Paze 10

BASKETBALL FROM ALL ANGLES
By Joseph M, Sheehan

NEW YORK TIMES, Jan, 7, 1940 ---

Notwithstanding an apparent trend to the offense in the game, most of
the conversation at yesterday's luncheon of the Metropolitan Basketball Writers
Association at the Hotel Lincoln was devoted to defense,

Dave Walsh, veteran official, made the prevalent neglect of this phase
of play the central theme of his discourse on "What's Wrone with Basketball,"
On the other hand, Honey Russell, Seton Hall coach, asserted that his emphasis
on defense was a contributing factor to the New Jersey team's %2-game winning
streak,

No longer an active whistle-blower in his capacity as associate di-
rector (to Asa Bushnell) of the College Basketball Officials Bureau, Walsh poi-
hted out that "the value of a basket has been cheapened" because of the reluc-
tance of the defensive side to come and get the ball,

"In any game where a ball is involved the ball has value," Walsh main-
tained, "With the ten-second rule the defensive team no longer makes a play for
it, but packs in around its basket and waits for the attacking side to bring it
down the floor, As a result basketball is being played on less than half the
court,

"With possession reverting to the defensive side after a successful
shot, the tendency is to give the offense all the time it wants for "picture
shots" from way out and concentrate on retrieving the ball, As I see it, this
is bad for the came, and I'm not speaking from the official's point of view,
for it means more work when there is aggressive guarding all over the court,"

At the same time Walsh hailed the progress made in this sector in at-
taining uniform interpretation of troublesome plays, "Our officials now are
absolutely consistent in their decisions," he stated, "We are sticking to the
rule book 100 per cent, and no Eastern or visiting team will have the slightest
difficulty if it does likewise,"

In analyzing the success of his Seton Hall team Russell said that one
of his "few fixed ideas on basketball" was that “defense is paramount." "The
fewer points the other team makes the fewer you have to get," he declared, "We
emphasize defense all the time, and now and then use what I call a 'Blitzkrieg!
defense, in which we guard all over the court,"

Material in such quantity that he is able to use two and even three
distinct teams on an alternate basis was willingly admitted by Russell as an-
other factor at East Orange, N, J, “And then our players aren't so smart that
they think they don't have to drive and run to win," Honey added,

Howard Cann, in telling "Why N, Y, U. clicks," also stressed the im-
portance of condition and its manifestation in relentless moving and driving,
"We go in for calisthenics, apparatus work and rope skipping to get our boys h
shape," the Violet mentor said, "There's one mistake high school coaches make,
They do a fine job technically, but they ought to pay more attention to develo-
ping their players physically,"

(continued on page 11)