<p>Went to a basketball game yesterday (Davidson vs. Morehead State). Good game.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> So, of course, I'm still searching for my new stat and noticed that Davidson&rsquo;s great Coach McKillop called for a zone defense about three times, and each time his team was backsliding (i.e., not scoring and therefore it was imperative that Morehead didn't score either).<br /> <br /> I also noticed that each time the zone was in effect, Morehead players generally, if not at all times, took low-percentage 3s because the lane was blocked.</p>
<p>So the possible new stat is the Z-score, which is calculated as:</p>
<p>Points behind at the beginning of the zone + points scored against the zone &ndash; points scored at the other end of the court = net gain in opportunity points.</p>
<p>Let&rsquo;s say Davidson is down 10, and Morehead shoots 3 3-pointers over the zone and misses (that&rsquo;s -9), so the deficit could have been 19 (make all shots and assume Davidson doesn&rsquo;t score on the next three possessions).</p>
<p>Davidson gets all three rebounds (as the offensive team rarely gets a rebound against a zone). Davidson then converts, say 1 3-pointer and 2 2-pointers for a Z-score of a net gain of 7, and the team is now down only 3.</p>
<p>10 + 0 &ndash; 7 = 3.</p>
<p>Having seen the effectiveness of the zone, I don&rsquo;t know why Coach McKillop didn&rsquo;t use it more often, in fact, for the entire game, as the Morehead players only made 3s with clean open looks (a catch and shoot situation; add the dribble, though, and the player wanted to pass, and then unable to do so missed the 3). The zone took away the passing lanes inside, so under clock pressure, the player forced up a 3, which is the purpose of the zone (forced shots).</p>
<p>The major flaw in the Z-score is the current speed of the players, the quick outlet pass, and then it&rsquo;s a sprinting race to a layup. When a team sees the other team trying to set the zone, the obvious response is to run like hell up and down the court, which I view as &ldquo;street ball&rdquo; (NBA).</p>
<p>Still need to find that new stat.</p>
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