Universal Zone Offense: Take Down Any Zone Defense!

with David Hixon,
Amherst College Head Coach for 42 years - from 1977 to 2019;
2023 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductee;
2x Division III NCAA National Champions;
2003 New England Basketball Hall of Fame inductee (was elected to the NE Hall of Fame the same year as his father, a legendary HS basketball coach);
20x NCAA Tournament appearances;
8x NESCAC titles;
2x NABC National Coach of the Year;
4x NABC Northeast Region Coach of the Year;
over 800 career wins, third D-III coach in NCAA history to reach 800 wins

With over 40 years of coaching experience and more than 800 career wins, David Hixon established himself as one of the greatest coaches to ever coach D-III Basketball. Hixon guided the Mammoths to 20 NCAA Tournament appearances, seven Final Four appearances, and won two National Championships.

Over the years, Coach Hixon has seen many teams install zone defenses to limit opponents from scoring around the rim and disrupt the flow of an offense. In this video, you'll get the basic understanding of how Hixon teaches zone offense that builds into a more complex continuity style of play against a zone.

Basic Offense

As Hixon teaches, you can run a simple offense that looks to stretch the zone from one sideline to the other and from the baseline to half court. This creates lots of ground to cover for the defense. In "1", Coach Hixon explains that the goal is to have an odd front against a 2-3 zone. By moving the ball from side to side and having your post players run along the baseline, you can create scoring opportunities at the high post and for your best shooter as your players look to skip the ball.

In "4", Hixon demonstrates how to use an even front against a 1-3-1 or 1-2-2 zone. In this setup, your post players can be utilized in many different ways: screen the zone, post-up, stretch the zone, or as a distributor. By getting the ball to the short corner, you can create mismatches against the zone.

Continuity Offense - Cutters

For Coach Hixon's "Cutters" offense, you'll turn what is a simple and predictable offense into one that breeds unpredictability and mismatches. This offense will help you score against a match-up zone and create shots off of screens. This can only happen by sending your guards through the zone, underneath the bottom layer of the zone, to stretch it out. This action creates maximum stress on the defense because they won't know which way your player will cut through.

Rounding out Hixon's zone offense approach are set plays that will give you quick buckets out of a timeout. Using a ball screen against the top of the zone, your players can create a misdirection and mismatch against an even or odd front. Players start to read the defense and what gaps they can get into as the ball is swung around the perimeter of the zone.

Coach Hixon's experience is on display in this great video on zone offense. For any team that regularly encounters zone defenses during the season, this will serve as a valuable resource in making sure zones don't slow your offense down!

65 minutes. 2020.