Chapter 1 - The Case For The Defense

A goodly share of the credit for a good defense can be traced to the mental attitude of the team's players. Their defensive attitude should be aggressive. Too many athletes get the idea that defense is passive. Passivity creates negative actions. Aggressiveness is positive. The top defenders are all aggressive minded and aggressive acting athletes. Even while defending a goal, the players should all be inspired to think and act like attackers.

Where does the offensive attack begin? It starts on the opponent's end of the floor when ball possession is gained. The outstanding defensive basketball player really believes he can jam the ball down the throat of the man he is guarding. He believes he can "shut him out" that particular evening. He knows that the real fun of basketball—the real sense of satisfaction—is in observing the frustrations of a top scorer he has just stymied for the evening. The great defensive performer is ready to start guarding his man when he comes out of his dressing room and will guard him if he goes into the balcony and until the final whistle. He is ready to "hook up with" him, to "marry" him for that 32 or 40 minutes of action. The opponent should go home with the vague feeling that a "leech" or giant octopus has attacked him. He should have nightmares dreaming about the aggressive tactics he has been made to submit to, by a wild man who wouldn't give him one minute of peace.

All our recent great teams have been good defensive clubs. California won the N.C.A.A. championship one year and went to the finals the next year. They lost in the finals the second year because their opponents played great defense even though their reputation was obtained by offense.

Many of the top teams such as West Virginia have developed great reputations for their offensive play, but they readily admit that they win many games with defense. The public wants 100 points a night and some coaches have decided to give them what they want. In the meantime, they are very careful to develop a sound defense to keep their opponents from scoring 100, too. Coach John Mc-Lendon of Tennessee A. & I. told me that their defense never received the credit it deserved. A. & I. won three straight N.A.I.A. national championships, running up big scores. The casual observer did not take note of the fact that their opponents usually scored in the sixties. When 100 points are scored, the opponent gets ball possession many times if only after a basket is scored. To hold them to a score in the sixties requires great defense. Usually, too, the team that scores 100 points fast-breaks at a great rate of speed. To return to defense at the same speed requires much more effort than it does for the team that does not fast-break.

The big basketball upsets are nearly always provided by defensive basketball teams. The great scorer left unattended will humiliate mediocre teams with mediocre talent. These same mediocre teams and players can cause some great offensive teams many moments of anguish. Check the scores of all the major upsets that occur in basketball during one season of play. You will find that nine-tenths of them are brought about by an outstanding job of individual and team defensive play.

The current basketball trend is toward defense. I will not say back to defense for I feel that defense was never played any better than at present. Actually, defense is almost new in scope. Never in the history of the game has defense been played as it is currently played by top teams. It has never received the attention—it has never been played individually and collectively as modern teams are playing it. Some contemporary coaches who have been active for years, such as Hank Iba and Adolph Rupp, have always played good defense. As a matter of fact, they have almost had a corner on the market because for many years no one challenged them defensively.

No team has a corner on the defensive game today; all good squads are playing it more efficiently each year. The trend is toward defense because it is absolutely necessary to spend a lot of time preparing a way to stop modern offensive formations and patterns. The bulk of attention was given to offense for so long that it developed far ahead of the defense. Scores became higher and higher. Finally, someone decided that offense had about reached its saturation point, and started devising a way to slow the offense down. Coaches were discovering something that the all-time great coaches had always known and always practiced.

The trend is to defense for it combines so well with the tried-and-true aspect of rebounding. The merits of rebounding, for some unknown reason, were recognized by the majority of coaches long before defense received its true status. The rebound is achieved primarily by good position. Good defense requires good position; therefore, it combines well with the rebound game. Rebounding and defense have one vital, common element: both require considerable courage to rise above average ability. If the coach does a good job of teaching defense, his rebound game should also be good with a minimum amount of effort. The two go together, like ham and eggs.

There was a time in the game of football when all you needed was a 6-2-2-1 defense and a 5-3-2-1 for pass defense and you were in business. The football people found out long ago that they had to be more versatile. It is not uncommon for a good football team to run 8 or 10 defenses today. Only recently have basketball people begun to realize the same thing is true in our sport.

For many years we were man-for-man or zone coaches. The man-for-man was strictly a one-on-one proposition, and if a player could not whip his man, he came out of the game. If we used the zone, it was in all probability a 2-3 or a 2-1-2 and allowed the outside shot—but no pivot play or drives. Those days are gone forever. The team that utilizes only one defense year after year must have superior personnel year after year, enough raw power to out-man their opponents. If manpower is equal or nearly so, the team that mixes its defense will have the edge over one that does not. To use the same defense all the time and actually tell your opponent what defense you will use is a tremendous aid to him. He can spend all of his offensive time working against your defense and he is therefore able to specialize in stopping your offense. At that stage you will find your offense working less effectively each year.

