HUNTINGTON -- Ready for a blast from the past?
Just try to answer this question.
When is the last time Marshall University’s basketball program played a zone defense?
It’s no coincidence that Danny D’Antoni has his hand raised. Besides installing a 2-3 zone recently, Marshall’s veteran head coach also was an assistant during the Thundering Herd’s memorable 1971-72 season.
And what sort of defense did that edition of the Herd play?
“A 1-2-2 zone,” answered D’Antoni with grin.
Cha-ching.
Now, is that the reason D’Antoni decided to give a 2-3 zone a try recently? Uh, no. But it didn’t hurt any.
The actual deciding factor was having a starting backcourt of 6-foot-3 Andrew Taylor and 6-5 Taevion Kinsey along with a back line of 6-10 Mike Beyers, 7-0 center Goran Miladinovic and 6-8 leaper Obinna Anochili-Killen.
That is a big, long zone anyway it is measured.
Just ask Rice University.
The Owls experienced it the “long” way during a hard-fought 87-77 win over Marshall Saturday night in the Cam Henderson Center. That means the Herd has to keep tinkering with the zone. But the ingredients appear to be there.
“Getting Goran back,” said D’Antoni, referring to the sophomore’s recent bout with COVID, “I think the zone even gets better because you're bigger. And the bigger, I think, in the zone and the longer you are, the better the zone is. I don't like playing zone with little guys. But with big guys you can play.
“Mike's year, for instance [younger brother Mike D'Antoni, who led Marshall to the 1972 NCAA Tournament], they played zone. But they had Mike at 6-3 as a point guard, which was then a big point guard, because he reached about 6-foot-11 [with his incredibly long arms].
"And you had Gary Orsini [an incredible leaper] at 6-4; Randy Noll at 6-8; Barry Driscoll, 6-7, big kid; Tyrone Collins, 6-3, who was like David Early -- real strong.”
That edition of the Herd compiled a 23-4 record in 1971-72, was ranked as high as No. 8 and received an at-large bid to the 1972 NCAA Tournament.
The experience with that team, coupled with the length of Marshall’s current squad, was enough motivation for D’Antoni to give the zone a try.
“I don't mind playing zones with big guys,” he said. “With Goran back, it will be better. Defensively, we can go back and forth as to whether we want to push down, switch on fives [centers], switch one through four.
“You know, we're trying to find what is the best fit for this team, not what we've done in the past, but what best fits this team. It's been difficult because there's a little positive and negative in everything we're doing.”
That was a metaphor for the entire game, as far as Marshall was concerned. As has been the habit, the Herd struggled mightily in the first half. But, again, Taevion Kinsey led a second-half surge by scoring a game-high 31 points.
With 12:06 remaining, Kinsey delivered an assist for a Killen layup. Next, Kinsey made a showtime behind-the-back pass to Darius George for a layup. Then, he hammered a rebound slam through the rim, followed by a short jumper.
That cut Rice’s lead to 58-56.
Yet Marshall never quite could get over the hump. MU would get within three points, but could get no closer.
The Herd just can’t seem to get “zoned in.”
