"Once upon a time" the fable goes, but in this case, it was not a story but a fact. Prior to the days of "individual on the ball pressure," there was an emphasis on team or "help" defense from the other four players.
Oh, there is still the phrase "help defense," but today it pertains more or less to one individual recognizing that a teammate has been beaten on a play, and rotating over to help stop the individual who has broken free.
The key phrase here is "team." Case in point is the UCLA press, which led the Bruins to back-to-back national championships in 1964 and 1965. The '64 Bruins had no starter over 6'5" but won all 30 games that season by employing the most terrifying defense of its day: the 3-1–1 full-court zone press.
Built upon the team concept, the front three men swarmed the inbounds ball, pressuring the offensive player to immediately try to dribble out of it and be double-teamed or pass blindly out of it, often intercepted by the second line of defense.
The final line of defense, the "1" in the 3-1-1, was an acrobatic defender who could cover from side to side in case the ball came across midcourt without being turned over.
The concept was prepared in the office of the UCLA coaching staff of John Wooden. The UCLA press was so formidable that often the Bruins did not even have to resort to it during a game. Simply having it as a weapon they could impose on the opponent was enough to send many a team into defeat.
In the 1964 National Title game, UCLA trailed powerful Duke in the first half 30–27. The Blue Devils, who employed two seven-foot starters in Jay Buckley and Hack Tison, along with two All-Americans and future NBA All–Stars in Jeff Mullins and Jack Marin, were unprepared for what happened next.
Coach Wooden gave the word, and whoosh, the Bruins went on a 16–0 run to lead 43–27, and the game was essentially over. Duke never knew what hit them and eventually turned the ball over 29 times facing the UCLA zone press—a death-sting run.
Duke's coach, Vic Bubas, was a basketball genius who won 75 percent of his games during his decade-long run at the helm of the program. Bubas studied the zone press and broke down the principles. He then constructed an offense to defeat it. He just needed another chance to prove it could be done.
The Bruins accommodated him by agreeing to play back-to-back games at Durham and Charlotte in December of 1965. The viciousness which his Blue Devils attacked the press is still talked about today among those who saw it in person.
Specifically, Bubas devised a quick pass in, followed by a quick pass to the center of the court to the big man. From there, a ball handler could take a handoff or a wing could receive a short pass and break to the basket or pull up for a dependable jumper.
The key? No dribbling. Bubas discovered the heart of the zone press was built around the fear of turning the ball over while dribbling, or passing blindly. His system eliminated those weaknesses in the offensive approach to attack the zone press.
The result was a beatdown of the No. 1 ranked Bruins on Friday night by the score of 82–66 and a Saturday night suffocation by the tune of 94–75. The mighty UCLA zone press was broken and beaten. Duke became the No. 1 team in the land the following week.
The following year Wooden installed 7'1" Lew Alcindor as the "back 1" of the 3-1-1, but in truth, that press was based upon the intimidation factor of big Lew and was only a shadow of its old self.
Likewise, when the 6'11" gazelle Bill Walton appeared on the Westwood scene in 1971, he assumed the back-line position. Still, it was the great talent and individual ability of those Bruin teams that led them to so many titles, not the press itself.
By the mid–1980s the imposition of the shot clock was a reality, and the idea of team defense became an almost obsolete term as individual ball pressure could cause the offense to be in the "wrong place at the wrong time" when trying to take a shot.
There was no need to shorten the game with its usual three and four-minute possessions. The rules had taken care of that offensive tactic. The athletes were stronger, faster, and better at covering individuals and not just spaces on the court.
Astonishingly, one current proponent of team defense and master of the zone principles was a guard on the 1965-66 Syracuse basketball team who saw his career come to an end in the "elite eight" against the same Vic Bubas-led Duke team that had solved the zone press riddle of UCLA earlier in the year. That guard was Jim Boeheim.
Boeheim's fearsome 2–3 "throttler," LSU's Dale Brown with his "amoeba" in 1986, George Ireland's Loyola of Chicago halfcourt "snapping turtle" in the mid–sixties, Ralph Miller's "Double Pressure Press" at Iowa and Wichita State in the sixties, Jerry Tarkanian's "Floating Man–Trap" at Long Beach State and Nevada–Las Vegas, along with "Brother" Bob King's "pressure–cooker" at New Mexico, are some of the few examples of the old team defensive systems that have by and large come and gone.
Curiously enough, the same said Boeheim was an assistant to the current Duke head Coach on the magnificent 2008 Olympic championship team. His input and expertise has been documented by Coach K as well as the players since returning from China.
An often-stated quotation applies in this case: "The more things change, the more they stay the same." As the game continues to evolve, we must ask ourselves, "Will the leveling of ability in competition result in a return to some of the tried and true team defenses of the past?" Only time will tell.
What we do know is there once was a time when such was the rule rather than the exception. Yes, "once upon a time..."
