ACC Basketball Power Rankings: Week 9
Defense! Defense! Defense!
Have you ever been to a game and heard the crowd chant that phrase? Or have you ever heard an announcer say “Defense wins championships”? Sounds crazy right? In sports it’s all about scoring more than the other team (golf being excluded of course).
Yet the saying holds merit. Look at the Super Bowl from a month ago. Denver won that game because of their amazing defense. The year before that Seattle lost because New England made a defensive stand. Two years before that, Seattle’s defense won a blowout that was decided by their stellar defense. Go throughout the annals of Super Bowl history and you will see defense after defense winning games for their teams.
It’s the same in basketball. In 2003, Karl Malone and Gary Payton, two future NBA hall of Famers, joined up in Los Angeles with Shaquille O Neal and Kobe Bryant, two other future hall of famers. With Hall of Fame coach Phil Jackson, this team was suppose to win the title. However, what was suppose to be the Lakers fourth championship in five seasons ended up being the end of an era.
The Lakers made it all the way to the finals where they ran into a Detroit Piston’s team devoid of stars. The Pistons however played defense. Despite being the more “offensive” team the Lakers lost to the Pistons in five games. Malone got injured and never played again. Shaq was traded and Phil Jackson was basically fired. Defense won the title.
So as we travel through the headlines this week, you may notice how teams that won often played just a tad better on defense than the team that lost.
Monday: Miami rebounds. Ok well offense helps too. Fresh off a pounding to North Carolina, Miami came out and beat the third ranked Cavaliers at home. The Canes did this in part to a horrific shooting night by Virginia. With the exception of senior stud Malcolm Brogdon, who had 28, no other Cav scored double figures. As the Heels learned Saturday, Virginia can play defense, but defense can only go so far if the shots aren’t falling with it.
Tuesday: Rupp is death. Kentucky won yet another game at home by 20 points for the third time in February. This time the victim was Alabama. Kentucky is just a different team at home this season. Unfortunately for Kentucky, the NCAA tourney is not being played in Lexington this year.
Wednesday: X-men take a Stand. Xavier had one really bad loss on their schedule. A 31 point shellacking at Villanova back on New Year’s eve. This past Wednesday they got revenge on the Wildcats beating them at home. The win showed the Musketeers were not only for real but also put them in consideration for a one seed. Too bad for Xavier, they followed that win with a loss to Seton Hall, flushing that one seed down the drain.
Thursday: Indiana Stays in Control of the Big Ten. Indiana entered this week with a one game lead atop the Big Ten with only three games to play. Win all three and the Hoosiers pull off a major turnaround. To add to the drama the two teams behind them, Iowa and Maryland, also happened to be Indiana’s last two games. Well Indiana did it’s part, Maryland and Iowa not so much. Both teams lost meaning a week later Indiana is up two games with two games to play. The crazy thing is that if Indiana loses out, there could be an amazing five way tie for first place in the Big Ten.
Friday: Monmouth keeps the Dream alive. After extending their head coach, former Heel guard King Rice, Monmouth went out and beat Rider. Why is this important? Because Monmouth needs to be in this tournament. Not only are they really good but they also have a fun bench. Losing this game would’ve put a knick in their precarious at large resume. Monmouth went on to clinch the MAAC Sunday night. Hopefully they will leave no doubt on Selection Sunday by winning the tournament also.
Saturday: Kansas makes 12. Last week I talked about how it has become a yearly tradition for people to pick someone other than Kansas to win the Big 12. Well Saturday night Kansas clinched a share of their 12th straight Big 12 title. Look the Big 12 is not like the SEC where their is Kentucky and no one else. The Big 12 is looking at sending 70 percent of their league to the Dance for a second consecutive season. What Bill Self has done is simply amazing.
Sunday: Karma bites back. Now you are probably wondering when I was going to address the Grayson Allen situation. I could’ve done it Thursday when he tripped the player. I could’ve done it Friday when the ACC chickened out with a “strong” reprimand. No I waited until Sunday when Duke got what it deserved, particularly in light of Coach K’s comments on the situation.
The Bottom line is this. What Grayson Allen did was wrong. He should’ve been punished and honestly he should’ve been suspended. The ACC should not encourage a player to be dirty and Allen showed he was a dirty player, because this was the SECOND time he had done this. Coach K I use to have respect for you because you are a great coach, but now I pity you because you put winning above everything else.
So why all the talk about defense? Well it was the comments Joel Berry made after the game on Saturday. Who was he calling out? Marcus Paige? Brice Johnson? Someone else? Regardless he is right, if the Heels want to win the championship they need to play defense. Defense is something any team can do. Offense requires a little more skill. Defense had an impact on this week’s rankings as well as this long ACC season.
Note: All game and records as of 2/28
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