1-4 Defense

[64Spider]

in last nights Duke/Kansas game the talking heads said that Duke was using their 1 - 4 zone. I have never heard of this but did see them once have one defender at the point and 4 men in a line about half way between the foul line and the basket. As soon as the ball moved it seemed to disintegrate into a useless confused mess. They couldn't guard the corners and if they did the middle was left open.
What was up with that? Was Coach K trying to introduce a whole new defensive strategy? Or were the announcers joking?

 

[Dre4three]

Not joking -- Duke's (porous) zone was attackable in ACC play with any team that had a skilled 3 guard that can get the ball at foul line and either attack, pass to wide open shooters in corners or make a 12 foot floater. I watched it a lot and was surprised at how good Duke's defensive efficiency numbers were because it looked terrible on tape. I hate Duke with the best of them but at least I could respect Duke's hard-nosed man defense. The zone attempt was really another sign of 1-and-done ruining Duke's identity. At least K gave it a shot but don't see zone being main defense next year.

 

[SpiderK]

Not joking -- Duke's (porous) zone was attackable in ACC play with any team that had a skilled 3 guard that can get the ball at foul line and either attack, pass to wide open shooters in corners or make a 12 foot floater. I watched it a lot and was surprised at how good Duke's defensive efficiency numbers were because it looked terrible on tape. I hate Duke with the best of them but at least I could respect Duke's hard-nosed man defense. The zone attempt was really another sign of 1-and-done ruining Duke's identity. At least K gave it a shot but don't see zone being main defense next year.

They did have two NBA bound rim protectors to erase some of the mistakes they made in the zone.