This was posted on Texas A&M Women’s Assistant Coach Bob Starkey’s Blog: HoopThoughts. It is a great site for basketball coaches. If you haven’t seen it, you should check it.
Coach Starkey is a former assistant at LSU and that is where this post originated.
One of the best Match-Up Zone coaches in the women’s game is former Auburn head coach Joe Ciampi. Joe, a member the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame still takes the time to teach and share his thoughts on match-up play and a lot more in terms of basketball. Here are a few notes I took when Joe visited with our staff at LSU in 2005. They excellent if you are looking to improve the way you play zone defense but they are equally important for you to read in your attack of zone defenses:
Four Key Words To Multiple Defensive System:
DELAY…the ball coming down the floor
DEFLECT…inside passes…all passes inside 3-point arc…fingertips on the ball.
DISRUPT…offensive flow thru traps…always trap out of a timeout.
DISGUISE…Auburn played 60% Match-Up 40% man during Ciampi’s career.
Offensive thoughts vs. Match-Up
Screen Outside (Elbow Screens)
Screen Inside (Post)
Few teams screen long enough or move often enough to have success against a true match-up.
Overall defensive philosophy: Have non-shooters shoot.
Ciampi defines offensive players as “shooters” or “drivers” (non-shooters)
Multiple defensive system will test opponent’s offensive IQ
Advantage to multiple defensive system is that offense has to constantly think about how they will score.
Good defense can make more adjustments than a good offense.
Thoughts on pressing: “The can pass around us or pass over us but we don’t want them to pass or dribble through us.”
Defenses either act or react…multiple defensive systems force offenses to react.
Awareness becomes better with strength, quickness and speed.
Can run system in segments…Ciampi likes to change before half or to start the second half.
Important to have defensive goals…players want to see numbers.
In everything you do in practice, have winners and losers….anything 2/2, 3/3, 4/4 have winners and losers…assign a coach to each team…ask winners why they won and losers why they lost…important they understand what went into the process.
Assign one coach to be a “praiser” at practice.
Ciampi believes that the coach controls practice and officials control games.
Ciampi believes that coaches spend too much time correcting poor performance and not praising good play.
Excellent 5/5 defensive possession doesn’t allow a pass inside the 3-point arc…give defensive team 3 points when that happens.
Consecutive turnovers by offense — stop practice and run…place a value on the possession.
Timeout: 1 offensive thought
1 defensive thought
Give most important thought last
Assistant coaches don’t work officials…I’ve gotten better but not where I should be!
Half-time stats of importance:
…..Opponent’s FG%
…..Rebounds
Find something to praise
Extending defense forces opponents to start offense with :20 or less on shot clock — this makes offense basically work to get a shot with only 3 or 4 passes.
Ciampi has :25 on shot clock when working offense in practice…more game like.
Captain’s role is to voice and protect the coach’s opinion.
Great statement: Leadership is more important in the 22 hours off the court than it is the 2 hours on the court!!!…reason Temeka was a great leader…(Coach Meyer: “Great leaders must be accessible”)
Important for head coach to have constant dialogue with team leaders.
Ciampi charts free throws by having player make 10 in a row to start and then chart the next 10…we need to do this in the fall with volunteer free throws….Ciampi also changes free throw pairs up each week…I think this is a great idea…we can do this easily by posting on the bulletin board who their FT and shooting partner is for that week…Ciampi likes to put good FT shooters with poor ones…veterans with rookies.
Two Main Concepts for Match-Up (in this order):
…..Where’s the ball
…..Where do I belong
…..(Can be said of our man-to-man defense as well!)
