Some notes from head caoch Darrin Horn of South Carolina:
*Two Defensive Keys:
1. What is our identity?
-It doesn't matter what it is necessarily, it just matters that you have one that you and your players firmly believe in. "What do we want to be about?" You have to ask yourself and it needs to be something that you and your players say "This is who we are. This is what we hang our hats on."
2. What are we willing to live with?
-Every defense has a fallback. We want to pressure you the length of the court and because of this, we will give up some easy layups. So, you must ask yourself "What are you willing to give up?"
*Two non-negotiables we have in our program:
1. Don't give up middle
2.Pressure (length and versatility are a must for us)
-At South Carolina they aren't very technical, it's more of a matter of "just get it done". Because
of this, as much of their drills is about creating a mentality than anything else.
-What we believe: play hard and play with trust that your teammate will be there to help you.
-The method we take in instilling our defensive philosophy is whole-part-whole. We'll show them everything, break it down and then build it back up.
-Every drill, everything we do defensively has to be loud. There needs to be a talking aspect to everything we do.
-The most important steps in conversion defense are the first 3. You must sprint these out.
