The Combination Man to Man Zone-A Man Defense Dressed Up as a Straight Zone
The Combination Man to Man Zone-A Man Defense Dressed Up as a Straight Zone
The Combination Man to Man Defense goes back to the 1960's and was invented by Joe Mullaney, legendary Providence College and Los Angeles Laker coach. Mullaney was a visionary who was years ahead of his time when he invented this defense.
Supposedly he drew it up on a box of matches while scouting a game.
This defense was very difficult to identify and more difficult to play against. By today's standards, it still is dangerous to play against, but really not all that complicated to play.
It can be a major weapon in your arsenal of defenses.
The Combination Man to Man Zone-A Man Defense Dressed Up as a Straight Zone
First, it is not really a "Match Up" zone. It is a man to man defense with some zone principles and is designed to look like a traditional zone. Its purpose is to camouflage itself as a zone so you will run your zone offense against it.
Picture this. They run a zone offense with overloads, rotations, and some screens for jump shooters. There is not much offensive movement involved. Meanwhile, you are really in a man defense.
All of your players have a man to play in their area that matches up perfectly with the zone offense. As the ball moves around the perimeter, all your players are matched with a man. The trick is that they are disguised as a zone. They are waving their hands in a zone posture, making zone calls, and in a zone stance. It is a perfect defense if your opponent continues to run a zone offense against it. You just have to keep him/her fooled and disguise your defense.
How Does This Work?
It's not really complicated. Your combination starts out as a 1-3-1- zone with everyone waving their hands and sliding toward the ball. Most coaches attack a 1-3-1 zone with a with a 2-1-2 offense or 1-2-2-offense as the included diagram demonstrates. Your defensive point guard plays in the area of their point guard with the ball. Everyone else matches up with the players in their zone as the diagrams show.
Usually, the second guard matched up with the offense's second guard and everyone matches up as well.
The defenders still wave their hands and look like they are in a zone, but really are playing a man in their area. As the ball is passed around the defense, everyone stays with their man and slides with the ball. Therefore, if the opponent attacks your 1-3-1 with a 2-1-2- offense, it looks like you are defending with a 2-1-2 zone. If you are attacked with a 1-2-2 offense, it looks like you are in a 1-2-2- zone defense. You are matched up perfectly.
What are the principles?
They are rather simple and uncomplicated.
•Match up with the player in your zone and wave your hands; don't show a man stance
•If your man cuts, stay with him/her until someone can pick him/her up and then trade off.
•At that point, yell "Cutter" and trade up to whoever is in your zone. That way your defense is always aligned with the offense and can slide with the perimeter ball movement.
That's really all there is to it. If a team started running a man offense, slide into straight man. We would also occasionally play a straight 1-3-1 zone for a few times to perpetuate the zone impression. Then we would go back to the Combination. If a team ran a zone offense with many cutters, we might stay straight zone. The Combination doesn't do well with a lot of player movement because it requires too many trades offs.
Scouting reports on team zone offenses make the Combination easier to play. I would diagram the opponent's zone offense and how we would match up out of our Combination during practice. We would also walk through their cuts and offensive sets.
My players were never extremely talented, but they thought our combination defense was a secret weapon. They believed no one could figure it out so they played it harder and with confidence and enthusiasm. When in the combination, our players thought we were unbeatable. Meanwhile, while we were in a real man with zone principles, we could cut down passing angles, get to shooters quicker, and play cutters better than being in a zone.
Changing defenses added to the opponent's confusion.
I learned something from this defense. Our belief in it made it even better. It was a gimmick our players thought was invincible. We didn't have great players, but players who were smart and played hard. The Combination defense was a perfect weapon for us. Is it for you?
The Combination Man to Man Defense goes back to the 1960's and was invented by Joe Mullaney, legendary Providence College and Los Angeles Laker coach. Mullaney was a visionary who was years ahead of his time when he invented this defense.
Supposedly he drew it up on a box of matches while scouting a game.
This defense was very difficult to identify and more difficult to play against. By today's standards, it still is dangerous to play against, but really not all that complicated to play.
It can be a major weapon in your arsenal of defenses.
The Combination Man to Man Zone-A Man Defense Dressed Up as a Straight Zone
First, it is not really a "Match Up" zone. It is a man to man defense with some zone principles and is designed to look like a traditional zone. Its purpose is to camouflage itself as a zone so you will run your zone offense against it.
Picture this. They run a zone offense with overloads, rotations, and some screens for jump shooters. There is not much offensive movement involved. Meanwhile, you are really in a man defense.
All of your players have a man to play in their area that matches up perfectly with the zone offense. As the ball moves around the perimeter, all your players are matched with a man. The trick is that they are disguised as a zone. They are waving their hands in a zone posture, making zone calls, and in a zone stance. It is a perfect defense if your opponent continues to run a zone offense against it. You just have to keep him/her fooled and disguise your defense.
How Does This Work?
It's not really complicated. Your combination starts out as a 1-3-1- zone with everyone waving their hands and sliding toward the ball. Most coaches attack a 1-3-1 zone with a with a 2-1-2 offense or 1-2-2-offense as the included diagram demonstrates. Your defensive point guard plays in the area of their point guard with the ball. Everyone else matches up with the players in their zone as the diagrams show.
Usually, the second guard matched up with the offense's second guard and everyone matches up as well.
The defenders still wave their hands and look like they are in a zone, but really are playing a man in their area. As the ball is passed around the defense, everyone stays with their man and slides with the ball. Therefore, if the opponent attacks your 1-3-1 with a 2-1-2- offense, it looks like you are defending with a 2-1-2 zone. If you are attacked with a 1-2-2 offense, it looks like you are in a 1-2-2- zone defense. You are matched up perfectly.
What are the principles?
They are rather simple and uncomplicated.
•Match up with the player in your zone and wave your hands; don't show a man stance
•If your man cuts, stay with him/her until someone can pick him/her up and then trade off.
•At that point, yell "Cutter" and trade up to whoever is in your zone. That way your defense is always aligned with the offense and can slide with the perimeter ball movement.
That's really all there is to it. If a team started running a man offense, slide into straight man. We would also occasionally play a straight 1-3-1 zone for a few times to perpetuate the zone impression. Then we would go back to the Combination. If a team ran a zone offense with many cutters, we might stay straight zone. The Combination doesn't do well with a lot of player movement because it requires too many trades offs.
Scouting reports on team zone offenses make the Combination easier to play. I would diagram the opponent's zone offense and how we would match up out of our Combination during practice. We would also walk through their cuts and offensive sets.
My players were never extremely talented, but they thought our combination defense was a secret weapon. They believed no one could figure it out so they played it harder and with confidence and enthusiasm. When in the combination, our players thought we were unbeatable. Meanwhile, while we were in a real man with zone principles, we could cut down passing angles, get to shooters quicker, and play cutters better than being in a zone.
Changing defenses added to the opponent's confusion.
I learned something from this defense. Our belief in it made it even better. It was a gimmick our players thought was invincible. We didn't have great players, but players who were smart and played hard. The Combination defense was a perfect weapon for us. Is it for you?