[A Pennsylvania Coach]

After coaching for 11 years, I may have some insight on this one, that others of you who have played or coached quite a bit may share.

Man-to-man doesn't mean that each defender follows their assigned offensive player around the court. Depending on the location of the player with the ball and the location of the player being guarded, a defender might be as far as 25-28 feet away from the player being guarded.

The basic man-to-man that I've always taught uses a ball/deny/help system on the perimeter. Player whose man has the ball is in "ball", and specific rules apply. Player whose man is one pass off the ball is in "deny" and other rules apply. Last, a player whose man is more than one pass off the ball is in "help". When in help, with the ball above the foul line (like OPs example), that defender shall have one foot in the lane, opened up to the man with the ball and his man so he can see both. This may require him to be several steps out of the line of the ball (line connecting the man with the ball to the man he is guarding). When the ball goes below the foul line, a "help" defender needs to go all the way to the helpline, which is an imaginary line bisecting the court lengthwise under both hoops.

So a help defender of the first variety could be about 18-22 feet away from the player being guarded, and up to 25-28 in the second instance, while still playing man-to-man.

If the protesting coach wants to determine or demonstrate if the defense is playing a zone, he should have a player or players off the ball cut through from one side to the other. If one defender shifts due to the cut, that's a man-to-man defense. If more than one defender shifts due to the cut, that's a zone.