Digital Playbook: 1-3-1 Zone

The 1-3-1 half court zone defense is a great way to disrupt opposing offenses. It can be utilized effectively as our base defense or for special situations.

Benefits of the 1-3-1 Zone:

Teams have to prepare for us. The majority of coaches spend most of their time in practice working against or on man-to-man defense. Although the use of zone defense has become more popular in recent years, man-to-man is still the most common defense teams face. Even if you do see a lot of zone teams, they more commonly play variations of the 2-3 or 3-2 zone. The 1-3-1 half court zone is a defensive look that teams do not have to see on a regular basis. Because of their unfamiliarity playing against the 1-3-1, our opponents must spend a considerable amount of time preparing to face us, while limiting the amount of work they can delegate to other facets of the game.
There are few ways to attack the 1-3-1 zone. There are two major reasons why there are a limited number of ways to attack the 1-3-1. There are only so many variables when it comes to defensive rotations and since teams don't play against it frequently, a lot less time is spent figuring how to break it. Since there are a lot less ways to attack the 1-3-1, we don't have to spend as much time prepping our defense from game to game, allowing us to focus on other parts of our game plan.
It makes it easy for our team to fill our fast break lanes and run in transition. The 1-3-1 allows us to get into our primary break lanes a lot quicker since we're already in set areas within our zone defense.
Rotations and alignment can be modified easily based on the strengths of our personnel or the scouting report of our opponent. There are many different alignments and adjustments to make to our 1-3-1 to get the most out of our defense. Different alignments and formations can be effective to maximize our strengths and hide our weaknesses. Changing the look of our 1-3-1 is even better for taking away the strengths and exploiting the weaknesses of our opponents. Several ideas for adjustments are detailed later.
The 1-3-1 zone works especially well against: teams that rely heavily on dibble penetration, teams that run a lot of different man-to-man offensive sets, teams that don't have a lot of time to prepare to play you, and teams that have one or two great individual players (flex or trap adjustments), and poor shooting teams.

Drawbacks of the 1-3-1 Zone:

Just like with any offensive or defensive strategy in basketball, there are several problems inherent with using the 1-3-1 half court zone. Some of the biggest issues are:

Defending great shooting teams, especially in the dead corner spots.
Rebounding.
Transitioning back on defense into our zone.
Complacency that playing zone defense often brings.

The aforementioned issues, although common, are addressed successfully through time spent at practice.

The Basic Alignment:

Head (H): The head is responsible for creating havoc at the top of the zone. H needs to disrupt the ball handler, take away ball reversals, and help protect the middle of the court. The head should be one of our longest, most athletic players since he is the most active in the zone.

Tail (T): The tail is the back end of the zone and is responsible for protecting the dead corners, the baseline and, at times, the strong-side blocks. This needs to be a quick player who effectively covers a lot of ground.

Wings (W): The ideal wing player is long and athletic. Wings need to be this way so they can take up a lot of ground and shrink the court. One of reasons certain college teams are so successful using the 1-3-1 is they recruit long and active players who flourish for them on defense. Wings need to be able to cover a lot of space, contest shots, and cover the weak side block.

The Basic Rotation:

Adjust the pick-up point of the ball based on our personnel, desired amount of ball pressure, or scouting reports.
We can apply as much, or as little, pressure in the back court as you'd like.

As the ball moves across half court, H and the strong side W are in a soft trap. The rules on the ball here are:
- Play a soft trap (two to three steps off the ball)
- Play on the outside shoulder of the ball handler, forcing him to the middle of the court (takes away sideline passes and penetration, which is key)
- Have active hands - make them lob the basketball or throw weak bounce passes (allows the defense to rotate more effectively). Don't allow them to make direct, straight line passes.
M is in a direct line between the ball and the basket, usually protecting the strong side elbow.
T protects the strong side block
The weak side W protects the weak side block
The rotation stays the same when the ball is brought by the offense up the other side of the floor.

In the event of a skip pass, H sprints to the top side of the ball.
The weak side W sprints to the baseline to protect the weak side block.
The new strong side W closes out to the basketball.
Remember these teaching points in this situation:
- Closeout an arms-length away and then take two to three steps off to fall into the soft trap.
- Don't run at a direct angle at the pass receiver. If this happens the player is not in position to protect the sideline. The angle of approach on the closeout is key - change the line of the sprint so the player is able to closeout on the outside shoulder of the offensive player with the ball.
M moves to the line of the ball and protects the strong side elbow.
T sprints to the strong side block
The tail needs to move on the airtime of the ball. A great term to use is "beat the pass to your spot." Instead of reacting and moving once the pass is received, players need to anticipate the catch and be in their proper spot by the time the receiver of the pass catches the basketball.

