Building an Attacking, Dynamic Zone Offense

with Chris Jans,
Mississippi State Head Men's Coach;
New Mexico State University Head Coach from 2017 to 2022;
4x WAC Regular Season Champions;
3x WAC Tournament Champions;
3x Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Coach of the Year (2018-2020);
Bowling Green Head Coach from 2014 to 2015;
Wichita State Assistant from 2015 to 2017;
Illinois State Assistant from 2004 to 2007;
Chipola College Head Coach from 2003 to 2004;
2004 Panhandle Regular Season Champions;
Howard College Head Coach from 2001 to 2003;
Idaho Assistant Coach from 1999 to 2001;
Independence Community College Head Coach from 1998 to 1999;
Kirkwood Community College from 1996 to 1998;
1998 NJCAA D-II National Champions;
1998 NJCAA D-II Coach of the Year;
2x ICCAC Regular Season Champions (1997, 1998);
Played college basketball for Loras College

Coaches are always looking for new and dynamic strategies for attacking zone defenses. In this instructional video, Chris Jans provides a blueprint for any coach looking to create a more efficient and high-scoring attack when facing a zone defense.

During his tenure as a college basketball coach, Coach Jans has earned the reputation of being one of the great tacticians in the game today. In this must-watch video, the coach opens up his zone playbook to unveil some of his best, most-explosive scoring plays.

5-Out Vs Zone Defense

Coach Jans opens the video showing you his 5-out alignment, explaining the many ways that this set up automatically stresses the zone by creating space for defenders to guard. 

Coach Jans also shows how you can easily incorporate motion offense into this zone concept by stressing more slip-and-fade actions. His emphasis on attacking the nail gets the defense to collapse and creates one-on-one situations against the zone. 

After the initial actions, Coach Jans introduces you to his ‘Slice Action.’ On the slice action, players attempt to catch while going downhill. By utilizing this instruction, players can get deeper and more effective penetration against the zone.

Alignments, Entries & Sets

After the base offense is introduced, Coach Jans takes you through several of his most-effective alignments.

‘Stacks’ is an alignment in which the nail is stacked with two players while two other players are filling the corners. Coach Jans then gives you an alignment he calls, ‘Bounce,’ which incorporates a side ball-screen into the zone concept.

Regardless of the alignment, the formations are designed to stress the zone while at the same time utilizing the same actions that you are also constantly teaching in your regular offense.

Coach Jans then proceeds to open up his playbook by going through sets he runs.  Set No. 1 is designed to create a wide-open corner 3-point shot vs any zone. It is a simple, yet highly effective play. Set No. 2 is a counter to Set No.1 and creates a lob at the rim by wrinkling the action off the top of the key. 

Coach Jans then demonstrates how to adjust these sets once teams start taking away the initial actions – this is a layered approach to the offensive concept that is sure to keep your opponent’s guessing!

Coach Rating: ‘Coach Jans is an excellent coach who has created winners wherever he has been. This video shares his strengths as an innovative, offensive coach.’

69 minutes. 2023.