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December 3, 2008
HACK'N'SLAP DEFENSE--a style of defense developed, or at least popularized, by UCLA Coach Ben Howland and later adapted by KU's Bill Self. This style of defense involves defensive hand contact with the offensive player on EVERY attempt at putting the ball on the floor, passing, or shooting, as well as wrist slapping on every rebound and swipes whenever possible on players setting picks and screens. The object of the defense, in addition to disrupting the opponent and provoking him into making flagrant fouls in frustration, is to condition the referees to expect contact on every movement, so that the referees after whistling a few early fouls permit this sort of fouling the rest of the game, thus favoring the team best coached at committing it. Howland and UCLA successfully applied the hack'n'slap defense to KU's 2006-2007 squad in the Elite Eight, leaving an exceptionally good KU squad looking frustrated and confused and defeated. Bill Self immediately the following year integrated his adaptation of the hack'n'slap into the already vaunted SELFDEFENSE in 2007-2008, and that team's defense became the greatest defensive team of all time in college basketball. Howland reputedly developed the hack'n'slap in his early coaching years at Weber State, where playing nonconference games against teams with greater talent caused outclassed players to foul desparately and often. In small venue blowouts, in the then equivalent of D1 basketball's bush leagues, referrees were observed to swallow their whistles after a few calls to keep the game going. Howland apparently intuited that if this style of defense were taught and applied systematically from the opening tip off, the course of the games officiating could be influenced in favor of his teams style of defense. He took the defense to Pitt where he promptly won big with a higher grade of talent hacking and slapping and then to UCLA where he has taken the hacking and slapping Bruins to three straight Final Fours. The hack'n'slap can be distinguished from thug ball in that the hack'n'slap is not intended to intimidate the opponent. It is intended to irritate and frustrate and disrupt the opponent. UCLA's teams, and now KU's teams, are not as intimidating to play (though with the right material they certainly can be intimidating too), as they are irritating and stifling to play. Howland, viewing KU's National Championship success with a combination of SELFDEFENSE and Howland Hack'n'slap last season can be expected to embrace SELFDEFENSE in combo with his hack'n'slap in pursuit of a new equilibrium defensive strategy at UCLA to contend with KU. TRINITARIAN CHURCH--the sect of basketball coaches, sports commentators, and fans holding the quasi-religious conviction that the best way to play the game, since the three point stripe has been added, is to build a team around three point shooters and making an large percentage of field goal attempts be three point attempts. The reigning Pontiff of this sect is Slick Rick Pitino of Louisville, who once won a ring playing this way at UK. Skeptics, often referred to by those in the sect as "Basketball Evil Doers," are quick to point out: a) Pitino had such great talent the year he won it all that he could have won playing any style; and b) he has never duplicated the championship with the same three point emphasis.
Comments
NavyHawk (anonymous) says...
Good points jaybate, I agree with the analysis of UCLA's victory over Kansas. I would add that the refs allowed the UCLA players, while on defense, to body slam every KU player at the top of the key whenever the KU man was transiting from one side to the other. This was a "flagrant" and successful attempt to both slow down and wear down KU's offensive movement with, or without, the ball. As you stated about refs being unwilling to slow down the game with excessive whistles, I seem to recall only one foul of that nature being called early in the game and no warning ever given to coach Howland of followup calls. So, the refs declined to make it an issue. Surprisingly, coach Self never seemed to get on the refs about it. Personally, I felt at the time it was having a big impact on KU's ability to play half-court offense.
December 3, 2008 at 4:58 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )