This is a gambling zone defense that will help you get some steals and fast breaks. I had previously stated that, "It would not be wise to structure your team's entire half-court defense based on the Amoeba. Rather, use it as something disruptive, that you can throw in at various times in a game to confuse the opponent, and force some turnovers. In fact, I believe that Coach Tarkanian played man-to-man defense, and the Amoeba."
Coach Ryan McCarthy, University of Alaska-Anchorage Women's Head Coach, has expanded Tark's original Amoeba defense. He calls it the The "Mayhem" Amoeba-Style Defense. Coach McCarthy has improved the blueprint created by Coach Tarkanian to create a version of the defense that can be sustained through an entire game. This defensive style combines both pressure man-to-man and zone principles to be as disruptive as possible.
This page describes the basic rules of Coach Tarkanian's original Amoeba defense. To learn more about the Mayhem version of the Amoeba, get the DVD "The Mayhem Amoeba-Style Defense".
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