Defending the three point shot requires an adjustment in the thought process of the defenders. They normally allow 20 to 30 percent shooters room and invite them to take bad shots from outside in preference to opening up driving lanes to the paint. In other words, they drop off and help against penetration, then attempt to bother the three point shooter by rushing at them and forcing them to hurry the shot or put it on the floor in an attempt to get past the defender for a midrange shot or an attempt at the rim. Baylor has had some success with that approach but against good shooting teams it has cost them dearly in the playoffs.
When the Baylor defender is equal or superior to the opponent, close, measurably precise proximity impedes easy access to passes and forces them out of their comfort zone. The defender must focus on one primary task, and that is to prevent an open shot at the basket. Screens can be defended by using the defender on the screener to jump over for a double team, forcing the potential shooter to give up the ball or risk a turnover, and if the screener is open, help defenders can cover a path to the basket and the double team can quickly adjust. Since something must be given up by this assignment, mobility and a determined effort to take away the primary offensive scheme, centered on getting open looks from the perimeter and forcing the offense into a less desirable option, is the larger task.
The scouting report should inform the defender of the strength of the offensive player, which hand to take away, the tendencies to go right or left, the favored locations on the floor where they prefer to shoot, whether they like to drive the baseline, how willing they are to go to the rim, do they possess a crossover dribble and when are they most likely to use it, where do they prefer to take midrange shots, how effectively do they handle the ball, how fast and how quick they are and how do they use this, and so on.. Information of this kind enables a player to make decisions about proximity and teammates to plan the "help defense" for specific players.
The other major task must be to forgo the usual rush to the backboard by maintaining position on the outside players when the ball goes up so that long rebounds do not automatically become additional offensive opportunities. The normal tendency of the defenders when the ball goes up is to turn and focus on the rebound, sagging in toward the middle. The blocking out of offensive players out away from the basket is one of the hardest, and often the most neglected tasks of the defender. I am not sure how many coaches insist on this in practice because it is a trade off that they are uncomfortable with making.
Baylor has been burned by individual players who got hot from the arc and Baylor did not make the proper adjustment to that. Tynice Martin in the conference tournament two years ago comes to mind. She was on a roll coming into that game and Baylor did not take the ball out of her hands and paid a dear price for it. Then the little guard from Mississippi State burned us badly, scoring 35 points above her average in their overtime victory. Many of those points came off of a baseline screen that time and again found her wide open in the corner, the shortest of the three point shots. We never adjusted to that, and never forced someone else to beat us.
To be fair, she also hit the game winning shot against UCONN in the next game, the semifinals of the Final Four, when she singled up against the UCONN defender without enough help to force her to give up the ball, so Geno failed to adjust in that situation. No team should ever allow one player to continually demand the ball and score with it, they have to adjust and make someone else beat them.
When a player not normally a big scorer gets hot and the team around him/her reacts by feeding them the ball, the defense must change their focus accordingly, but at every level all the way to the NBA, there is all too often a continuation of the game plan and preparation that no longer really applies. Three point shooting teams are conditioned and taught to look for the open shooter until they find one or two who are on their game, then they try to get them the ball. It is a fallacy to think that outside shooters are selfish because they are shooting from distance instead of penetrating or looking for the interior player first. The long ball is their weapon of choice and it counts for more when it goes in, they believe in it and are committed to it. The defense must be equally committed to making it a less desirable option.
It is as much a battle of wills as it is one of strategy and technique. Didi Richards knows that and normally demonstrates how to defend it as well as any Baylor defender in memory. She takes it personally when the offensive player she is assigned to guard scores, particularly when she knows it is because of a temporary lack of focus. I enjoy watching her play defense as much as I have enjoyed the fine scorers in our storied history. Landrum, who often lost focus as a freshman, has become one of the best defenders in our history.
Those two players, along with Cooper and Ursin, form a solid core of perimeter defenders who should take us far in the NCAA Tournament, and if Cox returns in playoff condition, the best overall defender in the women's game makes this a formidable defensive unit, experienced and mentally prepared for the long grind.
