Business is booming for college basketball offenses. Last offseason’s tweaked block-or-charge rule certainly gave the offensive player another edge, and college basketball responded with its most efficient offensive season ever.
How can opposing defensive coordinators punch back? There’s a push-pull for many between adopting an aggressive or a passive defense. Both can work. We’ve seen plenty of examples of it. You know which side of the aisle Mick Cronin-coached teams are on. The bite and downright nastiness that his defenses play with is so noticeable. Rick Pitino and Tom Izzo have a lot of those same undertones, too.
You feel them, and if you don’t match it, you’ll walk out with an L and a split lip (or worse).
Creighton is almost the opposite. Greg McDermott’s teams want to win the shot-chart game. Opponents take the shots that Creighton wants ’em to take. No team allows more midrange jumpers. Creighton refuses to foul and give up easy points at the stripe. 7-foot-1 big man Ryan Kalkbrenner, the king of verticality, builds a “Do Not Enter” wall at the rim, but you’re welcome to take as many two-point jumpers as your heart delights.
Creighton beats you with math, not muscles.
There are plenty of other innovative coaches out there doing whatever it takes to get a stop. Marquette’s ball-pressure under Shaka Smart is relentless. Joe Gallo’s 2-3 zone at Merrimack is absurd and highly entertaining. Bruce Pearl has prioritized elite-level rim protection in the portal, and now Auburn’s defense is vicious. Porter Moser uses a variety of well-timed blitzes to generate turnovers against post-ups. Seton Hall’s Shaheen Holloway and Providence’s Kim English have excellent defensive minds. McNeese State’s Will Wade uses unique triple-switching to shut down pick-and-rolls. Wade is known for his talent-accrual chops, but his defensive techniques are awesome.
Sundance Wicks led Green Bay to a remarkable…
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