Avant
Guard
A field (of 64) guide to the new breed of penetrators who will control
the NCAA tournament
by Alexander Wolff Issue date: March 17,
1997
 Sixty-four teams spent nearly four months
trying to get in the NCAA tournament. Now that they've secured berths,
they're right back where they started, still trying to get in. Trying to
get in the lane, either to score, to get fouled or to draw the defense in
and dish the ball out for a three-pointer. "[The proliferation of] guards
who can penetrate and make plays is the biggest change in college
basketball since the jump shot," says Indiana coach Bob Knight. "These
guys get into your defense and force you to help and rotate. And every
time you rotate, it opens up a hole in your defense."
Stanford's penetrator, Knight, draws the defense to him and dishes off
for treys.
(Rod Searcey)
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The start of this week's NCAA tournament caps off the first season of
this Avant-Guard Era. Teams that couldn't tend to simple backcourt chores
like handling and shooting the ball are peeling paper off butter patties
at their postseason banquets right now. And any school without a guard
who can get the ball into the paint will soon be calling its caterer too.
Why have Kansas, Minnesota and South Carolina received three of the
highest seeds in the field?
Because the Jayhawks have the nation's best point guard (Jacque Vaughn),
the Golden Gophers have its best pair of guards (Eric Harris and Bobby
Jackson), and the Gamecocks have the best trio of guards (Larry Davis,
B.J. McKie and Melvin Watson). "The evolution of college basketball is
complete," says former Southern Cal coach George Raveling. "A generation
ago you couldn't win without a dominant post player. Now the big guy is
irrelevant. [Wake Forest's 6'10" center] Tim Duncan is the only great
inside player in a long time who has stayed in school for four years.
We'll never see another one."
The early exodus of big men to the NBA partly explains why the game's
petite are now its elite. But guards rule for other reasons:
- Elimination of the five-second closely guarded rule. This change
allows backcourtmen to wait out a defense, looking for a soft spot. "It's
not as pretty as the passing game, but if you have somebody who can
dribble and penetrate, you have an advantage," says North Carolina coach
Dean Smith. That's particularly true when the 35-second clock winds down.
- The ineffectiveness of motion offenses. Referees nowadays permit
defenders to claw their way over and around screens, and that hinders the
efficacy of the passing game. Thus screening and cutting, which were as
likely to present a forward as a guard with a shot opportunity or a path
to the hoop, have mostly given way to the drive-and-dish, for which
frontcourters need not apply. "We were relative pioneers in switching on
defense," says Knight, "but now when you take away a team's cuts and
screens by switching, they can still beat you with a guy who can
penetrate and pass."
- The three-point shot. How much of a payoff is that extra point?
Enough to make a sally into the heart of a defense worthwhile-even at the
risk of an offensive foul or a strip-if the move results in a three. In
the NBA, three-pointers come when the ball is dumped into the post and a
big man whips a pass out following a defense's double down; in college,
penetration and pitching by the guards begets treys.
The evolution of which Raveling speaks has really been a revolution, and
revolutions can be messy. Two of college basketball's hoariest
conferences, the Big East and the Big Ten, have watched their roughhouse
teams fall into eclipse because they are ineffective against opponents
with greater quickness and wider spacing. Villanova had a bounce in its
step when it went to Lexington to play Kentucky on Feb. 9. The visiting
Cats figured that with their superior size they would whup the host Cats
on the boards. But Villanova struggled even to inbound the ball against
Kentucky's withering press and turned the ball over 24 times while losing
93-56.
Meanwhile, teams with three-guard offenses have prospered. Duke hasn't
started anyone taller than 6'8" since Jan. 29, but the Blue Devils have
gone 8-3 since then and wound up with a No. 2 seed. Guards Jeff Capel,
Trajan Langdon and Steve Wojciechowski, who average 6'2", have combined
to score 37.9 points a game since becoming a three-man unit. Arizona,
Clemson, Illinois, Maryland, UCLA and UMass have all used small lineups
to good effect too. "It's hard to find size, and that's why everyone is
going to three-guard sets," says Utah coach Rick Majerus.
Vaughn is not only a top penetrator but also one of the best on-the-ball
defenders.
(Bill Frakes)
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As for those teams that have been surprises, we need look no further than
their backcourts for an explanation. Colorado has-can you resist any
opportunity to utter his name?-the estimable Chauncey Billups. St.
Joseph's won the Atlantic 10 tournament thanks to a point guard, Rashid
Bey, who can bench-press 300 pounds. Conference USA's tournament
champion, Marquette, won four games in four days even though its leader,
Aaron Hutchins, must take oxygen for half an hour before and after each
game because of a sickle-cell blood deficiency. Xavier appears to be an
X-ception to the March maxim that you need experience at guard because
starters Lenny Brown and Gary Lumpkin, though sophomores, play like
seniors, having been together for seven seasons, since junior high in New
Castle, Del.
For the next few weeks, keep your eye on the ball-and the guards who will
be handling it:
The Top Five Penetrators in the Field
Jacque Vaughn, Kansas. "He's already at half-court by the time a
team sets up its presses and traps," says Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun.