On wing to corner passes, the left W sprints to the outside shoulder of the corner player (soft trap rules).
T closes out to the ball and takes away the baseline at an arms-length away.
M covers the strong side block.
H sprints to protect the strong side high post.
Use the same rotations on both sides of the court. Use a soft trap in the corner and provide protection in the post to prevent the drive to the rim.

Two passes that are hard to complete and have to be taken away are the corner skip and the diagonal wing to corner pass.
These actions put a strain on the rotation of our defense so allowing them to occur is not an option.

If we allow a wing to corner skip pass, we have to rotate accordingly.
The weak side W needs to adjust his angle of approach and closeout to the baseline side of the pass receiver until the tail is able to recover.
Once the tail recovers, the wing adjusts positioning to the top part of the offensive player's outside shoulder.
H sprints to cover the strong side elbow while the weak side W sprints to protect the weak side block.
M sprints to protect the strong side block.

If we allow a corner to corner skip pass, we have to rotate accordingly.
Rotations on the corner to corner skip pass are very similar to the wing to corner diagonal skip pass.
This pass is rarely completed, especially if the tail and the weak side wing are in position and doing their jobs correctly.

Vs. Dribble Penetration:

If the ball is driven middle from the top, M is in charge of stopping the ball.
The ball side W and the H try to poke the ball away from behind as they converge on it.

If the ball is driven from the corner, middle protection is the same, except in this case the head is stopping the ball as he is protecting the elbow due to the rotations of the defense.
Baseline drives should not happen if the tail has the correct positioning. If that player gets beat, block protection is the second line of defense.

Rebounding in the 1-3-1 Zone:

One of the disadvantages of running the 1-3-1 half court zone is that often times teams have trouble rebounding out of it.
Practice rotation and rebounding out of the 1-3-1 on a consistent basis to make sure there is no confusion come game time.
If the ball is shot from the wing: M, T, and W box out their respective areas.
At the same time, H sprints to the weak side elbow, as that is where most offensive rebounds occur against the 1-3-1 zone.

If the ball is shot from the corner: H protects the opposite elbow.
The ball side W protects the ball side elbow
The weak side W, T, and M block out their respective areas.

Game Adjustments within the 1-3-1 Zone:

High Corner Hard Trap:

H and the ball side W trap the ball as soon as it crosses the half court line.
T takes away the sideline pass.
The weak side W takes away the skip pass.
M secures the middle outlet pass option.

Dead Corner Hard Trap:

As soon as the ball is passed to the dead corner, the ball side W and T trap it hard.
M plays the passing lanes between the high post elbow and the ball side block.
H plays the passing lanes between the middle and the sideline pass.
The weak side W takes away the skip pass option.

There are four key points our team must know when pursuing a successful trap:

We can trap both the top and the dead corner in a possession or just one or the other.
Trap with active hands and never let them rest at your side.
Don't bail out the offensive player being trapped by fouling him when you try to steal the ball. Most steals should come from picking off passes and pass deflections.
Don't cover the outlet passes straight up. Defenders looking to steal the pass should try to bait the ball handler into throwing the ball into the passing lane that they are patrolling. Be off the lane enough for the ball handler to think the pass is open but close enough where you can get there to intercept it. Be physically off the passing lane but mentally in it.

Flexing Back in the 1-3-1 Zone:

This adjustment is primarily used against teams that don't shoot very well, but also is utilized in a variety of ways based on the information derived from our scouting reports.
The "soft trap" becomes even softer as the defenders sag off the ball handler.
When the ball is at one of the top slots, the strong side W is positioning in line with the top of the key, or even one more step off.
He is at the help line.
All other defenders play the same positions.

If the ball is in the corner, T plays an arms-length away from the offensive player.
The ball side W is in line with the free throw line extended.
Everyone else plays regular rotations.

Individual Personnel Adjustments:

We can adjust our 1-3-1 half court zone based on scouting reports on individual players on the opposing team. Here are some thoughts on scouting adjustments:

Hard trap on a weak ball handler - regular defense or flex everything else.
Flex on everyone but regular defense on certain shooters.
Soft trap on the right side of the court and hard trap on the left side (if the team is loaded with players who generally struggle with their weak hands).
Trap a team's best player to get the ball out of their hand - regular rules on everyone else.
Flex towards a team's best player to deny them the ball.
Trap the best player and after the pass, flex back toward them.
There are many other adjustments we can make. We have the ability to be creative based on our personnel or the scouting reports we put together on our opponents.

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