The other help pages provide general information for playing the game. To keep those pages simple and easily understandable, some detailed information was removed and is on this page. Note that this is not a comprehensive tutorial page; it merely gives some in-depth information that advanced coaches will find useful but that beginning coaches may find overwhelming (when added to everything else needed to play the game). Secondary Defenses Secondary defenses give you the ability to choose your defense based on what opposing players are on the court. Here is the decision-making process that determines which defense is used: If no secondary defense is defined, the primary defense is used. If a defensive key player is on the court, the primary defense is used. If you have set 1 or 2 defensive key players but none are on the court, the secondary defense is used. If one of your specified matchups is in use, the primary defense is used. If you have specificed matchups but none are in use, the secondary defense is used. Failing all of the above, the primary defense is used. As you can see, there are two ways of getting a primary/secondary choice made -- key players and matchups. Though there is some overlap, each has slightly different uses. Either way, your secondary defense should always be your general-use defense and your primary defense should be the one geared against the specific players in question. Opposing Key Players: This is the most common way to employ a secondary defense. You can select 1 or 2 players on the opposing team. If either is on the court you will use the primary defense; if not you use the secondary defense. The usual use is when the other team has 1 or 2 very dangerous players; you would select a primary defense designed to combat them (usually double-player or box-and-1). You need to take great care to ensure that those 1-2 players were the first matchups selected; otherwise a double-player would double-cover somebody else and leave the dangerous players guarded very lightly -- exactly the opposite of what you want! If your opponent has two star players at similar positions, you might opt to go with a different defense. For example, a C-PF tandem might be guarded adequtely well by a 3-2 or double-inside defense, saving you the need to employ the riskier double-man defense. Matchups: In certain (rare) situations you may feel the need to have more than two "key" opposing players. In that case, you could use the matchups to specify those players (and their defenders); the limitation is that you could not specify matchups on anyone else. One possible use of this would be if you noticed that the other team had three great outside shooters but didn't ensure that one was always on the court. In that case you could specify those three players in matchups, use a normal man or 3-2 zone as your primary defense, and use a double-inside or 2-3 zone as your secondary defense. Zone Defense Assignments 2-3: strongest inside. The center is under the hoop, with the forwards to his sides, while the guards are on the perimeter. This is the zone equivalent of a double-inside man defense. 2-1-2: strongest at medium-range. The center moves towards the free throw line, making the defense stronger against medium-range shots; other players are in their 2-3 assignments. This is the zone equivalent of a double-medium man defense. 3-2: strongest on the perimeter. The SF moves to the perimeter, with only the C and PF covering inside. This is the zone equivalent of a double-perimeter man defense. matchup zone: balanced defense. The matchup zone is a system that plays very much like man-to-man, except that the defenders more or less stay in their areas of the court. This is accomplished by matching up man-to-man initially and rotating assignments as the offensive players move so that the defenders don't move a whole lot. This is the zone equivalent of a straight man defense. box-and-1: guards one player. This defense takes the matchup in the matchup list as a man assignment, with the remaining four players playing a loose zone. This is the zone equivalent of a double-player man defense. The main advantage of zone is its ease of use. You can "hide" a bad defender without having to define all possible matchup combinations. However, man coverage gives you much more control, most notably the chance to double a specific player to shut him down and the chance to put a poor defender guarding a weak shooter.