2-2-1 Zone Press

Nolan Richardson was the originator of "40 Minutes of Hell." A style of play that led his Arkansas Razorbacks to the National Championship in 1994. Coach Richardson is one of my favorite basketball coaches; everything he does is in the best interest of his players. He has fought for civil rights his entire life, played for hall of fame coach Don Haskins at Texas Western (Watch Glory Road), stood up for his beliefs, and yet was given the pink slip and asked to get out of town down in Fayetteville. Was Nolan the next Dr. King? No...he's a basketball coach (currently w/ WNBA Tulsa Shock), but he is a man of great character, high morals, and he values integrity. One of the things I say before each practice is a quote from Coach Richardson..."If it is to be, it's up to me." How intense is that simple message? I was asked to give my thoughts on the 2-2-1. The first coach that came to my mind was Coach Richardson. He used the 2-2-1 frequently throughout the 90's as a part of his "40 Minutes of Hell."

What I love about the 2-2-1 is that it is such a versatile press. It can be an aggressive back court trapping press, or at the other end of the spectrum it can be a soft containing press used to control tempo. My teams have used it mostly for the latter. Against teams that have good guards and love to push the basketball you can slow them down with a "soft" 2-2-1 by taking out the traps; you can change their tempo and get them uncomfortable and anxious when they reach the front court. The result is typically bad shots or quick shots. Against average or below average teams, or even teams that like to play slow, you can put the traps in and get them playing at a tempo that is much faster than what they prefer. Either way, you can begin to see how effective the 2-2-1 zone press can become when used the correct way.

There are three basic areas that we have trapped in the 2-2-1. We call these areas 1,2, and 3. Area 1 is the alley in the back court from the free throw line extended all the way to the timeline. Area 2 is the 8 foot box just over the timeline; in the front court and located in either alley. Area 3 is also in the front court, this trapping area is when the ball is passed out of area 2 and up the sideline to the wing (free throw line extended area). This is a great trap if you want to continue to speed up the offense and get them to play out of their comfort zone. We use the term "soft" anytime we want to take out our traps. This is all fake and recover, creating the illusion of traps, but never actually trapping anyone. This is strictly used to control the speed of the game.

Generally, we only trap area 2, but we will sometimes trap area 3 as well. We position our front line players on the elbows. The second line is positioned where the curbs meet the timeline. Our protector is all the way back near the top of the key area. When the ball is entered it is important that pressure is immediately put on the basketball. We tell our kids to split the inside leg so that we can influence the ball handler to bounce it up the sideline in the alley. This will lead them into trapping area 1 or 2 depending on what you want to do. The weak side front line player has to sprint to the middle of the floor onto the street. They will get into a position ahead of the ball and take away any player flashing to the short middle. If the ball were reversed; the short middle must remain on the street until her partner from the front line can get there to bump her out. On the bump they have now switched roles. (Keep the ball off the street)

The ball side second line player steps out into the passing lane up the sideline. We must prevent a direct pass up the sideline, they can throw a slow lob over us but never a direct pass. As the ball gets closer to the timeline we tell our second line player to play a game of cat and mouse. They are trying to lure the ball handler to dribble the ball over the timeline and into trapping area 2. They do this by faking at the ball and then retreating backward across the timeline attempting to get them to dribble it into area 2. They will close the trap with the front line player if the player enters area 2 with the dribble. The weak side second line player moves onto the street, but covers the deep middle, which is 18 feet behind our short middle player. Our protector always moves to the ball side alley. They step into the alley with both feet and anticipate the long pass up the sideline; ready to step out and steal. If we were trapping area 3 and they cannot get the steal they would close this trap by splitting the feet (putting their top foot between the offensive players feet) to give them a half step head start to shutting down the baseline drive. If the pass was made from the back court the trap is closed with the second line player. If the pass was made from the front court it is closed with the front line player. Momentum doesn't allow the 2nd line player to trap area 3 if it is passed out of area 2.

When area 3 is trapped the deep middle moves to cover the ball side block, while the short middle moves into the high post area. The player in the area 2 trap that doesn't leave to trap area 3 stays on the sideline to take away the pass back toward the timeline. If the ball is dribbled or passed out of area 3 we are now scrambling to match up and find a player to guard.

Yours in Hoops,
Josh Williams
Head Girls Basketball Coach
Clinton High School