Washington Huskies Mens Basketball 5 Step Success
By Bret Stuter
STEP TWO: Improve Defense
The Achilles Heel of the Washington Huskies basketball team has been team defense. But that’s been a puzzler. The team could score, but had to out of necessity. No matter what the lead, the expectation in the bleachers was that it was never enough.
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When you watch the team, there is plenty of burst. The Huskies have great wingspan, good height. There is no reason why the team cannot play good defense. In fact, nobody is more energetic on the court than David Crisp.
Nobody.
Defense Starts With Coaching
It’s as though it was never valued by the coaching staff. In actuality, defense is a far higher level of basketball than offense. From high school on, teams score. But it seems to require an NBA veteran before defensive skills truly manifest.
Now, those skills must manifest in the Washington Huskies this year. Coincidentally, the team has the right guy to turn up the heat on defense. That is Coach Mike Hopkins, whose specialty is the 2-3 zone defense.
The 2-3 zone is the bread and butter of the Syracuse Orangemen, and it has allowed that team to win over 1,000 games under Jim Boeheim. We can discuss how that east coast version of the 2-3 will work for the Washington Huskies. But for now, we’ll just stick a pin on the defense and move on to step three.