Coach Class

The messages were like telegrams to desolate outposts on the wind-swept Midwestern prairie and the snow-covered woods of upstate New York.

Kansas Coach Roy Williams on how to defend against Syracuse:

“We’re going to play man-to-man. At this point, you dance with who brung you.”

Stop.

Syracuse Coach Jim Boeheim on how to defend against Kansas:

“Teams have a lot of difficulty with our zone. The reason we’ve been able to get this far is our zone.”

Stop.

Indeed, the operative term tonight in the NCAA final will be defensive stops.

Scoring is rarely a problem for these teams. Kansas had 94 points in its semifinal victory over Marquette. Syracuse had 95 in its win over Texas.

Defense will determine whether it is Williams or Boeheim who sheds the “can’t-win-the-big-one” label and takes home his first title.

Whoever wins will have done it his way. The defensive strategies of these coaches are as different as the way their teams were built, the loyal senior approach of Kansas versus the one-and-done freshman shooting star tack of Syracuse.

Williams favors the man-to-man and detests the zone, although he appreciates Boeheim’s mastery of it.

“If you were to draw a line of all the coaches in America, Jimmy would be on the end as the best coaching the zone,” Williams said. “I would be on the opposite. I’d be the worst. I’m not being humble, I’m just being freaking truthful, because I hate it.”

Boeheim went exclusively to the 2-3 zone because his team is so young, with four freshmen and three sophomores among nine Syracuse scholarship players.

“The thing that prevents young teams from getting to a Final Four is if they play man-to-man,” he said. “When you’re young, your defense is what takes the longest to develop.”

The zone masks one-on-one defensive deficiencies and reduces foul trouble. The most effective ways to attack it are to shoot well from the perimeter and to push the ball in transition before the defense is set.

Kansas (30-7) is adept at both. Senior Kirk Hinrich has made 41.5% of 207 three-point attempts and runs the fastbreak as well as any guard in the country. Keith Langford, Aaron Miles and even 6-foot-9 senior Nick Collison also operate well at warp speed.

“We know they are going to push it down our throats,” Syracuse freshman forward Carmelo Anthony said.

Syracuse (29-5) could give the Jayhawk man-to-man fits because the Orangemen are bigger and more athletic. Anthony, considered the best NBA prospect in the college ranks, averages 22.3 points and 10 rebounds, numbers that got a boost from his 33-point, 14-rebound performance against Texas.

Although Kansas will rotate several players on the 6-8 Anthony, Langford will begin the game defending him despite giving up four inches.

Syracuse forward Hakim Warrick (6-8) and guard Kueth Duany (6-6) also pose matchup problems and freshman guards Gerry McNamara and Billy Edelin are adept ballhandlers.

“They always play hard and crash the boards,” Kansas center Jeff Graves said. “They’ve got the athletes.”

For a blueprint on how to beat the Orangemen, Kansas watched film of their two losses to Connecticut, including in the second round of the Big East Conference tournament.

Since then, Syracuse has appeared vulnerable early in a second-round victory over Oklahoma State and at times during a one-point Sweet 16 victory over Auburn. In both games, Anthony overcame difficult stretches and made the plays necessary to win.

“He’s been guarded by the best defender in each of the last five games,” Syracuse center Craig Forth said. “They haven’t found a decent way to stop him.”

Most Kansas problems were ironed out after a 3-3 start.

“We weren’t playing together,” Collison said. “Guys were shooting too quickly, not because we were selfish, we just felt like we had to do it ourselves. The biggest thing is we stuck together. We stuck by Coach. We took responsibility to change it.”

The Jayhawks won 10 in a row before hitting another rough spot, losing at Colorado and at home to Arizona. But a victory over Texas followed, and despite losing to Missouri in the second round of the Big 12 Conference tournament, Kansas felt good entering the NCAA tournament.

The feeling only improved after victories over Duke and Arizona in the West Regional, momentum that spilled over and made the 94-61 semifinal against Marquette a breeze.

But Boeheim and Williams, the coaches with the most NCAA tournament victories without winning a title, know it is one thing to get to the final game, quite another to win it.

Boeheim lost the final in 1987 to Indiana and 1996 to Kentucky. Williams lost the 1991 final to Duke. Both coaches said all the right things Sunday about how their careers are rewarding even without a championship.

But only one will have to repeat the refrain after tonight.

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That Elusive Dream

Coaches with the most NCAA tournament victories who have not won a national championship:

*--* 37 Jim Boeheim (Syracuse) 34 Roy Williams (Kansas) 33 Eddie Sutton (Oklahoma State, Kentucky, Arkansas, Creighton) 23 John Chaney (Temple) 19 Gene Keady (Purdue, Western Kentucky)

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