[waterhead]

Originally Posted by L-T

WH, I've coached a lot of basketball in my life, but the 1-3-1 is a defense that I really never had anybody run against me. I've never really given much thought on the best way to beat it. It should be vulnerable on the baseline and in the corners for sure, but in general the same principles apply to beating any zone, quick ball movement, overloading certain areas of the zone with more players than they can defend, and finding the open players on the weak side of the zone, penetrating and drawing the zone to the ball handler and then finding the open man. It's looked at as somewhat of a gimmick defense, which is why you don't see it very often. When it gets sprung on someone, it seems to confuse teams for a while. The only guy I've seen use it as a primary defense is John Beilein when he was at Richmond and West Virginia. I'm not sure if he still uses it at Michigan or not, but it was very good for him at WVU.

I don't think I answered your question, and that's simply because I honestly have never given much thought on how to beat it. Troy, Evans, Shaq, and Justin....lol....I'd say try them all and see what works.

I'm not a coach so I don't know either L-T. However, watching UD try to pass over the top with lobs was clearly what X was looking for. Crisp passes are hard to accomplish if they have length. You need your best passers with length at the top with a guy like Clark in the middle. The smaller shooters can hide in the corners.

I could be wrong