They may seem in stark contrast, the Duke and Nevada-Las Vegas teams that play Monday for the national championship, but in fact they are both old-fashioned throwbacks. They are throwbacks to a simpler age, to those times when lines were clean, when approaches were simple, and where worth was defined by the amount of sweat involved.
If they were artists, they would produce the starkly realistic pictures of Andrew Wyeth, not the psychedelic patterns of Peter Max. If they were writers, they would author the simple sentences of Ernest Hemingway, not the streams of consciousness of James Joyce. If they were musicians, they would belt out the straightforward rock `n` roll of the `50s, not the
technologically induced screeches of the `80s.
You and me, they both say, as if each were a boxer about to bare his soul in a ring. There, between the ropes, there is no place to hide, and that is just the result both these teams produce when they come at you with their defenses.
”We are,” says Vegas coach Jerry Tarkanian, ”maybe the only two teams who play the kind of pressure defense we do.
”Basketball has changed so much from pressure defenses to combination zones. It began to change when (Michigan State coach Jud) Heathcote won the national championship (in 1979) with a matchup zone. People started going to combination defenses then, and there are teams now who run maybe eight or 10 different defenses. But UNLV and Duke play one defense. Neither one of us are gimmick teams. We both believe in going after you.”
”I think,” says Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, ”that both teams can put real good pressure on the ball. Really, the principles of both defenses are exactly the same. Because of their athletes and our athletes it may look a little different, but I think they are pretty much the same.”
That, then, is the singular characteristic that promises to personify their Monday meeting, this pressure defense extended high. But even the simplest of pictures is created from individual lines, and, in the same way, these teams create their pressure in ways that are subtly different.
Vegas attacks the ball, and that means this for the Duke guards. It means that while under assault, they must keep their eyes on the basket to see what opportunities might pop open underneath.
”Vegas says,” says Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun, ”we`re not going to give you a dribble. We`re not going to give you a pass. We`re not going to give you a breath.”
Duke positions itself, and that means this for the Vegas offense. It means it must fan out and spread the floor, and then attack the gaps the spacing is designed to create. ”Duke,” continues Calhoun, ”comes up and denies your total offense, but they don`t come up and challenge you to go by them the way Vegas does.
”So I think you have to flip that image of the Runnin` Rebels versus Mike`s defense. Duke`s a good defensive team, but a tremendous offensive team. They were the most-skilled offensive team we played (in the East Regional final), and have five players who can do something with the ball. Vegas is a good offensive team, but a great defensive team.”
UNLV, it should be noted, does play some zone, yet its foundation is surely a man-to-man that features the impressive Stacey Augmon.
Yet Duke is hardly a one-man band, as it was in the Final Four a year ago with an offense featuring soloist Danny Ferry. Now, besides Henderson, the Blue Devils also have Alaa Abdelnaby and Christian Laettner, who over the last three games have combined for 127 points and 59 rebounds while shooting 68 percent from the field.
”Teams get certain identities,” Krzyzewski says, wrapping it all up.
”Our identity is mostly defense, but this team is more balanced offensively than any team I`ve had. Vegas has always had the image of running loose, but what always impressed me was how hard they played.”
”It took people a long time to understand how good defense we play,”
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adds Tarkanian. ”Tomorrow, both teams will play great defense.”
”There isn`t a secret to anything,” concludes UNLV`s Larry Johnson with the most-cogent statement of all. ”The only secret is who`s going to win the game.”