Melvin Watson, South Carolina. In two wins over Kentucky, he
turned Wildcat Anthony Epps into a wax museum piece.
Brevin Knight, Stanford. He's the college game's answer to Utah
Jazz veteran John Stockton at working the pick-and-roll.
Kiwane Garris, Illinois. "He's tremendous at drawing fouls," says
Michigan State coach Tom Izzo. Indeed, Garris set a school record for
free throws made (181) this year.
Andre Woolridge, Iowa. He's the Big Ten leader in assists and
scoring. "I think Woolridge is the MVP of the Big Ten," Knight told the
press after Iowa beat the Hoosiers on Feb. 4, "and since I've forgotten
more about the game than all of you put together, I suggest you vote for
him as well."
A Penetrating Insight
"We always try to make as many free throws as our opponents attempt,"
Dean Smith said several weeks ago while sitting in the Dean Smith office
of the Dean Smith Center. "Now look at this."
The Deanster produced a stat sheet he had just consulted during a
conference call with former assistants Roy Williams of Kansas and Eddie
Fogler of South Carolina, both of whose teams were then ranked ahead of
Smith's. Each team's stats in selected categories, along with its
opponents' totals, graced the page, and Smith had circled two figures
that explained why the Carolinians to his south were the class of the
SEC's regular season. As testament to the aggressiveness of their guard
play, the Gamecocks had made 381 free throws; their opponents had
attempted only 325. That stat bodes well for a critical task come
tournament time: holding a lead.
How to Stop Penetration
The first rule of most defenses is to refuse a penetrator admittance to
the middle, where he has a range of choices. Better to fan him to the
wings, where defensive help is more readily available and where the
sidelines serve, in effect, as extra defenders. But teams with a shot
blocker-like Iowa State, whose 6'11" center Kelvin Cato led the Big 12 in
blocks-often prefer to do exactly the opposite. "Vaughn hasn't hurt us as
much as he has other people," says Cyclones coach Tim Floyd. "We gear our
defense to funnel everything toward the middle and not provide help from
the wings like most do."
The zone defense can also be a vital tool in stopping dribble
penetration, as Syracuse proved with its improbable run to the
championship game last year. Though it's limping into the tournament with
four losses in its last seven games, Wake Forest can throw up a superb
zone that throttles all penetration. And no one wants to play Temple,
whose tricky matchup zone can leave an ill-prepared team no recourse but
to launch outside jumpers.
But for sheer shrink-wrap, man-to-man defense, here are the guards to watch.
The Best on-the-Ball Defenders
Jacque Vaughn, Kansas. He's the only player who makes the list of best
penetrators and defenders. "The toughest guy to guard in basketball is
the dribbler," says Floyd of Iowa State, "but Vaughn can do it because he
has great footwork and great balance."
Sydney Johnson, Princeton. He plays defense without sentimentality; a
year ago Brown's Eric Blackiston entered a game against the Tigers with
999 career points, and Johnson held him scoreless.
Steve Wojciechowski, Duke. North Carolina's Smith credits Wojo's huge
improvement since his freshman season to footwork attributable to a
soccer background.
Eric Harris, Minnesota. He ranked second in the Big Ten in steals, while
his backcourt mate, Bobby Jackson, was third.
Cameron Dollar, UCLA. He had seven steals in one game against a good Cal
team and had three or more in 14 games.
Why Kansas Is the Favorite to Win It All
A key to Kentucky's national title last spring was forward Antoine
Walker. He served a sort of drive-and-dish function from the forecourt,
flashing through the middle, taking passes there and returning the ball
to shooters beyond the three-point line. Similarly, top-ranked Kansas
goes into this year's tournament as the favorite because the Jayhawks can
effectively penetrate a defense in a variety of ways:
- Vaughn breaks down his defender on the dribble or runs the
old-fashioned pick-and-roll with frontcourt players Raef LaFrentz, Paul
Pierce or Scot Pollard
- Pierce flashes into the middle and takes a pass from the wing.
- Guard Jerod Haase stampedes along the baseline, looking for a hoop, a
foul or a pitchout for a three, often to reserve swingman Billy Thomas.
- The Jayhawks run a traditional motion offense, which is still
devastatingly effective because they have threats both inside (LaFrentz
and Pollard) and out (Haase, Pierce, Thomas and Vaughn).
The Cold War Is Over, and the Russians Won
Rick Pitino, the college game's earliest exponent of the three-point
shot, says he took inspiration for his tone-setting offense from the
spread-it-and-swish-it Soviet teams of the 1980s. Going into the 1986-87
season, the one in which the three-pointer was introduced into the U.S.
college game, Pitino, then coaching Providence, decided he wanted the
Friars to launch at least 20 treys a game. But just before the season
began, Providence hosted an exhibition game against the Soviets and had
to come from behind to win as the visitors squeezed off 30
three-pointers. "That's when I raised our goal to 25 a game," says
Pitino. With guards Billy Donovan, Delray Brooks and Carlton Screen
penetrating and kicking the ball out, the Friars made the '87 Final Four.
A decade later the rest of college basketball has caught on. We-and
Pitino's defending NCAA champs at Kentucky-will soon find out if anyone
has caught up.
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