Zoning Issues to Be Raised

When fourth-seeded Louisville meets seventh-seeded West Virginia today at University Arena, the game may be decided by a quaint concept.

The zone defense.

Louisville Coach Rick Pitino, who is trying to become the first NCAA coach to take three teams to the Final Four -- he already has taken Providence and Kentucky that far -- guided the Cardinals to an upset of top-seeded Washington, 93-79, Thursday night. Pitino saw he didn’t have the depth or quickness of Washington, so he abandoned his man-to-man full-court pressure and played a stodgy 2-3 zone. The Huskies came to a crashing halt.

John Beilein, an underappreciated workaholic at West Virginia, has dusted off a 1-3-1 zone that went out of fashion when the three-point line came into play. It was thought a 1-3-1 couldn’t be played so far from the basket. Beilein has proved it can.

After the Mountaineers (24-10) defeated Texas Tech on Thursday night, Red Raider Coach Bob Knight said, “It’s very hard to play against the 1-3-1.”

Beilein, 52, explained that he first used the 1-3-1 when he became coach at Richmond.

“We did it out of necessity, the mother of invention,” Beilein said Friday. “We went into the Atlantic 10 and our big center got hurt after about seven or eight games. We had a long, skinny young man who could only block shots defensively -- he couldn’t hold his area in the post very well. We had to go to it because we felt we couldn’t win the A-10 without something different, and sure enough, we went right to the championship game against Xavier.

“We came to West Virginia, we had the same thing, we were outmanned a little bit. So you’re outmanned, then you are trying to be a difficult prep and that’s what we are. Sometimes we don’t have as many bullets in the gun as other people have. So you have to find other ways.”

Pitino said it’s always hard to play against something different, even if it’s not new.

“We haven’t faced a 1-3-1 all year,” he said. “The good thing is, we’ve practiced it. But this is the best 1-3-1 you’ll face. And with only one day of preparation it is quite difficult.

“When the three-point line came in, the 1-3-1 sort of disappeared in college. But the way West Virginia plays it, they extend it so much they guard the three-point line much better than the way you saw it so much in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.”

Patrick Beilein, the coach’s son, said he’s not surprised opponents have trouble against the 1-3-1.

“We often don’t know what we’re doing in it,” Beilein said.

But Louisville (32-4) has won 21 of 22 games, and the Cardinals have proved resilient.

“I don’t think Washington expected our zone defense,” Cardinal guard Taquan Dean said. “The thing about us is that we seem to handle whatever is thrown at us and we adjust to whatever happens.”

Dean, who crumpled to the ground in pain with a twisted ankle late in Thursday’s game, said he was ready to play against whatever West Virginia offers.

“Whatever defense is out there, we’ll figure it out,” he said.

Likewise, the Mountaineers have figured out how to play against whatever comes their way. They’ve beaten Knight, who has won three national championships and who has a good chance of surpassing Dean Smith as the winningest men’s Division I coach.

Now they get Pitino, a certain Hall of Famer who has won a national championship (at Kentucky) and is coaching a program that has two NCAA titles and seven trips to the Final Four. Meanwhile, the Mountaineers are aiming for their first Final Four since 1959.

Pitino refuses to consider the Mountaineers any kind of underdog, though. Even though West Virginia finished eighth in the Big East and almost didn’t make the NCAA tournament, Pitino took notice when the Mountaineers upset Wake Forest last weekend.

“That gets your attention right away,” Pitino said. “This is not a Cinderella story, and they do not have a Cinderella coach.”