Susceptible Shortcoming To A Special, Stifling Zone By Dan Greene

In “How Duke Transformed its Defense from a Susceptible Shortcoming to a Special, Stifling Zone” by Dan Greene, the author outlines the sudden transformation of Duke University’s Men Basketball team from a horrible defensive squad into one that is hard to score on. Offensively, Duke is loaded with talent and has many players who are capable of scoring the basketball. However, Defense has been a struggle for Duke this season, causing them to lose crucial games. The author summarizes Duke’s transformation by explaining the influences, advantages, and statistics of the zone defense. Duke has not always run zone defense. In fact, the author states that Duke is instead known for its man-to-man style of defense. However, many factors influenced Duke to make this switch from “Man D” into a zone. For example, Greene believes that Coach Krzyzewski, Duke’s head coach, learned this style of play from Coach Boeheim. Boeheim is the head coach of Syracuse’s Men’s Basketball Team and has coached the U.S national team since 2006, alongside Coach Krzyzewski, or Coach K for short. The author also states that another influence could be Duke’s previous 2014-2015 NCAA Championship-winning team. Like the earlier team, Duke’s current roster is filled with inexperienced, yet talented freshman. According to Greene, this lack of experience and maturity causes

Greene mentions that Duke has great length while on the court. According to the Greene, their big men range from 6’10 to 7 feet tall and have incredible wingspans, while their guards are unbelievably quick, long, and tall, ranging from 6’3 to 6’6 feet tall. These physical builds help Duke tremendously, because of how much space Duke can occupy on the court. Another advantage is that the zone helps the players’ awareness and communication. The author states that the players have noticed improvements in their areas of speaking on the court and watching for the opposing team’s