Final Four 2010: New Strategy May Trump Conventional Thinking

It’s happening again, in case you haven’t noticed.

Once upon a time, a generation swore that a 45-second shot clock would destroy the strategy in college basketball.  It didn’t.

It simply invalidated the “Four Corners” method of destroying the clock brought upon by North Carolina coach Dean Smith and made the game more exciting.

A few seasons later, the three-point shot had the potential to wreck the game as well. More than two decades have passed since that rule change, and the NCAA tournament still has appeal. Some would even argue that it has improved.

Remember when it was illegal to dunk?

Paradigm shifts happen in college hoops several times in a generation. The 2010 NCAA Tournament has seen more than its share of “new” concepts.

The Butler Bulldogs love to fire it from beyond the arc. With no player taller than 6’8” on the roster, what’s wrong with that? To a smaller team, the long-ball is the great equalizer, to a point where the darlings of the Horizon League attempt more threes than deuces.

It’s more complicated than just having a few shooters on the roster. Constant motion along the baseline disrupts, and Butler doesn’t hesitate to swing passes across the court. The first player with an open look has the green light to fire.

When the shots fall, the score goes up by three. When they don’t, long shots equal long rebounds. Everyone boxes out high, rather than underneath.

Shelvin Mack and Zach Hahn are the top snipers, statistically. Both are at or over 40 percent from downtown. Willie Veasley has no qualms about launching, either. Gordon Hayward is willing to shoot.

Maybe it’s the youth of Brad Stevens that allows him to believe that this squad can compete nationally with this offense. Let’s not jinx it, but he’s right. The Bulldogs are headed to the Final Four.

West Virginia didn’t connect on a single shot from inside three-point range in the first half against Kentucky and still took a lead into the locker room. That’s not really indicative of a Bob Huggins team, but it got the job done.

What the Mountaineers wanted to do showed up in the second half of that regional final game. With no center and a single guard on the floor for most of the way, West Virginia won that game, as they have most of their others this year, by going to the basket.

It’s not just boxing out. It’s positioning based on where the shot came from that allows for offensive boards and second chances. Get the ball down the court any way you can. The play doesn’t really start until the shooter releases.

Does it work? Just ask John Calipari. If it didn’t, the loss of point guard Darryl Bryant would have been a much bigger issue for West Virginia.

What both of these coaches have shown is adaptability. Both Stevens and Huggins have designed their schemes around the personnel they have to work with. They haven’t asked their players to change drastically to suit what they feel a winning team should look like. It’s called playing to your strengths.

Stevens doesn’t have that much of a track record, only because he is so young. Huggins has been there before.

The 1999-2000 Cincinnati Bearcats were maybe the most intimidating regular season team of all time. Yet the loss of big man Kenyon Martin in the Conference USA tournament effectively ended their chances, leading to a second-round exit from the NCAAs.

That team fit the mold of an organized, conventional squad. A lightning fast point guard in Kenny Satterfield paired with a shooter in DeMarr Johnson. The frontline had Martin, Pete Mickeal, and Jermaine Tate.

The conventional lineup card filled out perfectly. That team failed where a four-forward West Virginia team has succeeded. Times certainly do change.

Next Saturday should demonstrate very nicely whether or not we have reached a new-era in college basketball. Butler matches their “fling-and-fire” against Michigan State’s battle-tested approach.

Da’Sean Butler, Devin Eubanks, and the rest of the Mountaineers will crash the glass against the Duke Blue Devils' perfectly stratified lineup.

Chances are, at least one of the newcomers will pass on through to the final. There’s more than one way to win on the hardwood. This year is proof.