Is Team Defense Dead in College Basketball?
“Once upon a time” the fable goes, but in this case, it was not a story but a fact. Prior to the days of “individual on the ball pressure,” there was an emphasis on team or “help” defense from the other four players. Oh, there is still the phrase “help defense,” but today it pertains more or less to one individual recognizing that a teammate has been beaten on a play, and rotating over to help stop the individual who has broken free. The key phrase here is “team.” Case in point is the UCLA press, which led the Bruins to back-to-back national championships in 1964 and 1965. The ’64 Bruins had no starter over 6’5″ but won all 30 games that season by employing the most terrifying defense of its day: the 3-1–1 full-court zone press. Built upon the team concept, the front three men swarmed the inbounds ball, pressuring the offensive player to immediately try to dribble out of it and be double-teamed or pass blindly out of it, often intercepted by the second line of defense. The final line o
