Finally, Something Different

I like it, even if it is a zone

So it only took me two full college basketball seasons to find a program which is playing a different style of basketball, at least on defense, than everyone else.

On my last day of getting out to see college basketball games before going back to my real job as a professional baseball scout, I ventured to Andover, Mass. to see Merrimack play.

I was not disappointed.

I had heard that the Warriors, under head coach Joe Gallo, were having a ton of success playing a funky zone, so, even though I am not a zone guy, I was curious, especially with my concern that basketball at the highest levels has become too homogeneous.

Merrimack’s different approach was obvious right away, as four of the Warrior defenders were stretched out above the three-point line, leaving just one defender standing alone at the top of the charge circle, protecting the basket.

My initial impression was there was no way this could work. I had seen zone defenses, like the one Syracuse used for years under Jim Boeheim, with defenders spread out around the 3-point line, but never this high, and never without significant height, especially on the back end.

It really defies the old school defensive maxim: “stay between your man and the basket.”

It just so happened that a couple of current Brown University players I knew were at the game, so I rushed up to them to ask them their thoughts. They agreed with me that it appeared this zone would be vulnerable inside and anywhere on the baseline, as well as susceptible to being crushed on the offensive glass.

But the defense worked, for the most part, on this day, against Iona in the Warriors’ 88-86, double overtime victory, as it has for most of Gallo’s tenure at Merrimack. Indeed, the Warriors came into this game ranked 15th in the nation in scoring defense (64.2 points per game), seventh in steals per game (9.5), 15th in turnovers forced (15.1), 42nd in field goal percentage defense (41.3) and 45th in 3-point field goal percentage defense (30.9).

Using this defense exclusively, Gallo has built a top program at Merrimack in his 10 years there, going 83-35 in conference play since taking the school from Division II to Division I in 2019, including a 15-2 record and a first-place finish in the MAAC this season.

Great, so how do they do it?

Well, the more I watched, the more I saw how this defense makes offenses uncomfortable. Even Iona, which was seeing Merrimack for the second time this season, and had dealt the Warriors one of their two conference losses, rarely looked at ease in how it attacked this zone.

Even when Iona was able to advance the ball behind the initial fence of four (which is what it looks like at times) getting off quality shots was not easy. Merrimack was able to collapse so quickly on the ball and disrupt whatever sequence followed, basically manning up at times. I concluded that offensive players are just not used to having defenders coming up from behind them so often, even though, duh, what we coaches usually want our offensive players to do is to get by their defenders.

The Merrimack zone is, basically, an extended 2-3, so it was not surprising that Iona usually tried getting the ball to a player at the foul line, who then could face the basket and look for a teammate in the low post. But Iona had a surprisingly hard time passing the ball to the foul line player, even though he often appeared open, and then even a harder time dumping it to the low post, as a Merrimack wing defender would quickly collapse down on him.

Ah, but Iona’s frontline, while equipped with decent size, simply isn’t that skilled or talented, I thought, as I watched. You would think quality high- and low-post players would eat this defense alive. So, I looked it up. True. Perhaps. Auburn beat Merrimack, 95-57, in the Warriors second game of the season, and Florida, with maybe the best and tallest front-court in college basketball, downed the Warriors, 90-45, in November.

But, come on. We’re talking about the defending national champions against a team which just moved up to Division I several years ago. Would not the Gators have destroyed Merrimack no matter what defense the Warriors were employing?

But watching a single game and looking at scores of other games were not going to tell me much. What really convinced me that Merrimack is on to something here were my talks with the opposing coaches, as well as a Warrior player, after the game.

Iona head coach Dan Geriot appears to be big believer in what Gallo does, especially since he can’t quite solve it.

“They’re just in it all the time,’’ said Geriot. “I played a very similar style in college in a match-up zone at Richmond. Theirs is different than ours. Ours is more man-to-man kind of based. Theirs is more match-up based.

