Judah has zone experience from his time at Oak Hill, and it appears he’s good at taking away passing lanes and anticipating the offense. He has an instinct for it. If he closes out 3s faster than a light jog like we saw last year at Cuse, he will be a welcome addition to the zone. Add Benny getting starter minutes, and some athletic freshman getting spot minutes (or perhaps starter minutes for some), and the zone will look refreshed.
Hopefully JB switches up the defenses mid-game when something isn’t working. I would like to think he walked away from the Duke game realizing switching the defenses during the game worked great and kept them in a mismatched game, but I won’t assume so. That game was the best coached game of the year in my opinion, and worked against a fellow HOFer, so he could out-coach many other teams with those principles next year. Indiana game too (1-1-3 zone) - and both had in common adapting the defense to the other team’s offensive strengths. It will be very tough to game plan for Cuse in short weeks with a few days between games if you don’t know what defense to expect and if you have to teach your young guys multiple different attacking strategies.
Also note that the players barely practiced the other defenses last year. With practice, next year’s team could be a really stingy defense mixing 2-3, 1-1-3, triangle and two, and a bit of man.
The triangle and two hybrid might be utilized against these good-shooting teams next year. No open guard threes. That would make a world of difference in today’s game. Contested 3s and having to deal with Jesse inside with Benny helping - You’d love to see it.
There will be growing pains, but this could be a team that starts cooking with gas near the end of the season, and presents a big problem for unfamiliar teams in the tournament.
