than in man.'
It's called a matchup because the defense matches the alignment of the offense. If they run a one-guard set, the zone has an odd-front alignment; if the offense wants two guards, then the matchup sends two players out to cover the guards. This naturally confuses teams like ours, which like to run two guards vs. odd-front zones and one guard vs. even-front zones. So we stumble around, our guards looking to the bench and our coaches trying to come up with some way to generate some offense.
And here, I must make a confession. After struggling with against a matchup, I used my journalistic credentials as a way to get to talk to Litzenberger about his creation -- and I asked him how to attack it.
He pointed out two vulnerable areas: The high post, because under his rules there's no help side defense when the ball comes from the wing; and the short corner (or midpoint), about 12 to 15 feet from the basket on either baseline.
So, in the one day we had to prepare for the matchup, we tried to get our players used to going to those areas. But since we didn't play the matchup, we couldn't dummy up a decent defense -- and we looked just as clueless against it the next night.
`When you have that kind of zone in your arsenal, you get to practice against it too,' says Litzenberger. And you can modify it to suit your own purposes. `You can adjust the matchup to what you like to do on defense. There's no really set way to do it.'
But, unlike some zones, it doesn't work as well if it's passive. `It was originally designed to be a pressure defense,' says Litzenberger. `If you let a team pass the ball easily, you're going to wear yourself out.'
Litzenberger's version always assigns two players to the strongside block: One fronting the post and one floating in the key near the basket to supply help for the lob and cover the weakside block. With pressure on the ball, that means the wing must either try to lob the ball to the post with someone in her face, or pass back to the top -- and that pass is always open because the matchup doesn't deny it. Of course, once the ball gets, there's pressure on the ball again.
And so the point guard then decides to pass the ball back to the wings, who are now open because the defender has dropped back -- but when the ball gets there, there's pressure defense again, and a picket fence of defenders inside.
Making this work requires a fairly small set of rules, but they must become second nature to coaches and players. Litzenberger has a tape and a booklet that he sells for $30 (which barely covers the cost) that explains his system, and the response to various passes and attacks. (You can reach Litzenberger at 800 531-9253, or write him at the University of Oregon, 2727 Leo Harris Parkway, Eugene OR 97401).
`You have to spend some time on it, without a doubt,' says Litzenberger. `Some high schools jump into it without spending that time,' and naturally they have problems. Even so, Litzenberger doesn't necessarily see it as a full-time defense. `I look to play 80% man and 20% matchup,' he says, `though sometimes it gets to be 50-50.'
Against us, it would be 80% matchup and 20% man, because we still haven't figured the damn thing out. At least we know it isn't a 1-1-3 any more -- which is cold comfort to the coaching staff when we wind up forcing a 15-footer as the 30-second clock runs down.
We are grateful for one thing, though: Only one team in our league plays the matchup, so we only look live we've never seen a basketball game before twice a year.
4/25/98
