Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard knows well the perils of the vaunted Syracuse 2-3 zone. In three seasons as coach of the Pirates, he is 1-5 against the Orange, including a pair of losses this season. Willard explained the challenge of trying to handle coach Jim Boeheim’s defense.
Q: What makes it so difficult to attack?
A: I don't know if you have enough paper (to explain it), to be honest with you. I think what really makes it hard, especially for teams who haven't seen them a lot, is their length up top and their length on the wings. It really is. If you haven't seen it and haven't gone against it, it's not typical because they're so long, and it's so hard to make simple, crisp passes like everyone else does against a 2-3 zone.
Q: How much does it change game to game?
A: I've played six, seven times now, it doesn't change. I think they do a very good job of making adjustments during the game. But I think they play it the way they want to play it, and they really stretch you on the wings, and the two guards up top do as good a job as any of making ball screens against a zone almost obsolete.
Q: What is it vulnerable to?
A: If you can get the ball to the high post consistently, not just once or every seven times down, if you can get it there four or five times in there, I think that's where they become vulnerable. And you've got to — I know this sounds stupid — but you've got to make some tough 3's. If you don't make two or three 24-, 25-footers to open them up so you can get the ball into the middle, good luck to you.
Q: Do any one or two guys make it work?
A: I think that's what's so impressive about what coach Boeheim has done year in and year out. Some of the pieces change, but the zone has stayed the way he teaches it and the way he recruits for it. I think they work so well as a group.
Q: Could they be effective playing man-to-man?
A: I can't remember the last time they played man-to-man. If they had to, if they wanted to go (to the man-to-man) and had to, they have the athletes and the personnel to do it, but, man, that thing is so good. There's no need for it. But they have the personnel, and their zone has a lot of man-to-man principles in it.
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