Lost among the Trees

Sporting News, The, Jan 10, 2000 by Ron Kroichick

It's a rare day when Stanford's rugged defense plays zone, even rarer when it pressures fullcourt. But foes have yet to emerge victorious from the forest that is Stanford's front line.

This is not about frenetic fullcourt pressure or whippet-quick guards causing turnovers and dashing downcourt with abandon. This is not, as Stanford coach Mike Montgomery readily acknowledges, the classic way to dominate a basketball game with defense.

Nonetheless, the Cardinal steams into the Pac-10 season as the No. 1 college basketball team in the land, largely because of its stilling defense.

A defense planted firmly in the halfcourt

A defense built on size and long arms and a calculated commitment.

A defense reflecting the scholarly, meticulous ways of Montgomery.

Really, there is nothing fancy about Stanford's rise to power. Montgomery always has loved big, strong players, mostly because he seldom could recruit quick, athletic players to Stanford (and Montana before that). Now, as a byproduct of his success, Montgomery has a tidy mix of size and athleticism.

The Cardinal dives into January with an unbeaten record (11-0) and the best field-goal percentage defense in the nation. Stanford is holding opponents to 31.1 percent shooting, easily the lowest percentage in Division I. (Since the NCAA began keeping the statistic in 1978, the season record is 35.8, by Marquette in 1996-97.) That number should rise slightly when the Cardinal confronts some potent guards in the Pac-10, beginning this week when Arizona State and perennial powerhouse Arizona visit Maples Pavilion.

Even so, expect few opponents to operate efficiently against Stanford's mountain range near the basket. The Cardinal provided a vivid illustration about that in its first game as the No. 1 team, an emphatic victory December 21 over Mississippi State. Bulldogs center Robert Jackson--not exactly puny at 16-8, 245 pounds--wandered into the forest and never came out. He saw three consecutive shots blocked during one torturous stretch, two by slender Curtis Borchardt and one by imposing Jason Collins. By game's end, Jackson, a 60 percent shooter, was 0-for-7 from the floor and thoroughly hypnotized by Stanford's interior defense.

"It's hard to shoot over them with their wingspan," Jackson says. "They'll make you at least adjust your shot--and then you take a shot you don't want to take. After they blocked a couple, I tried to give them a pump fake. That just drew more guys to me. I don't think any team in the nation can go pound for pound with them down low. You can't play halfcourt sets against them. You've got to get up and down the court and score in transition."

Sound thinking, but Stanford resists that approach with a patient halfcourt offense. Few turnovers mean few chances for the opponent to run. It's a no-frills style rooted in hoops logic, an extension of Montgomery's personality.

He puts his defensive philosophy simply:

* Protect the basket.

* Take away the closest, highest-percentage shots and work toward leaving only the lowest-percentage shots.

* Limit fast-break shots and second shots.

* Scout with vigor; if an opponent likes to catch the ball eight feet from the basket, make him catch it 12 feet from the basket.

Call it blue-collar basketball--maybe not the most glamorous way to play, but it's an effective way. Stanford's victims on the road to No. 1--including Duke, Iowa, Auburn and Georgia Tech--will attest to that.

"I'm unwilling to give up a high-percentage shot in hopes of knocking the ball loose," Montgomery says. "I would love to have the kind of personnel through eight or nine players--long arms, fast, quick--to extend the defense and trap. That would be fun, but it's never been what we've been able to recruit consistently."

That said, Stanford's players provide five primary factors for the team's defensive success and its ascent to the top of the national rankings.

They REPEL shots

This counts as a fundamental principle: You cannot score if your shot is sailing the other way with a Stanford handprint stamped on the leather.

The Cardinal blocked 81 shots in its first 11 games; at this rate, the single-season school record of 117 will fall by the time you finish this story. Stanford swatted a school-record 12 shots in the victory over Mississippi State and then matched the record against New Hampshire last week.

Borchardt (6-11, 210) has arms that reach halfway to the stars; Jason Collins (6-11, 255) guards the basket with the ferocity of a man protecting his family, and Jason's twin brother, Jarron (6-10, 248), also plays stout defense.

"When they have two 6-10 or 6-11 guys in there, you get no easy shots and no putbacks," Mississippi State coach Rick Stansbury says. "They don't do anything different or anything special. You've just got to score over the top of them, and that's difficult"

Power forward Mark Madsen, who suffered a strained right hamstring in the season-opening victory over Duke, marvels at the mind games. Madsen sees opponents timidly drift into the lane; one Sacramento State player triple-clutched and still suffered a blocked shot.