Dick Bennett made his living teaching defense. The famous “Pack Line Man to Man defense” helped Bennett build a mid-major powerhouse at the University of Wisconsin- Green Bay, where his son Tony led the team to their first NCAA tournament berth in 1991.
In 1995, Dick Bennett would move on to become Wisconsin’s head coach. In 2000, he led them to a Final Four appearance, officially putting the Badgers basketball program back on track. From there, Dick Bennett went to Washington State in 2006, retiring in 2009.
To say the least, Tony Bennett has learned from his father. Bennett would be his father’s assistant at Wisconsin and Washington State before taking over for Dick in 2009.
While Bennett had talented teams at Washington State, it was the defensive philosophies that allowed the Cougars to make some noise in the NCAA. In Bennett’s last year, Washington State was ranked as the 33rd best defense in the country. That was enough for Virginia to give Tony Bennett a call.
Tony Bennett’s move to Virginia was met with mixed results early. His first season, the Cavaliers defense was ranked 147th in the country; 153rd in his second season. Those were pretty numbers considering their record was 10-18 the year before Bennett arrived.
It was in year three that the defensive numbers took a tremendous jump. After a couple of years learning the ropes, the 2011-12 Virginia Cavaliers’ defense finished an outstanding 2nd in the country.
Bennett’s “Pack Line Man to Man” defense had taken shape to its fullest, and gained national recognition again.
The next two seasons, the Cavaliers defense would finish 16th and 9th in the country.
A perfect 19-0 start to this season has been stapled by those defensive principles. The Cavaliers’ defense is ranked 3rd in the country including holding Rutgers, Harvard, and Georgia Tech all under 30 points. Combine that with a surprisingly potent offense (10th in the country), and you unsurprisingly get a Final Four contender.
If you can lock people down in March, then you can win the championship, no matter who you are.
The “Pack Line” defense that I keep talking about is fairly easy to play, but hard to master. It revolves around an imaginary line (the pack line) that is one or two steps inside the three-point arc. Defenders stay on that line when defending the perimeter, or otherwise known as “packing in” their defense.
Sounds easy, right?
Well, it can be more complicated. The defenders have some specific rules when the man they are guarding doesn’t have the ball.
These example include:
- Expected to have both feet under the pack line, and ready to jump to the ball if penetration occurs.
- Be at least halfway between man-and-ball at all times.
These are two of the more simplistic rules, and explains the tremendous amount of help defense that this defense provides.
That is just a quick, shallow look into the popular defense. When it is ran correctly, all five defenders on the court should be in sync with one another, reacting to the defender guarding the ball. It has been obvious that Tony Bennett has taught his Virginia teams this defense to their max potential, and it has brought his team great success in recent years.
Dick and Tony Bennett have carved successful coaching careers based on their simple, yet complex, defense. It has already helped Virginia stay undefeated this season, but this could also be the year that the defense leads to the ultimate goal: a national championship.
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