Winging it

Sporting News, The, March 6, 2000 by Luciana Chavez

Lacking size? Here's how to move that small forward out on the wing for a potent three-guard attack. But against this season's crop of big men, that might not be enough.

Ohio State's game at Indiana had barely reached the first television timeout. It was way too early for Ohio State head coach Jim O'Brien to be breaking into a cold sweat.

Sure, the Buckeyes were trying to come off a disappointing; lackluster performance at Michigan State. Also, O'Brien's back was throbbing from a ruptured disk that has slowed him all season. Two days earlier, he even had spent much of the day flat on his back while his assistants traipsed to his home for meetings.

The pain, that was one thing. Seeing the Buckeyes' biggest post player already in foul trouble, that was another. Center Ken Johnson, a wholesale shot blocker, picked up his second foul with 15:20 left in the first half.

Now, Ohio State can hoop it up with the best in the country. A solid candidate for a No. 2 NCAA tourney seed, the Buckeyes are solid contenders to repeat last season's Final Four run. They brought back all five starters and have the nation's top three-guard lineup in Scoonie Penn, Michael Redd and Brian Brown.

But if the Buckeyes are anything, they are woefully thin on the front line. Having to put Johnson on the bench so early against the Hoosiers was a nightmare come true.

And there's the rub for Ohio State. No matter how much skill they have on the outside, the Buckeyes can't sprout another 6-11 center by throwing fertilizer and water on the next guy on the bench. Yet the elite teams in this year's probable tourney field are big. If you want a real shot at that ugly, wooden trophy, you'll have to beat a Stanford, a Cincinnati or an Arizona somewhere along the line.

But how do you do it when you are a team like Ohio State, which is neither big enough nor deep enough in the front court?

Well, don't feel too sorry for the Buckeyes. O'Brien was able to forget his back pain at Indiana, and a strong second half carded the Buckeyes to victory. In fact they won easily, thanks to solid defense, clutch 3-point shooting by future point guard Brent Darby and dominance on the boards, 45-to-32.

Plus, three-guard offenses are all the rage this season. First, it's easier to recruit from a much wider pool of talented perimeter players. Mother Nature doesn't pump the 7-footers through the Xerox machine like she does 6-2 guys who can shoot and handle the ball. Second, it allows a team to put more quickness and skill on the floor.

Four teams in TSN's Top 25--Ohio State, Iowa State, Oregon and Tulsa--rely on a three-guard attack, and others such as Oklahoma, Indiana and Texas have used similar lineups at different times this season. The Hoosiers went to three guards against the Buckeyes the night Johnson got into quick foul trouble. Kentucky plays with four ballhandlers and center Jamaal Magloire. And NCAA tourney candidates Seton Hall and Missouri rely on the lineup, too.

The addition of the 3-point line and 35-second shot clock have created a quicker game, better suited for players who can handle the ball, penetrate and shoot from outside. You don't have to have a 7-footer to develop into an elite NCAA team these days. Variations to a three-guard offense--Arizona in 1997 with swingman Michael Dickerson and Connecticut in 1999 with swingman Richard Hamilton--have won two of the last three NCAA rifles.

"A lot of teams use it because they're looking to shoot the ball," Seton Hall coach Tommy Amaker says. "It's a lost art--being able to make open jump shots. When you're more perimeter oriented, it gives you the opportunity to make those jump shots and play more aggressively and create offensively."

It's not hard to spot a three-guard look, but it still is a fluid, dynamic thing--three players working off the perimeter and using quickness, ballhandling and penetration, often interchangeably, to create shots. An open 3 over a man who has backed off a smidge becomes as viable an option as driving past a defender who is trying to belly up. The key is spreading the defense, which creates lanes to the basket for guards and space around the basket for post players.

The beauty of the extra pass is not lost in tiffs offense, either. The phrase "one more" is a Buckeye mantra, reminding everyone to make the additional pass to find the open man.

Defensively, you trade size on the block for quickness to the ball, though shorter and quicker doesn't necessarily translate into a run-and-gun mentality. Three-guard offenses have to make rebounding a bigger priority for all five players on the floor.

"It's a trade-off," says O'Brien, whose guard trio provides nearly 40 percent of the team's rebounding. "We feel it's more important to keep our guards home to rebound. It me last-break opportunity is there, we'll take it, but we don't feel we have the luxury to force it ... so it doesn't enable us to play quite as fast as, say, a Michigan State."

The Buckeyes emphasize blocking out in every practice. In fact, there were constant reminders flying earlier in the week before the Indiana game. Stay home. Who were you blocking out? You could have hustled to that rebound.