“A lot of times against zone you stop driving the basketball, and I felt we did that a little bit. They make you uncomfortable. They’re handsy. They’ve got great wing defenders. A lot of great bumps in their zone. Deflections are pretty high when you play them. You just have to continue to be a good decision-maker when you get in the paint. And that’s what they kind of bet on.”

The fact the Gallo employs this defense all the time, is one of the reasons I respect it. I can’t tell you how many times I have seen coaches at all levels change their schemes and philosophies from one game - or a portion of one game - to the next, grasping at straws, trying to find something that works. Rather than believing in a system, installing that system over time, and teaching its principles over and over.

“It’s very repetitive,’’ said Gallo, who actually goes a little Hoosiers in his approach to the first days of practice. “The first five, six days we don’t even shoot a ball at the rim. It’s just getting the slides. Almost creating robotic movements early, and then once they get it then they have the ability to kind of go on their own a little bit and make some plays at the ball. Everyone says make chaos, but it’s more organized chaos.’’

Gallo said the origin of the zone came from his days as an assistant at Robert Morris, with some early influence from the Syracuse zone.

“We played it a little different there,’’ said Gallo. “We weren’t as long, so we kind of pressured the ball and ran shooters off the line. It’s kind of taken on a life of its own from there. It’s way different now than it was 12 years ago. People are doing different things. We’re in zone. Then all of a sudden we’re in man. Then when the ball comes out we’re back in zone.’’

So much of what makes it work is that it is different, as it forces opposing offenses to attack in ways they are not used to, especially since so many feature guards who dominate the ball and are used to getting downhill off of high ball screens.

But it’s not just that.

Gallo said the defense relies on a tenet that is one of the major reasons I believe in teaching man-to-man defense: accountability.

“The accountability is huge,’’ said Gallo. “I think that even when other people try to play it they don’t know it enough to say, ‘That was that guy’s fault. That was this guy’s fault.’ We have post-game reports that has every action a team runs against us, how they scored, and whose fault it was.’’

Which brings up a couple of other reasons I like what Gallo does. This defense does not work because it’s a gimmick. It works because it relies on a high level of physical and mental effort from its players, as well as great communication. The players constantly need to talk to each other and tell each other how the opposing team is set up and how they are attempting to attack the zone, so that they can all react accordingly, as one.

I knew when Gallo was berating his players “I don’t HEAR anything” during a first-half timeout that I was in.

Indeed, Gallo made a great impression on me, both in how he coached during the game - he appears to have a fine grasp on the offensive side of the ball as well - and after. Turns out his name is one of the hottest ones in the rumor mill when it comes to possibly taking over a higher level college program, including both Boston College and Providence.

And coaches at all levels have taken note, and have come to practice to take notes, on what he is doing, even NBA guys.

But it was really interesting to hear what one Merrimack player, center Todd Brogna, had to say about the Merrimack system, especially since he plays the key position, the bottom defender, the one who has to do most of the communicating and is usually the last line of defense in protecting the basket.

Brogna said he had never played zone before coming to Merrimack, and that he actually has to play harder in this zone than he ever did playing man.

“It’s even more effort than man,’’ said Brogna. “We’re flying. Every pass you’re sprinting down to the spot where you need to be. You can kind of take a break sometimes in man defense, but never here.’’

When I asked the 6-7 Brogna if the defense can work against top notch front lines with 7-footers, he said he thinks it can. He said that he and his teammates really didn’t have the defense down when they faced Florida and Auburn at the start of the season. and he wants another crack at them.

“We were just a step or two slow when we played Florida,’’ said Brogna, noting that the key against size and teams that throw over the top of the zone is just reacting to the basket quicker. “We are getting down quicker now.

“Florida was tough, but we are so much better than we were when we played Florida. I think if we played them again we would give them more of a run for their money.’’

Brogna might just get that chance if Merrimack can win its conference tourney in a couple of weeks and advance to the Division I NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history.

I will be rooting for them, even if they are a zone team.