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New Basketball Coaches MUST Know These Zone Defenses or You Won’t Win Games!
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Feb 1, 2025
In this video, we break down the concept of zone defense and explain how it works using three key examples: the 2-3 zone, 3-2 zone, and 1-3-1 zone. We dive into the positioning, responsibilities, and strategies behind each formation to give coaches a solid understanding of how zone defense functions in basketball. Whether you’re new to coaching or looking to refine your knowledge, this video will clarify the inner workings of zone defense, helping you confidently implement it in your own coaching strategy. By the end, you’ll have a clear grasp of how zone defense can be used effectively to shut down opposing offenses!
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0:01
today I'm answering the question what is
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a zone defense and I'm going to do this
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by really just going over some of the
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common Zone defenses and just describe
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what happens during a zone defense or
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what makes up a zone defense just to
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give you a better idea um what I have on
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the board here is probably the most
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basic zone defense which is called The
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two3 Zone and just for your edification
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and so you know
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um how Zone defenses are labeled is
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they're they're always labeled by
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numbers so um so whatever is on the top
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the top numbers the number of people on
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the top would be the first part of the
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the name of the zone so in this case
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there's two Defenders up top so it would
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be a two and there's three Defenders
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down low so it' be a two3 Zone if this
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was a 32 Zone you would have three
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Defenders up top with two def uh with
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two Defenders down low um if this was a
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you know a 212 it would be two Defenders
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up top one defender in the middle two
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down below if this was a um let's say a
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131 you would have one up top three in
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the middle one down below so I'm
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breaking this down by first starting off
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with the 2 three Zone
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but before I do do me a
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favor uh subscribe to the channel if you
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look if you like content like this I try
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to make uh a lot of videos about how to
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coach basketball teams all youth
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basketball teams a lot about travel
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basketball so do me that favor and hit
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the Subscribe button that'll really help
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me out so here we go the two3 Zone um
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really easy to teach for your players
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there are some weaknesses in the two3
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zone and that would be you know up here
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in your wings um obviously it's you know
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it's possible to cover it but you know
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they definitely have that also have the
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high post which be uh can become
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vulnerable and with any zone defense is
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um you're going to have you know your
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vulnerabilities are going to be when you
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know the
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offense swings or reverses the
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basketball to the other Corner because
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everybody does in fact move in Zone to
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wherever the basketball is so
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um and that's kind of the idea of a zone
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right like they're covering down on
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their zones so when the basketball's in
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the corner on a two3 Zone um or any Zone
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all the players are going to
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be locked up on that side and if the
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ball gets reversed which can happen very
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quickly in basketball you are going to
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see everybody move and that's how um
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Zone defenses are broken
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down
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um but they can be but they can um be
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very helpful in you know stopping a good
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team that drives in a lot that that's uh
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one of the main reasons why teams will
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use the two uh the zone defense so
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breaking down now that we've went over
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the two3 Zone I want to jump into the um
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the 32 Zone and just talk briefly about
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that so the 3-2 Zone as I mentioned
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before is three offensive players up top
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and your two bigs down
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below um in most of these Zone defenses
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you're going to put your big players
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down below to protect the rim um with an
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exception on a few but um for the 32
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Zone you're you know you're keeping
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those bigs down here you can change it
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obviously but where your uh where your
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gaps are or where your weaknesses are
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your vulnerabilities for a 3-2 Zone if
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you have already figured it it's going
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to be in your Corners so as you can see
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nobody's in the corner so how do you
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cover down on that well just like in a
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two three Zone you know the the the the
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person down below is going to cover down
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on
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that and everyone's going to
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shift shift down so um you still have
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the same vulnerability in the 32 Zone
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that you have in the in the two three
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Zone which is a quick you know ball
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reversal
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[Music]
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can shift your defense so as you can see
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they're moving that ball quickly
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everybody is
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rotating very easily now that we've went
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over the 3-2 Zone and before I jump into
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the next one um do me a favor go down in
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the comment section and tell me which
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one of these Zone
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defenses you would like to see a video
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on and I can break this down uh for you
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um you know the one that we get the most
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I'll break it down and we'll be able to
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cover on that zone defense so which one
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do you want to hear about all right then
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next one I'm going to go over is the 131
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Zone this one's a little bit more
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complicated I really enjoy running this
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with teams that practice it a lot um but
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essentially you know it's the same thing
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it's it's you know it's set up with one
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Defender up top three Defenders here in
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the middle and then one Defender down
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low Now can anyone take a guess where
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the uh the weaknesses are are that's
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right it's in the corners and I mean
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there are ways to to break up this zone
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defense really well if you've got an
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experienced team I mean where you're you
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know scoring right here in the paint um
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but this this um this defense can be
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very effective if your team practices a
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lot and um just puts a lot of time and
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energy into I mean this can be very very
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uh active defense and I and I'll briefly
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kind of go over it with you I mean it it
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can be um almost a full court press on
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this thing and and just real fast I mean
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like the where you put your people is is
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super important on this and I'll go over
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it you know in in like 5 seconds or less
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but you basically have you know a
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basketball player who's going to be able
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to run up and down the court with the
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the offense and keep them on the side
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you want the uh the ball always on the
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side one of the sides for this defense
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um and you want to use the entire team
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to make that happen and then you want to
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have your probably your quickest most
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athletic player here and this player is
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really running sideline to sideline so
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when that ball gets in the corner like
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this guy's got to be able to get there
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and then they got to be able to get back
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if it gets reversed and you really you
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know with any zone defense or really
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with man you just you you don't want the
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ball you want to keep the ball on one
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side of the court right like you don't
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want the ball going the other side you
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want it you know one side get it down to
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the Trap area um but so with the
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131 um you know this player is keeping
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the ball on one side of the
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court and then you can set up
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traps with everybody
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obviously um relocating to wherever
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they're supposed to be and you know so
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you're looking to set traps or you're
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looking to get the ball into the corner
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so that you can effectively
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trap this can be a very effective
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defense and you can do it a couple
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different ways as with the 23 the 32 and
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the
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131 um these are the three zones that I
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wanted to use today to give you an
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example of what is a what is a zone
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defense um I'm looking forward to
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reading your comments below which one I
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should break down step by step on
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um there are other things that I could
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have mentioned in this video um such as
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like you know the different different
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settings you can do on your on your zone
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defense extending it out um you know
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running it more half cour press but uh
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but I wanted to make sure that folks
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knew what a Zone a zone defense was and
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this is really what a zone defense is so
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looking forward to the next video
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