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Message: [QUOTE="Papa33, post: 2578131, member: 682"] For what it's worth, I played high school varsity ball in Ohio for three years. I was best at defense and rebounding because I could jump: at 5'11" I could grab the rim and even dunked a couple times (springy floor, I suspect), but my ball-handling was only ok. And I coached high school ball for 28 years, 8 years with young men, 20 with young women. So what did I learn? To appreciate defense, but even more, how daunting it is to take a new or replenished group each year and coach them well enough to be able to predict their responses in games. And how damnably hard it is to take a single "simple" maneuver like setting and using a screen effectively: set the screen at the right place, not too early, not too late, and at the right angle; and for the cutter not to move too early or too late and, most difficult it seems, how to set up the approach angle and scrape the defender off the screen. If [I]any [/I]one of those details is off, the screen doesn't work, especially against good defenders — for example, those from MSU last season. Nothing comes easily, even for the most athletic and intelligent players and the most dedicated coaches. I love to watch for those details during the games (and while examining the playbacks). Amazingly, UConn makes it all work a remarkably high percentage of the time. Coaches and players are willing to invest the time and effort and not tolerate inattention to the little pieces. [/QUOTE]