ESPN.com - Playing 'man' isn't as simple as it sounds

ESPN.com: Men's College Basketball

Tuesday, February 4, 2003
Updated: February 5, 1:09 PM ET
Playing 'man' isn't as simple as it sounds

By Fran Fraschilla
Special to ESPN.com

First off, the term "man-to-man" defense is misleading. In order for any team to play an effective man-to-man defense, all five players on the court must work together.

While there is much individual responsibility in this defense, the ability to help each other is vital. The proverbial line, "a chain is only as strong as its weakest link" fits perfectly when we talk man-to-man defense.

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There are also as many different varieties of man-to-man defense as there are flavors at Baskin-Robbins.

Kansas prides itself on over-playing all passing lanes to take its opponents out of their offense. Dick Bennett's Final Four team at Wisconsin not only did not over play in its man-to-man schemes, it "packed" its defense inside the 3-point arc, daring teams to shoot contested outside shots. Marquette, meanwhile, prides itself on "scouting report" man defense, where Tom Crean's man defenses will change based on the strengths and weaknesses of the Golden Eagles' opponents.

When building any type of man-to-man defense, a team must consider any number of aspects and must decided what the defense will emphasize. Here are some questions coaches ponder in building their man-to-man defense:

Where do we want to pick and pressure the ball?
A team's quickness and athleticism will determine how far up the floor it can pressure and still be able to be in position to provide help for teammates.

What passes do we deny in the opponent's offense? Most teams will deny all penetrating passes. These are passes directly into the post areas, or passes to the wings that may lead to a post pass.

How to we want to play post defense?
Teams must decided whether to front the post or double-team the post when the ball goes inside.

Do we switch when offensive players come together in their offense? Or do we fight over the screens and accept personal responsibility?

When building a man-to-man defense, teams must decide on a goal for the defense. There are four points of emphasis that my players could recite in their sleep. I've always believed that the more you emphasize, the more you complicate things.

But, the goal of our defenses at Manahattan, St. John's and New Mexico was to STOP THE BALL. That was our primary concern, and it came from containing penetration and keeping the ball out of the paint. It is the primary responsibility of all five defenders. We want to protect from the basket out.

Points of Emphasis

1. Ball Pressure
Make the offense put the ball on the floor and make the other team's players prove they can play under duress. Pressure bothers people.

2. No Splits (or penetration)
We want to deny the penetrating pass only to one step beyond the 3-point arc. This puts us, as a "help" defender, to be in a position to help on the drive.

3. Contest Shots
This, I believe, is the single biggest reason for low defensive field goal percentages. So, we want to get a hand up on every shot taken and contest it.

4. Rebound the Ball
A team has to complete the defensive possession by rebounding the ball. This requires anticipation, positioning and, most importantly, effort.

Philosophy
Once a team knows what it wants to emphasize in its man-to-man defense, it must build a philosophy of teaching the defense so that it is clear-cut and easy to understand. Here are the steps I used to accomplish this with my teams.

1. Create a logical, progressive and consistent system.
The defensive fundamentals are taught precisely and thoroughly so that, once mastered, they become automatic.

2. The defense is predicated on prolonged, intelligent and intense pressure.

Conversion from offense to defense.

Aggressive pressure on the ball.

Force the ball to the sideline.

Stop penetrations/ No splits.

Helpside defense

3. You can't play pressure man-to-man defense unless you play hard for 40 minutes.

Players must play hard on every possession because one defensive possession can change the course of the game.

The players must understand that "playing hard" is a talent, like shooting or passing, and can be developed.

4. All five players must work together because the defense is only as good as its weakest defender.

Good teams play 5-on-2 or 5-on-3 on the ball side

Any player is capable of becoming a good defender. It is a lot harder to score baskets than to stop someone from scoring them.

5. Players must be in great mental and physical condition to play defense.

Mentally, you must have "the disposition to dominate."

Physically, you must be able to sustain your intensity for as long as you have to in order to get the job done.

Basketball is a game of continuous action. On defense, we must move from one task to another spontaneously. This is developed through habits and repetition in your drills.

Guarding the Ball

Ball Pressure
This is the most important individual concept we can teach because everything we do on defense is dependant on the quality of our ball pressure. We must pressure the ball so that the offensive player cannot:

1. Shoot the ball
2. Pass inside
3. Drive to the middle

Ideally, we want to force the ball to the outside of the court, where there are less options for the offense. So, out top we will force the ball to the sideline; and on the wing, we will force the ball to the baseline. Here you see that X1 forces the ball to the sideline and X3 forces the ball to the baseline.

