The coach's take

Sports Illustrated asked coaches and assistants who this season have broken down hours of tape preparing game plans against the Final Four teams to tell us what they saw and offer insights on how to play those teams. They were guaranteed anonymity in return for their candor. Here are some of their observations.

How to beat Indiana "Indiana kills you with the three-point shot," says an assistant whose team lost to the Hoosiers in the NCAAs. "[Guards] Tom Coverdale, Dane Fife and Kyle Hornsby are all unbelievable streak shooters. All three will try threes in any situation—in transition, off screens, on a kick-out. Plus, [forward] Jared Jeffries is a lot of trouble in the paint, but you can't double him because he's an excellent passer and he'll find the open guy for a clean look. Don't have a guard fully double down on Jeffries. What you have to do is play him strong in the post with one defender, and then, when the ball goes in to him, have a guard take a quick slap at the ball, then close back out on the shooter. If you do it this way, Jeffries might throw up 30 on you, but the perimeter guys won't be shooting open threes. "If Coverdale can't play, that's a huge difference, because [backup point guard Donald] Perry is athletic, but he's not a good shooter. That gives you a lot more options defensively. "Defensively the Hoosiers play very solid, man-to-man defense. They get over screens and take away the catch-and-shoot, as they did to [Kent State's Trevor] Huffman. But they have a couple of weaknesses. First, they're not real quick; you can break them down with dribble penetration. Second, their basic post defense is not very good. If you have a good low-post player, Jeffries and Jeff Newton will try to block his shot, but they're not very physical inside."

How to beat Oklahoma "Stay tight on Hollis Price regardless of what's happening elsewhere on the floor," says an assistant whose team lost to the Sooners in the NCAAs. "All he needs is a split second to get his shot off. You'd much rather have him driving than shooting the jumper. Point guard Quannas White is dangerous from three-point range and can shoot off the dribble, but when he drives in the paint, he's looking to pass. Stay in front of him, make him score over the top. If you let him get inside, your big men have to help, and then [center] Jabahri Brown and [forward] Aaron McGhee will hurt you on the offensive glass. McGhee's going to do one of two things: post up, turn and shoot or step out and take a 15- to 18-footer. He can knock down threes if he's wide open and standing still. He won't dribble drive, so stay on him. Brown hurts you by running from the high post for offensive rebounds and tip-ins. We assigned a guy to just keep Brown off the glass. We told him, 'We don't care if you get the rebound, we don't care what you do, just block him out.' [Guard] Ebi Ere is a set three-point shooter. He's very good at using screens to curl into the paint, catch and shoot." "Limit their extra possessions," says another assistant. "All the loose balls they get, all the second and third shots -- they feed on that. They start believing, We've got 'em. They're dead."

How to beat Maryland "Transition is their biggest weapon," says an assistant whose team lost to the Terps in the NCAAs. "[Point guard] Steve Blake and [guard] Juan Dixon make good decisions, and [power forward] Chris Wilcox and [center] Lonny Baxter can really run. They don't have many weaknesses, and they're very good on the offensive glass. Dixon is the key. He's the guy that's going to make plays for them, and they run a lot of offense for him. All these different sets they've got, probably a third of them are for him. Blake you have to play straight up and make him go east and west. Don't let him go north and south. If he gets near the basket, that's a problem because he has guys who can finish. You have to guard Drew Nicholas. He's their best three-point shooter. If you say we're going to play horse, he's the guy. Swingman Byron Mouton is streaky. He's a guy you can play off of and help contain Blake and have your stopper on Dixon. So Mouton will get your weakest defender. "They're not great defenders. I think they're a little susceptible off the dribble. I also think you can screen them. They don't switch a lot. You can spread them out a little bit and dribble by them. Pound it inside as much as possible because their big guys, Baxter in particular, are foul prone. Just don't get in a running-up-and-down-the-floor kind of game."

How to beat Kansas "All the talk has been about how fast they are, but they're also a great defensive team," says an assistant whose team lost to the Jayhawks in the NCAAs. "Their defense is 70 percent pressure man-to-man and 30 percent point zone, which is so effective because they have such big, long players. Nearly 99 percent of the time after they miss, they'll run their man-to-man pressure defense. You can be effective against the pressure defense with hard screens and by penetrating. The problem is, if you attack, watch out for forwards Nick Collison and Drew Gooden, great shot blockers. "Most of their offense is generated off the fast break. They also run a three-, four- or five-man motion offense, and if they have one weakness, this is it. If you can take the first or second pass out of their motion, you force them into a one-on-one situation, which without question isn't their strength. This team has a lot of leaders, but Hinrich is the leader. He looks totally healthy. Boschee is a great shooter with a quick release and is an adequate defender, but you can beat him off the dribble."

Issue date: April 1, 2002

 

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