How Tennessee uses Jordan McRae for a better zone offense

#1
zjcvols

zjcvols

"On a Tennessee Saturday night."
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#1
This year, Tennessee has done well against zone defenses. Cuonzo Martin has a well designed scheme to get Jordan McRae the ball in a favorable position to attack the zone.

[youtube] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2x9fNah0uw[/youtube]

Pause at the 14 second mark and look at the floor spacing. Nobody is on the right side of the floor for Tennessee. Even though McRae pulls up for a 3, he has a ton of room to drive baseline. The defender (who was their 4 man) had to protect the baseline and overplayed. The top man was slow coming over and had to protect with J-Rich. This gives McRae room to shoot.

Let's go over what Tennessee does on offense to isolate McRae and create buckets with their zone offense.

1.
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The ball goes to the corner for Stokes. He has been doubled team a good bit there, but as you see, the idea is to get McRae on the other side. The gives the idea UT is going to overload on the left side, leaving McRae to spot up, and use Maymon or Stokes to post up.

2.
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The ball quickly gets to the other side of the floor with McRae. This will create a slow defensive rotation, hopefully giving McRae an easy layup to the baseline. He also will have the 3 or 4 man guard him, which is a mismatch for McRae that he can exploit. He's too quick for most 3's in that situation.

3.
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As said in my shoddy handwriting, look at the floor spacing. There is plenty of room for McRae to drive and UT has options everywhere. The ball must be on the wing however, closer to the baseline than the middle of the floor.

4.
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The X's are defense. I eventually went to a blue pen instead of being a dumbass with orange x's for defense. LOOK AT ALL THE DRIVING ROOM. The option I like that UT has played with, but not utilized yet is the Stokes/Maymon dynamic. They can cut off each other, screen for each other, etc. When McRae dribbles baseline, it also opens up for a Barton three. He has plenty of room to float and find space for an open shot. The top right guard for the defense must collapse to protect the high post, and the top left guard must watch for J-Rich to flash to the top middle.

5.
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With the defense collapsing, they are in trouble with McRae's pull up jumper and his passing ability. His length gives him the ability to see over the defense. Barton has tons of room to spot up (he's hit two threes off this type of play), and now Maymon crashes to the basket. The center man of the zone must cover Stokes underneath the basket, meaning one of the guards up top must crash to protect and easy bucket for Maymon. If the lower left wing crashes too much in to guard Stokes, a skip pass for Richardson is available for a quick drive.

6.
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After Maymon crashes, the lower left wing defender must protect the paint. This leaves the corner open for a J-Rich spot up. Barton also has the ability to go the right corner and get a quick shot if the top right guard defender does not pay attention

7.
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This is where Barton can spot up and take a three or quickly reverse the ball to J-Rich, who can create space driving the ball and use his deadly pull up jumper.

8.
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Now J-Rich has a plethora of options. Stokes can get a quick post up down low. Maymon can get the high post and then can do a ton of different things: Drive and kick to McRae or Barton, pass to Stokes down low, maybe take the jumper. J-Rich can drive and skip pass to McRae in the corner. Barton might be open on a nice ball reversal.

Coach Martin has created an offensive set that moves the ball and creates movement, but it runs through McRae. A guy with his talent is the go guy in this offense, and without him, it wouldn't work. His 25 feet ability to score in every way possible creates mismatches, and he uses his passing ability to create open shots for his teammates.
 
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#2
#2
Admit it, on the second picture you just started drawing a bunch of dongs and winged it from there.
 
#7
#7
I didn't watch the video or see any pictures, but it is a great write-up. I noticed last night that we were playing much better offense against the zone. I recall being so frustrated in the early season of Martin's first year. I think the College of Charleston game sticks out- we looked lost on offense against a zone. Each zone is different, but every one of them has weaknesses. The standard 2-3 has weaknesses at the high post and the baseline near the basket once the wings come out. McRae is a true zone breaker because of his drive threat and long range threat. But, I noticed CCM using Stokes and/or Maymon at the high post. Also, it helps to overload a side because it basically takes the defender on the opposite side out of the play, and you don't want the defense to match up man on man. Now, if he would just implement a zone defense for certain circumstances.
 
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#9
#9
OP I don't mean to sound like a negative nancy but what happens if we aren't knocking down 3's? I mean I don't recall once somebody hitting Maymon at the high post. And even when Maymon moves to the high post, once the ball gets reversed he drops back to the block. I also realize we haven't had a big sample of what we can do against a zone. But I just don't like relying on McRae to dribble thru it. And we all remember the "live by the 3 die by the 3" games. Maymon is smart enough that he should be touching the ball at least 50% of the trips agains a 2-3. IMO
 
#10
#10
GoobieVol said:
OP I don't mean to sound like a negative nancy but what happens if we aren't knocking down 3's? I mean I don't recall once somebody hitting Maymon at the high post. And even when Maymon moves to the high post, once the ball gets reversed he drops back to the block. I also realize we haven't had a big sample of what we can do against a zone. But I just don't like relying on McRae to dribble thru it. And we all remember the "live by the 3 die by the 3" games. Maymon is smart enough that he should be touching the ball at least 50% of the trips agains a 2-3. IMO
Click to expand...

We hit Maymon once in the high post and he really didn't do anything, but I agree with you. We don't go to him enough at the high post.
 
#11
#11
GoobieVol said:
OP I don't mean to sound like a negative nancy but what happens if we aren't knocking down 3's? I mean I don't recall once somebody hitting Maymon at the high post. And even when Maymon moves to the high post, once the ball gets reversed he drops back to the block. I also realize we haven't had a big sample of what we can do against a zone. But I just don't like relying on McRae to dribble thru it. And we all remember the "live by the 3 die by the 3" games. Maymon is smart enough that he should be touching the ball at least 50% of the trips agains a 2-3. IMO
Click to expand...

This is a good question.

It's just one play. Hopefully Martin has a couple more he can go to. This one keeps working though and you do have options off this place if McRae gets stuck.

But hitting 3's is important for this set.
 
#14
#14
beating a zone played by citadel isn't difficult. They'll be fine against a zone with Barton or Thompson out there as Barton doesn't hold onto the ball and can penetrate if he needs to and Thompson is good with the ball as well. Good feel for the game. You can't just hold it 35 feet from the basket and wait for something good to happen as was the case last year. With the handchecking rules, guards and wings should be able to penetrate easier against a zone this year than in the past.
 
#21
#21
Have you guys refreshed? I'm able to see the images.
 
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