Penetrating Passes
We call all passes in the direction of the basket penetrating passes. We don't consider a ball reversal from one side of the court to the other a penetrating pass, unless it is a pass inside the top of the key. (Diagram 2) Otherwise, we allow to ball to be reversed out top. (Diagram 3)

Diagram 2

Help Defense

Shrink the Floor
This is a term we use to get our entire defense in position to help defender guard his man with the ball. (Diagram 4) We want to get five people to the ball side. We split the court in half to create a ball side and a help side. (Diagram 5)

Diagram 2

Diagram 5

No Splits
Because of our ball pressure, we will, at times, get beat off the dribble. So, we must make sure the ball never gets by the first help defender. When X1 is beat to the middle, X2 is ready to take away penetration -- or the split. (Diagram 6) When 2 attacks, X3 is in a position to help. (Diagram 7)

Diagram 6

Diagram 7

Help the Helper
This is a term we use when a third player must help the second defender in a help situation by buying enough time for the second defender to recover to his own man after helping. This is another crucial component of team defense. As 1 drives to the middle, X2 is in position to take away the split and on the pass to 2, X3 bluffs at 2. (Diagram 8)

Diagram 8

Fill and Sink
Help-side defenders should fill to baseline and sink to the level of the ball. Here X1 is beaten to the baseline, but X5 fills (or rotates) outside the lane and X3 sinks to the basket. (Diagram 9)

Diagram 9

Off-The-Ball Defense

Denial Defense
We want to deny all passes in the scoring area that attack the defense:

1. Guard to forward passes (Diagram 10)
2. Passes to the high post (Diagram 11)
3. Passes to the low post (Diagram 12)

Ideally, a good denial stance will force a player to go back door, or take him further away from the scoring area. Often, we will deny a particular play, or player, according to our scouting report defense.

Diagram 10

Diagram 11

Diagram 12

Jump to the Ball
Each time the ball is passed, the entire defense should react by moving in concert in the direction of the pass in order to build their helpside defense. (Diagram 13) Jumping to the ball also allows the helpside defender to stay between his man and the ball on basket cuts (Diagram 14) and flash cuts (Diagram 15)

Diagram 13

Diagram 14

Diagram 15

Catch-And-Shoot Defense

Lock and Trail
This is a technique used to get through screen. By caboosing the offensive player and following in his back numbers, we become a difficult target to screen. X3's job is to keep contact with the shooter because good shooters want "separation". (Diagram 16) And, if the shooter has two routes off the screen, we try to take away one route. (Diagram 17)

Diagram 16

Diagram 17

Guarding the Curl Cut
Because we "lock and trail" off the down screen, we must be ready to defend the curl cut. It is the job of the screener's man, X4, to "bump" the curl cut until his teammate can get over the screen.(Diagram 18)

Diagram 18

Post Defense

"Red"
When the ball is above the foul line extended, we want the post defender to play 3/4 on the top side of his man with his hand in the passing lane. (Diagram 19) When the ball is passed below the foul line extended, we want to front the post or "Red" him. (Diagram 20). By yelling out "Red", we are alerting everyone about the front defense so that we can pressure the passer harder and alert our help-side defense.

Diagram 19

Diagram 20

"Blue" This is our our defensive tactic for double-teaming the post man. We want to force the good offensive post man to pass the ball back out and, if possible, turn the ball over with a bad pass. When X4 comes to double, a post-to-post double team, the X3 and X2 "zone the help side". (Diagram 21) They form what we call a "Weakside I" and are ready to play cutters to the basket. (Diagram 22)

Diagram 21

Diagram 22

Defensive Rebounding

Here are some thoughts as we talk about rebounding:

1. We want to make the "first hit" when the shot is taken. We think "body and ball". Hit a body and get the ball.
2. Go after a large number of balls. Good rebounders are relentless and pursue every shot.
3. Good rebounders get to logical rebound angles. They know where a shot is coming off the rim.
4. Good rebounders hustle after, and run down, long rebounds. Rebounding is less about technique and more about effort.

Solid defense is a team's and player's "great equalizer". Your team may not be as quick, as athletic or, as big, or, even, as skilled as your opponent. But, you can be sounder in your defensive approach, and you can play harder than your opponent and be very successful.

So, it is no coincidence that the best teams each season who can combine the physical abilities necessary, along with the commitment to work to be great defensives teams, are usually playing deep into the NCAA Tournament come March.

Q & A with Fran Fraschilla

Send in your Hoops 101 questions. Fran Fraschilla will answer a few each week as the season continues.

"Being from the Philadelphia area, I get to watch some good college basketball especially in the Big 5. The team that has impressed me the most this year is St. Joseph's. Their defense has suffocated just about every team they've played including Penn a few nights ago. All they seem to be doing is playing man-to-man just like many other teams in the country. Why is their man-to-man that much more effective than other teams? Also, what is the difference between Coach Martelli's style of man-to-man compared with Dick Bennett's up the line/on the line style and the style's of other coaches?"
Bryan Torresani,
Horsham, Pa.

Great question. As you probably know, we just did the St.Joe's-Villanova game on Monday and it was a "defensive clinic" and easy to see why the Hawks are 16-3 and have the best defensive field goal percentage in the nation.

First of all, because of the tremendous quickness of their guards, Jameer Nelson and Delonte West, they are able to disrupt an opponent's offense by really applying pressure on the ball coming up the court. Their quickness allows them to gamble in the backcourt and still get back into position to play good half-court defense. St. Joe's does a great job of switching with its guards so the Hawks handle screens well and eliminate easy scoring chances. Though their frontcourt is not physical, they are long and challenge a lot of shots, especially when the guards gamble out front.

