Brownell's defensive identity

Maybe we had this Brad Brownell guy wrong.

When he left Wright State to replace Oliver Purnell at Clemson, almost all the focus was on his motion offense and the dramatic shift from Purnell's preferred style of running and pressing.

As it turns out, Brownell actually doesn't mind pushing the tempo some. And he runs quite a lot of set plays, so it's not all motion.

But the biggest part that most of us missed: Brownell's identity as a coach is tied just as much to defense as to offense -- and probably more.

It was no secret entering this season that Brownell was placing a priority on relentless man-to-man defense. Given that the talent he inherited was supposedly short on offensive skill and playmaking ability, it made perfect sense that he'd hitch his fortunes to coming up with stops and making life difficult for opponents on the defensive end.

But Brownell has pointed out that his defensive emphasis isn't temporary, that he's always considered himself a defense-first coach.

Later today, we'll have a one-on-one interview with Andre Young that touches on the evolution of this team's halfcourt defense and the importance placed on it by this staff. Young had some insightful and interesting observations on this topic, including the revelation that this team aspires to be like the old Detroit Pistons teams that featured Isiah Thomas, Rick Mahorn and Bill Laimbeer (now that's old school).

But I also asked Brownell about this at yesterday's press conference, seeking his thoughts on what, exactly, comprises the foundation for his defensive philosophy.

Here's what he had to say:

"We've actually extended our defense more here than when I did when I was coaching at Wilmington or Wright State. Some of that is just wanting to instill a level of competitiveness and how hard I think our guys need to play. I thought the best way to do that with the players we had was to make them get up and get into the ball and pressure the ball and guard full-court, and not wait at 22 feet or whatever and kind of pack our defense in.

"Having said that, we like to pressure the ball. We want to be difficult to play against, but we also want to provide great help to our team both in preparation before games and also while we're playing. Probably even more than half our practice time is spent defensively. So there's no doubt that, after a while, the guys begin to understand that not playing well on that end upsets me. And that's not a good way to stay in the game.

"I just think that we've tried to develop that being a little bit of our mindset. We're not nearly all the way there, and sometimes because of our numbers it's been difficult to do some things I'd like to do differently. But having said that, I do think it was the cornerstone that started us playing better, is making sure our guys understood that's what I felt that was critical for us to be successful."

As I stated last week, you are what you emphasize. Purnell spent a lot of practice time on the full-court press because that's the approach he deemed best -- and an approach that worked quite well for him as he built this program from nothing to something quite formidable.

Brownell is putting his focus on the halfcourt, and his players seem to have an improved grasp of the concepts required to achieve consistent success in halfcourt defense. They apply solid ball pressure early in possessions to keep teams from getting up quick shots. They rotate. They apply help defense, limiting penetration and creating turnovers when the ball goes inside.

The improved defense dates to mid-December, after the three-game losing streak to Michigan, South Carolina and Florida State. That's the point where the Tigers began to make some pronounced strides in their grasp of Brownell's offense, and so it follows that the coach and his staff began to devote more practice time to defense as a result.

Defense figures to be the key tonight in Chapel Hill against a North Carolina team whose offense can often appear flustered and disjointed. The Tar Heels shot 27.6 percent in Sunday night's thumping at Georgia Tech, the fourth-worst clip in school history.

Point guard has yet to sort itself out, with neither Larry Drew II nor Kendall Marshall making a definitive case for the starting job.

The Tar Heels are still fast enough and athletic enough to punish in transition after made and missed baskets, and they're certainly talented enough with Harrison Barnes, Tyler Zeller and John Henson.

No doubt North Carolina is still capable of beating Clemson, perhaps even handily. But the blueprint for beating the Tar Heels -- slowing them down, mucking things up, imposing a halfcourt game -- is the blueprint Brownell has successfully drawn up thus far in his first season at Clemson.

LW