By Phil Ford

Maybe my third or fourth game as a Carolina coach, we were running our offense, sharing the ball, getting it inside, kicking it back outside, missing two-foot jump hooks and open shots. The other team was taking shots with a hand in their face, taking tough shots, and they were going in. This happened four or five times up and down the court.

I said to Coach Smith, “Coach, you think we ought to call a time out?” Coach looked at me and said, “What are we going to tell them?” We were getting the shots we wanted, and they were taking the shots we wanted them to take. That was a lesson I learned in coaching, right there.

The best thing about how we played against (N.C.) State was that we showed how good we can be defensively, but that we still have a lot of room to improve.

Everybody knows how good we can be offensively because of the talent we have. But against State was a glimpse of how good we could be defensively, as well. We had good Initial defensive position, which is the relationship between where the ball is and where you are guarding your man. In order to play great defense, you have to have that initial position.

We were able to take State out of a lot of things they wanted to do with their offense – their first options – and they got impatient and started playing a little too fast.

When that happens, you have to have the patience to keep turning your offense over until you get a good shot from your second or third options. If not, frustration sets in and you take bad shots.

On defense, you have to give up something, you can’t guard everything. You want to take away the penetration and the layups, take away the swing passes, getting the ball into the middle. The perfect defense is to make them shoot jumpers with a hand in their face.

I thought Reggie (Bullock) worked really hard on (Scott) Wood to get good initial position, to get around screens, to be up on him and not give him any room. Great shooters, you want to make them drivers, make them put the ball on the deck and take it to the basket. Reggie didn’t give him too many opportunities to get a good look at the basket.

The way you have to guard a shooter is always be close enough to touch him. Upon catch, you have to be there. Dante Calabria used to tell me that if he had any space, any separation, a late hand didn’t bother him. If a guy was running at him, it didn’t matter because he was already locked in. But if you’re there when the shooter catches the ball, that’s a different scenario.

We lost a little focus at the end, but by that time we were up 30 because our rebounding was so dominant and they didn’t get many good looks inside where Henson and Zeller were so active. They both played so big, altering shots and blocking shots. You don’t get any credit when you alter a shot, but that’s a good defensive play.

This time of the season, we still have room to improve, and it seems to me each game we are improving and getting better. But teams will be ready, like Florida State was. Every time we play, it’s like we’ve got to kill a gnat with a sledge hammer.  We put our foot down against State. It looked to me like we hit them in the mouth and they never recovered.

When we’re at our best offensively and defensively, I think we can be the best team in the country.