The underrated thing about all good defenses, which St. Joe's does extremely well, is contesting shots. No good shooter wants someone flying at them with a hand in their face. With the Hawks, you get very few "easy looks" in your offense.

With regard to Dick Bennett, the former coach at Wisconsin, a true defensive "guru", I hope I have some interesting observations for you. The concept of "on the line/up the line" is one in which the defenders away from the ball play "on the line of the pass" or in the "passing lane" to make it difficult to make an entry into the opponent's offense. "Up the line" refers to the idea of getting away from your man towards the ball to help support the defender guarding the ball in case there is dribble penetration. Bennett popularized this style while at Wisconsin-Stevens Point, where he, generally, had quick athletic defenders like Terry Porter, who could play in the "passing lanes" and still be able to support on dribble penetration.

When Bennett got to Wisconsin-Green Bay and, then, to the University of Wisconsin, he changed his man-to-man philosophy 180 degrees. Because of his teams' lack of quickness, he adjusted and "packed" his defense inside the 3-point line, which helped his teams' ability to guard the drive and forced opponents to beat them with jump shots. And, any cut into the lane was met with physical contact. This kind of dramatic change in philosophy takes self-assurance and awareness of what your team needs in order to get the job done defensively.

"Why have teams stop running 1-3-1 zones? I remember in the early 90's this was the base defense for both UNC and Kansas. Is this part of the larger trend for playing more man-to-man defenses than zone? Without Valvano and Pat Kennedy is anyone running 'gimmic' zones?"
Loren Pearson,
Miami Beach, Fla.

Thanks for the question. The type of 1-3-1 zone that both Kansas and North Carolina have used in the past is called a "point zone". It starts out in a 1-3-1 alignment, but the point guard at the top of the defense "matches up" man-to-man with the ballhandler and the "5 man" (center) stays in the middle of the lane. Everyone else matches up to man based on who the point guard takes. It is, in effect a "match up zone" that shows a zone alignment but becomes man to man.

The 1-3-1 zone that you will see extended, sometimes, out to mid-court is a trapping zone that is not used as frequently as in the past. It is primarily used to speed teams up or to keep them from holding onto the ball for an entire possession.

The "Box and 1" and the "Triangle and 2" are good examples of "gimmick" or "junk" defenses. In the "Box and 1", the defense is in a zone with two defenders out top and two defenders under in a "box" with a man-to-man "chaser" on one player. In the "Triangle and 2", there are two chasers and a zone alignment with two big guys under and a guard out top.

These "junk" defenses can really throw a team out of its offensive rhythm if they are not prepared for it. Jimmy V was a great "game" coach who always had a feel of when to use the "junk" defense. Because so many games are televised today, the "junk" defense is not as big a surprise today as in the past, but still has a place as an occasional defensive weapon.

"I have noticed that many teams are running three- and sometimes even four-guard lineups in college basketball right now Is this due to a lack of skilled post players or an abundance of good guards What is your opinion on the 3/4 guard lineup? Also, who do you think is the most underrated guard in the country?"
Ryan Morgan,
Minneapolis, Minn.

Ryan,
Good observation. Coaches are trying to put their best players on the floor more and more and are less concerned about playing "small", especially if they don't have quality big men. The feeling is is that mismatches occur both ways and a small quick team forces the opponent to match "down" to your size.

A smaller team can spread the floor on offense and make it difficult to guard you man-to-man. And, on defense, they can be effective pressing full-court or playing zone. It would be very similar to a football team using four-wide receivers, one running back and no tight end to spread the field. When we cover the "Princeton attack" on March 4, you'll see that they can easily play with four interchangeable guards and a post man.

In terms of underrated guards around the country, here are few that I have seen that I really like: Delonte West (Saint Joseph's), Victor Williams (Oklahoma State), Steve Blake (Maryland), Reece Gaines (Louisville), Kirk Penney (Wisconsin), Marcus Banks (UNLV), Brooks Hall (Dayton) and Justin Hamilton (Florida).

"Just a FYI about the Triangle Offense and Tex Winter. As a Marquette alum I have to correct you, Tex Winter started the Triangle Offense in his first college coaching job at Marquette University, not at Kansas State where he later coached. In fact, there was an article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel earlier last month as Marquette celebrated its 50th anniversary of the National Catholic championships with Tex at the helm and it got into the Triangle and the origins of it at Marquette."
James Dyckes,
Los Angeles

Sorry for the misunderstanding. You are absolutely right about Coach Winter and Marquette University. Because he was only at Marquette two years, most people became aware of the "Triangle Offense" at Kansas State, where he won a number of Big Eight championships. But, your point underscores what a great contribution he has made to the history of basketball.

By the way, I was fortunate enough to be at the Marquette-Wisconsin game in December which, as you know, was the night they honored Coach Winter and the 50th anniversary of Marquette's National Catholic Championship.

Fran Fraschilla spent 23 years on the sidelines as a college basketball coach before joining ESPN this season as an broadcast analyst. He guided both Manhattan (1993, 1995) and St. John's (1998) to the NCAA Tournament in his nine seasons as a Division I head coach, leaving New Mexico following the end of the 2001-02 season.