Friday, May 16, 2008

Attention to detail: Defending baseline out of bounds

Talk about attention to detail: I recently re-watched several college games from this past season on Tivo. One thing I noticed was how good Bruce Pearl's University of Tennessee team defended baseline out of bounds. UT had their biggest player (usually the 5 man) over the ball. They'd switch everything and deny the entry pass.

It's a great example of taking a lot of pride in and paying close attention to a special situation like defending an in-bounds along the baseline. Effectively defending 6-8 of these during a game could be the difference in a win or loss. Plus, if you execute to perfection, it might cost your opponent a time out.