The basketball team that utilizes several different defenses undermines its opponents' confidence. They have worked against one type of zone and one type of man-for-man, but if you are known as a versatile defensive team, can they be really sure you won't use something entirely different? This causes them to be unsure. Lack of confidence breeds inefficiency in any physical skill.

It seems obvious that the good basketball team will need at least one type of zone and one type of man-for-man. These two can be adjusted or flexed into alternating defenses—concealed defenses with various amounts of pressure put on the offense at strategic times during the game. It is highly probable that the use of too any defenses will result in all of them being poorly executed. If this is the case, cut out everything until you can run one defense well. When it is mastered, add another one as soon as possible. It is most obvious that one defense executed confidently and strongly is better than five weak, ineffectual ones.

Defense is the greatest morale builder in the game. A strong defense gives a team a confidence—an individual and team faith that no other phase of the game can give. Rebounding effectiveness also brings about confidence (especially to the shooters), but it doesn't require the team work and sacrificial hard work that team defense requires.

Coaches lecture on team morale and its value many times during each season. If they would take the time to build a good defense they would see team pride in operation. Team defense requires everyone to pull together. This, in turn, causes a feeling of unity, a feeling of belonging that offense can never give. A spectacular shot lifts and buoys the spirits of a team especially if it is during a crucial time when two points are badly needed. A spectacular shot does not require an important ingredient—guts. Defensive play does require this quality. For this reason a great defensive play will lift a team to the heights of great and unusual effort in a way that an offensive play can never do.

We often refer to the courage required to play good defense or to rebound well. Why does it take courage to play good defense?

Try getting in a "quarter eagle" (good bent-legged defensive stance) and stay for 16 or 20 minutes. Those are average times spent on defense by high school and college players. You will find that the legs hurt, the arms ache, and that it is much more comfortable to straighten up a bit which of course eliminates the possibility of quick movement.

While we are on the subject of comfort or natural positions, let me express a theory that there is nothing comfortable or natural about good defense. The "quarter eagle" is most unnatural and tiresome. There is nothing natural about getting in front of a hard driver and getting smacked over. There is nothing natural about positioning for rebounds and getting "racked" in the kidneys by an opponent's elbows. There are many many positions in sports that are not comfortable or natural but, nevertheless, necessary. The youngster who expects to play good defense in a natural, comfortable, position will be mediocre.

However, one of the fine features of the good defensive position is its good carry-over to offense. Most athletes love offense so well that they will pay any price to help develop their offensive moves. The defensive stance with bent legs is absolutely necessary for the best execution of the jump shot, dribbling, pivoting, receiving, and offensive rebounding or tipping. Sell them on the idea that they are not just developing a position from which to play defense but one that will improve every fundamental of the game. Actually, this is quite true. I can think of no basketball skill that cannot be best performed from a bent-legged, alert stance.

There is a theory still alive in basketball that the best defense is a good offense. The idea is that you never let the opposition get set to play defense before you converge on them with the ball and a shot. If the other team employs the same theory, the game degenerates into a "basket swapping" session. It seems to me that a great deal of time and effort could be saved by allowing each team to take 100 shots unmolested from its end of the floor and declaring the winner to be the team that makes the most attempts. If neither team plays defense, there is no necessity of going through the motions.   Such a game is very much like wrestling shows where the action is mostly make-believe. Such teams play make-believe defense; that is, they pretend to play so the other team will look a little better making a shot. Actually, it is easier to shoot over make-believe defenders than it would be to allow them to take unmolested shots. An unmolested shooting contest would at least put a little pressure on the shooters while make-believe defenders simply make a good shooter relax and shoot better than he normally does.

The fans should be educated by coaches, players, and press to demand half their money back when they witness such a farce. They have seen only half a game so they should pay only half price. They paid for a whole game of offense and defense, and all they have observed is the offensive half.

These observations of defense bring to mind the myth that good offensive players (especially good shooters) do not need to play defense. They are, it is assumed, valuable enough simply as offensive players. They score 40 points, and the guys they are supposed to be guarding get 30. Since their teammates are trying to run a four-man defense, each of their opponents picks an additional three or four baskets he wouldn't have gotten had the four defensive boys been allowed to play only one man instead of each one having to take care of his own man and the shooter's man.

For the life of me, I cannot conceive of adult, mature coaches with years of experience allowing such an illogical theory to enter into their system of play. The indefensible position of such a theory hardly warrants an attack by men. I will make only one statement to support my feeling that this system of star play is inefficient. Never—never have I seen a team that operated on this basis win a really important championship. They always fold in the clutch. Someone stymies their star and the four poor dumb suckers who have been carrying his lunch for him all season are left to fight their guts out for a cause destined to be lost from the first day of practice.

