Bryce Drew: Multiple Strategies for Attacking Zone Defenses

with Bryce Drew,
Grand Canyon University Head Coach;
2x WAC Regular Season Champions (2021, 2024);
3x WAC Tournament Champions (2021, 2023, 2024);
Vanderbilt University Head Coach from 2016 to 2019;
Valparaiso University Head Coach from 2011 to 2016;
2x Horizon Coach of the Year (2015, 2016);
4x Horizon Regular Season Champions (2012, 2013, 2015, 2016);
2x Horizon League Tournament Champions (2013, 2015);
2x Mid-Continent Conference Player of the Year (1997, 1998);
played college basketball for Valparaiso University (point guard);
drafted 16th by the Houston Rockets (NBA);
played professionally for the Houston Rockets, Chicago Bull, Charlotte Hornets;
in high school (Valparaiso, IN) was 1994 Indiana "Mr. Basketball"

In his head coaching career stops at Valparaiso and then Vanderbilt, Bryce Drew has had consistent success. He credits an offense that promotes great ball movement and puts his players in positions to be successful. In this video, you'll learn how Coach Drew implements these concepts into his zone offensive system.

A lot of teams seem to have difficulty going against a zone. This is due in part to players' inability to effectively pass the ball. Coach Drew demonstrates drills that will get your team passing with the speed and accuracy needed to scramble a zone defense. You'll see how to take advantage of your personnel with various strategies for defeating a 2-3 zone. Coach Drew will also show you six set plays and how to beat an odd-front zone defense.

Basic Passing Drills

Before any offensive schemes are shown, Coach Drew breaks down the fundamentals of great passing. Through two practice drills, you will learn the teaching points needed to improve your players' technique on chest passes, overhead passes, bounce passes, pass fakes, and the baseball pass for those critical end-of-game plays. He also shows you how to add competition to passing drills and gives simple tips, such as passing with the seams or having no wasted movement on your passes, that can give your team an offensive advantage.

The One More Pass drill will train your players to quickly swing the ball to an open shooter. With refined mechanics and improved accuracy, your team's ball movement will split apart any defense.

Breaking a 2-3 Zone

Coach Drew's offensive system is extremely flexible and can be easily tailored to put your players in the right positions to be successful. The basic roles and principles for operating this zone offense are explained through player demonstration so you can see how the offense should run.

You will learn how to adapt your tactics based on the size and skill of your post players to attack a 2-3 zone defense. See how movement can be added by your bigs or perimeter players for another element to pressure and confuse the defense. Coach Drew will also show you how to break the defense with inside-out plays through the posts.

Coach Drew details how to attack the zone defense with different alignments that can enable you to go big or small versus your opponent. For teams that want to spread the floor with guards, you'll see a 4-Out alignment that flashes perimeter players into the soft spots of the zone. If you want to take advantage of talented post players or you simply outsize your opponent, Coach Drew will show his strategy for playing through his big men.

Sets vs a 2-3 Zone

You'll gain six different set plays to attack a 2-3 zone defense. These plays utilize ball screens, overloads, and baseline screens to create scoring opportunities. The "Stack" series provides three different plays that can be run from the same alignment and offers counters based on how the defense tries to stop you.

Coach Drew also touches on two strategies for attacking odd-front zones such as a 3-2 zone defense. See how to overload the baseline defenders to take advantage of your post players or a great shooter. For smaller lineups, you will also learn how to spread the floor around a high post.

Coach Drew gives you everything you wanted to know on how to break a 2-3 zone. You will learn the basic drills, continuity sets and set players that will make your opponent wish they never dared to play zone against you.

"This season my team really struggled to score against 2-3 zones, our points per game went down nearly 10 points against a zone. Coach Drew has given our team the tools in this video to consistently beat a zone defense. I highly recommend this video." - Customer Review

Produced at the Spring 2015 Pittsburgh (PA) clinic.

74 minutes. 2016.