[ 'The Watchdog of the Basket

of the basket. It has often er-

roneously been said that a good
offense is the best defense. It has been my
experience that a sterling defense, coupled
with a better-than-average offense, will
more often than not defeat a sterling of-
fense possessed of a near-superior defense.

The common conception of teamwork is
that it applies only to the offense. In
reality, however, it operates at its best on
the defense. This misconception can be
attributed to the fact that, in the early
development of the game, the players in
possession of the ball were the centers of
attraction, and the players not in posses-
sion drew very little attention. In this
ever-changing kaleidoscopic speed game of
basketball, new variations of defense must
be improvised.

The hyper-fast break has placed new
burdens on both the guards and the of-
ficials. The present game is much more
difficult to officiate. In the present game,
it is also much more difficult for a team to
acquire the proper guarding technique. To
ease the burden of the guard, the rules
committee now permits a player five per-
sonal fouls instead of four before ejection
from the game.

Much of the offensive drills are sheer
fun because there is the ball-handling con-
nected with this fundamental feature. But
guarding technique is work, and hard
work. A young player will practice, even
alone, goal and free shooting by the hour
because it is fun. Few players, however,
in off moments will ever attempt to prac-
tice guarding technique to improve their
defensive prowess. All players want pos-
session of the ball so that they can shoot
at the basket. Therefore, a versatile coach
will improvise competitive fundamental
drills wherein the guard is glorified. Dur-
ing these practice sessions an opportunity
is given the coach to drive home needed
lessons.

A good guard will hound the ball. He
should always be found between his op-
ponent and the basket. This is the first
fundamental that should never be neg-
lected.

A wily guard will never let the opposi-
tion slip in behind him. He will play the
ball and not the man. A crafty guard al-
ways knows how to use his weight to ad-
vantage without fouling. All prospective
guards should take boxing lessons. The
boxing skills develop finished guarding
technique. The guard should always be
on top of the ball, and when he cannot get
it, he should cover his opponent. The boy
who spends the greater part of his child-
hood romping with a playful dog may be-

To guard is the bipedal watchdog

for DECEMBER, 1944

developed to a high degree.

By Forrest C, Allen
Basketball Coach, University of Kansas

come, in his college years, a star basketball
guard, for he has learned from the animal
certain instinctive movements which will
aid him in diagnosing the fundamental
movements of his opposing forwards and
centers in his future basketball career. By
learning how to meet these instinctive
feints and bounds of his early animal
companion, the intuitive guard will in var-
sity competition be more able to divine
the next movements of his basketball op-
ponent. Some coaches describe this un-
canny sense of the guard as the sixth sense.
Truly, it is an instinctive reaction which is
These in-
stinctive reactions must be stronger in the
guard than in his opponents, or he will not
succeed.

A versatile guard outthinks his oppo-
nent and beats him to position play. A
successful guard knows his areas so well
that he may intentionally leave a position
apparently unguarded for the purpose of
drawing his opponent into a trap. By hav-
ing perfect confidence in his own strength
and agility, the guard will feign a certain
inertia or lassitude to encourage his op-
ponent to attempt a shot in supposedly
uncovered territory.

Much after the manner of a cat lying
near a rat hole watching for the escape of
the rodent, does the guard torment his
opponent. The cat, thoroughly relaxed and
at a distance from the hole, will encourage
the rat to attempt an escape. Being in-
stinctively possessed with a confidence in
her own power, the cat will leap upon her
prey and exterminate it. So should the
basketball guard know his own physical
powers and the territory that he can suc-
cessfully control. Such a guard will have
poise and power and confidence and a con-
tagious enthusiasm that bodes ill for an
opponent who attempts an offensive thrust
into his territory. A versatile and aggres-
sive guard will combine all the qualities of
leadership at his command to ward off the
offensive thrusts of two opponents. Only
when outnumbered in manpower is the
guard in danger.

A highly successful coach uses neither
a, straight man-for-man nor a strictly zone
defense. He uses a combination of both
because a straight man-for-man has its
weaknesses, but not as many weaknesses
as a zone, and a straight zone has weak-
nesses that are easily overcome. A man-
for-man defense with the zone principle
will pay splendid dividends.

When a single guard is forced to play
two offensive men, he learns to play the
principle of the zone defense, yet he plays
the man with the ball and also keeps a
weather eye for the other potential scorer.

I prefer to teach my defensive funda-
mentals through competition. We place
this primary guard seven feet under, and
in front of, the basket. He can thwart any
close drives to the basket, and at the same
time harass his opponents, should they at-
tempt to shoot.

The two offensive men in Diagram | are
to locate themselves in any favorable posi-
tion that they prefer before the ball is
tossed to one of them by the coach. They
are expected to dribble, pivot, pass and cut .
in, and endeavor to draw the guard out of

position before shooting. Five tries are

permitted these offensive men. If either
one of the offensive men illegally starts a
dribble, commits a violation or makes a
foul, then one point is scored for the de-

fense. As long as there are no fouls by

either side, play continues. If the guard
fouls, one point is scored against the guard.
There is a total of five points counted for
five successful tries.

If the guard is successful in breaking up
the play of the two offensive men without
a field goal being scored upon him, the
guard wins. If the offense scores two goals
out of the five, the offense wins. A tie
score would result, when the offensive side
scores one goal out of five tries. Naturally
the more goals scored by the offense, the
more emphatic would be the offensive vic-
tory in the five tries. :

The men are rotated, each man on the
squad taking the guard’s position. This
rotation also includes the offensive men
until every man on the squad has had both
offensive and defensive training on attack
and defense. The scores of each perform-
er’s effort should be recorded. Consistent-
ly outstanding performers will invariably
attract attention. There is no better meth-
od of teaching team fundamentals than —
through such competitive practice drills.

During the defensive drills, the coach

centers on defensive pedagogy teaching

that the defensive guard is a wary per- .
former. Never will he let either of the
two forwards slip in behind him, nor will
he go out too deep and leave his goal un-
defended. As new situations arise, he will
know just when to advance or to retreat.
Should the offense attempt a shot from
out in front, he will constantly project his
physique and his personality into both the
visual and the mental paths of the shoot-
er. Neither will he ever turn his back
upon either opponent for a moment. As
an aid to efficient footwork, he will inter-
change between the first baseman’s step
and the boxer’s stance, as occasion de-
mands.

The plan of teaching defense, using five

(Continued on page 32)

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