Cal is too bullheaded to change the number one defense? Why, to make it the number one and two defense? I deleted most of the stupid parts of your post, but I left the important part. Cal is not the one who is bullheaded.
Well with this team I would not advocate alot of zone but playing zone for a few plays here or there just to mix up the team and give them something to thing about. But in general you don't need a zone to protect a player etc so I say stick to man.
We'd have beaten UCONN last year if we could have kept their guards out of the paint.
Not many teams play just one style of defense all year long so not sure what you even mean. These players have been playing basketball most of their lives and are familiar with various different styles of defense. I hardly doubt Cal would get a deer in headlights look from his players if he talked with them in practice about a 2-3, 1-2-2, or matchup zone. This is not splitting the atom and not that difficult to understand or implement.
A well-executed zone, yes. But what if that's not the case? Syracuse spends a lot of time practicing the zone. I imagine Pitino spends a lot of time practicing the various zone defenses UL uses (he certainly spends little enough time practicing offense!). There are other adjustments, while staying in man to man, that can help stop getting beat at the rim. If a team does not practice zone, then it's possible (if not likely) that an adjustment within the man to man is better than going zone even though zone is, in principle, superior for the situation. Practice time (and let's face it - with Cal the regular season games are often practice) is a scarce and valuable commodity. On the whole, it might not be the best use of that time to incorporate zone because time spent on it comes at a cost. Same argument for why Cal doesn't have his players shoot FTs in practice - the payout is not worth the price. I don't know that is the case, but it's far more complicated than just identifying the best type of defense for the situation.
This.
I didn't say change the number one defense. What he is doing works 90% + of the time. There are time however that the team is getting burned. They almost got beat a few times and were just extremely lucky they didn't. The question is...can something else be better in a certain situations? The obviuos answer by anyone that know basketball is yes.
