Jan. 15, 2005

Charleston, SC - Some basketball coaches swear by man-to-man defense. For much of his career, Bob Knight would rather have guest-hosted on "The View" for a week than coach a zone.

For other coaches, zone defense is the only way to go. Syracuse's Jim Boeheim produced a video called "Jim Boeheim's Complete Guide to the 2-3 Match-Up Zone Defense." For $39.95, you too can learn the concepts that carried Boeheim's Orangemen to the 2003 national championship.

At The Citadel, coach Pat Dennis also is wedded to a defensive concept. It could be called "whatever works", and includes an array of man defense, zone looks and full-court presses that is baffling foes thus far.

"I tell our guys, 'We're not great in any one of our defenses,'" said Dennis, whose 10-3 Bulldogs play at hot-shooting Furman today. "But in our package, we're pretty good in a lot of different defenses." Whatever the formula, it is working for The Citadel. Off to their best start since 1982, the Bulldogs rank No. 20 in the nation in field-goal percentage defense (38.4 percent), and are second in the Southern Conference in scoring defense (allowing 62.1 points per game) and No. 1 in defending the 3-point shot. Teams are making only 29.2 percent of their 3-pointers against The Citadel.

The Bulldogs' perimeter defense will face its stiffest test today at Furman. The Paladins rank No. 3 in the nation in 3-point shooting (44.4 percent) and boast the top four 3-point shooters in the SoCon -- Robby Bostain (51.7 percent), Ben Earle (48.3), Eric Webb (46.4) and Tony Carter (43.8).

"No doubt about it. We've got to know where their shooters are," point guard Kevin Hammack said.

Georgia Southern found the Bulldogs' mix of defenses -- ranging from 1-3-1 and 2-3 zones to man-to-man pressure -- particularly puzzling last weekend. The Eagles shot just 29.2 percent and made only 3 of 23 shots (13 percent) from 3-point range in a 76-65 loss at McAlister Field House. Two days later, GSU shot 46.3 percent and hit 6 of 19 3-pointers (31.6 percent) in a 90-72 win over College of Charleston.

"I've never had a team shoot as poorly as we did in that game," said GSU coach Jeff Price. "You can get away with one or two guys missing shots, but when eight guys are missing shots, you have problems. Pat and his guys are doing a good job with their defense."

The Bulldogs' commitment to playing a variety of defenses means extra work for Citadel players, as they have to perfect their assignments in multiple sets.

"We throw a lot of things at you, but it's high maintenance," Dennis said. "We have to work at it constantly, and it probably hurts us on the offensive end. We're not as fluid on offense as we'd like to be.

"But I like playing this way. When I first took this job, we did it more and then I got away from it, and that was probably a mistake. When you are multiple, teams don't know quite what to expect and when one thing not working, there are other things to go to."

Hammack said practice time is divided up about 50-50 between offense and defense.

"We have a lot of defenses, and it seems like even more because we have variations of all of them," Hammack said. "It's tough to learn at first, but we've been working at it from day one and we've learned how to talk to each other and match up our defenses pretty well."

The Bulldogs' defense has improved since the season's start. Each of the first three opponents shot better than 40 percent, but only two foes in the last 10 games have cracked the 40-percent mark -- Clemson (44.8) and Chattanooga (43.4). Not coincidentally, the Bulldogs lost both games.

The Citadel has been particularly good at guarding the 3-point shot. Over the last three games, Chattanooga, GSU and Savannah State have combined to hit just 7 of 55 from 3-point land (12.7 percent).

"We're trying to keep teams off balance," Dennis said. "So far, we've done it pretty well and the kids are taking pride in their defense."