There is another myth about good offensive athletes who do not play defense. It is said that they are "too fragile, too finely and delicately coordinated for the offensive touch to become good defensive players. Leave the extra effort on defense to the boys who are not outstanding in other phases of the game. It is the way such boys can earn their starting role. Leave it to the boys who are not good shooters, but don't expect the hot shots to play defense, too." Good offensive basketball requires the greatest combination of talent, coordination, and split-second thinking of any sport known to man. If a player is great on offense, he must have several or all of these attributes. Defense requires good physical coordination and above average reflexes, too. It is not true that the poorly coordinated athlete can be great on defense. He can be good, he can be adequate, but not great. The truly great defensive players must come from among the ranks of the great offensive players. They have all the physical equipment, proven by the fact that they are outstanding on offense. They will be quick, tricky, with good hands, possess good coordination, good reflexes and other qualities of the unusual athlete. To allow them to waste these talents on one end of the floor simply because they use them on the other end is really unfair to these fine athletes. It is unfair because these players will not be able to gain the respect of their teammates, thereby cutting down on their offensive effectiveness. It is unfair to them for they will never experience the thrill of playing a full game on both ends of the floor. They will never gain a full appreciation for the game of basketball. They will not be able to teach a full game if they become coaches. They will actually never gain real self-respect and, what is more important in the long run, the respect or lack thereof from their team members.

A fine defense, individually and team wise instills confidence—true confidence in a team. It is not the type of superficial, cocky confidence that the basket-swapping teams have. It is a quiet, sure feeling that they can win with the team effort required to play a good defense. They know they can rely on this phase of their game. It does not blow hot and cold. This confidence breeds upsets. It is invaluable when you face the big opponent who is supposed to beat your brains out by running and shooting. If you play good defense, you will never get beaten by the basket swappers. Great faith in defense will have a carry-over value to rebounding, shooting, and other parts of their game.

Defense is the only stable element of basketball. Every part of the game is subject to some fluctuation and variation from day to day. Passing, shooting, dribbling, ball handling, and even rebounding may see a night when the team is "on" or "off"—"hot" or "cold." The size of the playing floor, the distance of goal from wall, and other physical features may put your offense off. The only way differences in size of the playing floor can affect your defense is to help it. That is, if you normally practice on the regulation 94-by-50 playing area, the only difference in size you will see will be a smaller floor. Smaller floors will actually make your defense easier because the area you have to cover is diminished. Defense is reliable. Defense is solid —dependable—it is always there to fall back on when everything else fails. Just knowing that a team is going to perform well defensively leaves the coach free to figure ways to score more easily.

Let's develop some basketball Ail-Americans who receive recognition because of their outstanding defensive play. There have been All-American basketball players who played good defense, but they didn't get the All-star rating because of that fact. The fact that they played good defense was only incidental. The press and the fans should be conditioned to look for outstanding defensive performance. At present the athletes are about the only ones, other than some coaches, who recognize and appreciate a fine defensive performance.

Football players, baseball players, tennis players, and defensive stars of every sport except basketball get recognition. Let's change this. It's very easy.

When the press raves over your outstanding shooter, point out the fact that he earns his keep on defense, too. When your team wins a great upset victory, tell the press exactly what it was—a defensive victory. Inform them how upsets are born. Give a defensive trophy at the end of the season. Rate your players defensively. Keep defensive charts that are completely comprehensive just like you keep offensive charts. Give your outstanding defensive player the same recognition and star billing you give your outstanding offensive player. If they are one and the same, give him even more recognition than if he were one or the other. Keep defensive statistics posted in your dressing room and on the school bulletin board if possible. Cultivate your fans so that they will applaud good defensive play. Your highest praise should be saved for the lad who helps win a fine upset victory with a terrific defensive game.

In the world of politics, there is the man who is the politician's man. In the world of entertainment, there is the person who is the entertainer's entertainer. In the world of professional football, there is the unsung person who is the pro's ball player. In basketball, the player's player is always a great defensive man. The basketball player reserves his highest respect and plaudits for the gut man— the fighter—the defensive player. This fact alone would seem to encourage every basketball  player to develop his defensive fundamentals and skills. Not so—far too many are willing to admire someone else as they do the hard work but get none of the credit. The world is full of people who will admire and praise the fellow who does the hard work as they wiggle in for the headlines.

Good defensive teams have a winning attitude. We have seen teams with good personnel—personnel quite adequate to win, who simply did not win because their attitude was not that of the winner. This one quality is reason enough to play defense and spend time on defense. I have never seen a good defensive team with a loser's attitude. The winning complex is a much discussed thing. We have all seen teams endure lean years as far as personnel are concerned—yet continue to win. This is because they have won so much they have the idea they are not supposed to lose. This is what we mean by the winning complex, or the winning attitude.

