Youth Zone Defense play
Youth Zone: Overload and the Short Corner
- Court
- Half court
- Length
- 11 steps
About this play
For ages 12 and up, after the man-to-man series. The overload: the offense puts four players on one side (slot, wing, corner, short corner) with a fifth at the high post, so the zone has three defenders for four players. This play runs the ball through all four spots and then skips it out of the overload, and shows how the zone answers each: the forward follows the ball to the short corner, X5 fills the block he left, the weak forward slides to the rim, the nail guard fronts the high post, and when the ball goes back out the forward goes back down. Why the zone can be outnumbered on one side and still win: the short corner catch is a catch with the player's back to the basket, surrounded by the baseline, the forward, and X5, so the zone concedes the catch and takes away everything after it. Where the advantage lies: the overload leaves the other side empty, so the skip pass out of it is long and the forward on that side is already there. Common youth mistakes: the forward losing the short corner behind him, X5 not filling the block, and the weak forward wandering to the ball side so the skip is an open three. Nearly all of the short corner coverage here is Al Marshall's, from his Breakthrough Basketball clinic and Coach's Clipboard's write-up of his aggressive 2-3; read them if you want his whole zone.
