Full-court pressure will be on full display

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Two full-court pressure teams meet in the first round of the NCAA tournament today inside HSBC Arena.

Clemson and Missouri play nearly the same way, harassing opponents the entire length of the court. But how they arrived at using the defense is quite different.

Missouri coach Mike Anderson is a believer. He learned the "40 minutes of hell" style under Nolan Richardson at Arkansas. He deployed it at UAB and now at Missouri.

Clemson coach Oliver Purnell says it's a mistake to think he is purely a system coach. Purnell has used other styles elsewhere as a head coach. For Purnell, the full-court pressure is a necessity to compete in the ACC.

"I felt like we were going to get a lot of great athletes before we were going to be able to get great basketball players," Purnell said, "because of the recruiting base, because of who we were recruiting against."

Purnell's work at Dayton landed him on the list of attractive mid-major coaching commodities after leading the Flyers to the NCAA tournament in 2003.

Purnell used a style at Dayton much different from his up-tempo play at Clemson.

"We went to a wall, half-court man which is almost like a zone," Purnell said. "We played that way the entire time I was there (nine seasons). With the recruiting base that's what we were going to be able to recruit, a lot of big kids up in Ohio, big farm boys. I try to tailor the system to the kind of players we are going to have."

Before his work at Dayton, Purnell had taken another David to the Goliath-heavy postseason -- Old Dominion. That's where his belief in the press was strengthened, after first learning the defense first under his high school coach Ward Lambert.

"(Old Dominion) had come off a losing season," said Purnell of his first season in 1991-92. "They had lost a first-round draft choice (Chris Gatling). I said 'how can we win in this league?' We had some athletes, but our center was small, 6-4, and so we just resolved to press with that group. And with that group we went to 2 NITs and the NCAA (tournament), averaging 20 wins a season."

It was then Purnell formed his doctrine of how to win with an undersized group.

The press is similar to military strategies for smaller, unconventional units to compete with larger ones. The press stretches the field of competition, rather than condensing the action into the half-court, which places a premium on size.

As author Malcolm Gladwell noted in a story related to the full-court press, it's why T.E. Lawrence (better known as Lawrence of Arabia) elected to attack along vast, extended areas rather than at a fortified, fixed positions.

Anderson saw the basketball strategy win a title at Arkansas.

"We disrupt what they want to do," Anderson said. "(Opponents) practice running difference sets, hopefully it gets them out of that and gets us some easy baskets."

Anderson took Missouri to the Elite Eight last season. Richardson won a national title, and Louisville's Rick Pitino is the only coach to take three difference teams to the Final Four, using full-court pressure.

So why isn't the press more widely used? Anderson said it's because of the "risk factor."

The style allows easy baskets, and perhaps more important, not all recruits want to exert so much of their energy on defense.

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But if Purnell could handpick McDonald's All-Americans he would have a hybrid approach

"We would be a team that could play at every tempo," Purnell said. "We wouldn't press quite as much -- press some maybe after free throws. We would play like (Mike) Krzyzewski did with the Olympic Team. Press after free throws ... in the half-court switch everything, all your guys would be 6-7. I have got all the tapes it is just fun to watch, you've got Kobe Bryant and LeBron James on the wings."

But until the era of handpicked All-Americans arrives at Clemson pressure defense will be a trademark.

The style has worked in the regular season for Purnell. Now will it work in March?

Reach Travis Sawchik at tsawchik@postandcourier.com and check out his Clemson blog at www.postandcourier.om/blogs/tiger_tracks