Defensive teams develop such an attitude quickly, for the winning attitude goes hand in hand with good morale and team pride. How can a player respect and have pride in his teammates unless he respects himself? How can a basketball player have pride or respect himself unless he plays a gut game—a game of courage—a game of defense? I will take mediocre personnel any year with a winning attitude before I will take great personnel with a loser's attitude. Beware of the lad who says, I can't do this—I can't do that. Beware of the athlete who ever says "we don't have a chance." You have plenty of opportunity to find such boys.

To find such people, purposely divide your squad so that one team is weaker than the other for a scrimmage session. There will be one cocky lad who will be with the weak team who will say, "Get ready, for we are going to whip your backsides." There will be one or two with the weak team who will say, "But, Coach, we don't have a chance." Keep the first-mentioned type. Revel in the fact that you are fortunate enough to have such a fine lad. Let him know how valuable he is. Do not loose him at any cost. Thank one and all that you have such a man—for such men are few and far between.

These are the men who win wars. These are the men who know no such thing as the odds. They only know that there is a fight to be gloried in, and they nourish and promote that fight. They are glad to be alive and to know that there is a chance to fight. They are winners. If you have one winner on your squad—you are lucky. If you have two winners—you may win the regional championship. If you have as many as three winners—how can you lose the state championship?

During my 11 years of coaching and 22 years of playing, I have never seen more than three winners on the same ball club.

A ball team will certainly appear to have a unanimous winning attitude, a cocky spirit, but in reality it all comes from the one, two, or three lads who are winners at heart. It all comes from the very few who recognize no such thing as defeat. Such lads will win games for you when you are down 15 points with 5 minutes to play. They will tie a game up for the overtime victory when you are down 7 points with a minute to play. These lads are consistent. They are predictable. They never allow a team to lose its poise in those last few minutes. They pull a team together and cause it to relax when relaxation is needed. They fire a team up when it needs firing up. They fire the imagination and confidence of the coach. You can readily see why such men are rarely found by the dozen. They do not come along in bunches. They come along all too infrequently and the coach is fortunate who can say that he has one such man. The team with as many as three should certainly hold some sort of celebration.

Can any youngster with just average ability become an outstanding defensive player? You have heard that this is possible. I am afraid that reality will not support such a fallacious notion. Surely a youngster with average strength and average speed can become an above-average defensive athlete.  The same holds true for offensive ability. An average youngster with two arms and two legs can become an above-average offensive player if he is willing to work harder than the next fellow.

To play really great defense, outstanding physical qualities are needed. That is why we say the great offensive player should also be a great defensive player.

Muscle, or its equivalent, strength, is needed. Speed is essential. Good coordination, quick reflexes, and a great deal of stamina are prime ingredients of the great defensive athlete, no matter what the sport may be. The muscle can be developed rather easily by weight lifting. Coordination can surely be improved. Reflexes can be trained to their highest potential use. Quickness is more important than sheer speed, but there is grave doubt in my mind that this element can be changed from the inherent ability one possesses. Intelligence is certainly necessary. That is, above-average intelligence. The brightest youngster diagnoses his opponent early and sets out to prevent him from making his best move. The bright youngster will talk to his opponent and use good psychology in dealing with him.

In summary, let me say that it is fatal to develop one phase of this sport to the detriment of all others. I have seen coaches go overboard on defense one year, rebounding another year, shooting still another year and yet fail to produce winners. I believe one could come nearer to developing a winner with hard work on defense—to the detriment of the other skills—for youngsters are going to practice their offensive skills on their own time. Even so, it is wise not to neglect any part of the game or any skill. We have the utmost admiration for good shooters. It takes many hours of hard work to become a good shooter. After all, the culmination of all effort in basketball is the score. If all other phases of the game are perfected but good shooting is lacking, you are not going to win. Our plea is that basketball be played on both ends of the floor. There is no place on that 94-by-50-foot playing area to rest. So many young players think that the defensive end is the rest end of the floor.

Finally, let me encourage you to develop your game on both ends of the floor so that you will not be under such a terrific handicap on that "cold" shooting night. So that our wonderful game of basketball and its complex skills will be appreciated and admired even more by the sports world. The sports world admires courageous athletes. It admires tough, aggressive play in any sport. Here is our opportunity to prove that it takes real courage to play our game. I sadly fear this is not true where good defense and good rebounding are absent. Any rabbit-brave person can play good basketball offense. Through courageous execution of rebounding and defensive skills, the basketball player can prove there is nothing effeminate about his sport. Youngsters who like football and other contact sports will become more interested in basketball if we put courage, strength, and aggressive play back into the game.

If you don't develop your defensive game, you are going to be left by the roadside as the harder working coaches strive to teach all phases of the game. The trend is to defense. Every good team is playing defense. The best way to prove your coaching status is on defense. If you can teach defense, if you can sell defense, if you can produce good defense, you can coach.

Are You Ready To Move Onto The Next Lesson? Click Here...