9 comments Last one added 4 months ago — Leave a Comment
Lew Wright 7 months ago
Hey Baby Tate,
Awesome! Loved your take on the rise and fall of team defense. Aside from your accurate accounting for coaching innovation, there is another factor that might be an "elephant in the room".
It's all about ESPN these days. If you don't make the highlights, you're not a player.
When was the last time you saw more than one defensive highlight on ESPN's Top 10 plays of the day?
Then there is the matter of parents influencing their kids. Too many dads try to live vicariously through the play of their sons. Dads love to brag about their kids making shots, not preventing shots. For example, Coach Olsen wasn't successful recruiting kids to play for him at Arizona because of the media market or the weather. As long as his players feigned tough defense, they were pretty much free to do whatever on the offensive end of the court.
Defense isn't just a memory in college basketball, it's fervently mocked. Case in point. Coach Tony Bennett, following in the footsteps of his father, insists on playing defense. His philosophy is all about team defense and team play. His mentor/father would put players back on the pine if they didn't play hard-nosed defense. Same was true if there weren't at least three passes made at the offensive end of the court before anyone put up a shot. That coaching philosophy has built a very solid basketball program at Washington State, like no other in the history of the school. The rewards for implementing team play, specifically team defense, have been outstanding. The response has been mixed. Cougar basketball is labeled "boring" because of the low scores. Writers describe playing or watching WSU as similar to going to the dentist for a root canal.
Regardless of whether you're a fan of offense or defense, the fact is that college basketball still remains an exciting sport worthy of fans adoration.
Count me in!
Lew
Edit Comment Cancel
BabyTate 7 months ago
I agree with you. I can even make the case that if you play like Washington State, Wisconsin, or the old NC State of Herb Sendek you will find yourself in very few nationally televised games. This can lead to a problem with recruiting the very players you have described.
Look at Kentucky. When Smith was the head coach they concentrated on defense. He won the national title and was always in the Top 20 if not 10. He was criticized and ended up leaving. Is it progress to lose offensive-oriented games to Gardner Webb and Virginia Military Institute the past 2 seasons?
Old quote from Jack Twyman, "defense travels, offense unravels".
I appreciate your fine thoughts and thank you for the time to comment.
Edit Comment Cancel
Nathan B 7 months ago
Great historical perspective BT! Very intersting read. Here in Chapel Hill, we certainly could use a little more "team defense" concept but like most teams, we have a "defensive specialist" in Marcus Ginyard. That seems to be the case with many high-profile programs ... they have a "stopper" instead of playing quality team defense. Wisconsin is one exception to the rule that I can think of, or some Ivy League defenses, though I can't refer to those as "high-profile".
I think the most modern example of the concept working would be the Princeton Tigers that nearly upended Georgetown in the NCAA tournament. They didn't have the athletes to do what UCLA did, but they definitely knew what team defense meant.
Here at UNC, I think we're looking at another season of 90 - 76 games, not that I'm complaining. ;-)
Again, thanks for the read.
Nathan
Edit Comment Cancel
BabyTate 7 months ago
Thank you for the fine comments. I agree with your statement about the one man who is the stopper.
Edit Comment Cancel
Michael Oleszek 7 months ago
I have met and spoke to Coach Boeheim, and as one of the deans of College Basketball, the man is revered very highly in my family. That 2-3 zone he employs has won his teams a ton of games, a National Title, and probably should have won him at least 1 more. His overachieving 1995-96 team gave Kentucky a run for their money in the Final and nearly beat them, and I believe John Wallace should have been Tourney MOP instead of Tony Delk. He was that team's heart and soul.
Edit Comment Cancel
BabyTate 7 months ago
I agree. Delk was hard to turn the corner on but it was Wallace who took it to the 7 foot twin-towers Eric Dampier and Russell Walters of the giant Mississippi State team of the '96 Final Four.
Edit Comment Cancel
Michael Oleszek 7 months ago
The Mississippi State game was really defined by the play of Jason Cipolla and the fact Syracuse only turned the ball over 5 times.
The Kentucky game though, was the only time Wallace fouled out all season. Go figure.
Edit Comment Cancel
BabyTate 7 months ago
Thanks to Michael and Clayton for their kind votes of Pick of The day for this article.
We should point out the aforementioned Bob King, designer of the "Pressure-Cooker" defense at New Mexico in the 1960s, is the same Bob King who was head coach of Indiana State when Larry Bird played there. Coach King suffered a medical problem and had to step down before Bird's Senior season and allowed Bill Hodges to take over for the Sycamore run to the Natl Title game in 1979.
Edit Comment Cancel
George Robben 4 months ago
Look at Missouri, not a real lights out offense, but they have amazing defense, that has led them to the top ten and some huge wins. Ucla hasnt had the success they had in the last couple of years because of offense, and rode their defense through the tourney. There has been a big promotion of flashy offenses but there are still some great defense eing played by some teams.
Edit Comment Cancel
Leave a Comment
You must register to post a comment.