Playing this style of defense, Sutton said, takes communication. “You can’t have loose switches where guys start slipping,” he said. “So we put a big premium on staying in stances but communicating with each other and coming together on switches and trying to keep the ball on the side, or, for sure, out of the paint.”
This season there wasn’t much margin for error. Only five players returned from last season, and Adams was blending in eight transfers.
“I think it’s difficult for any coach when you bring a transfer in because they’ve got a certain role and they’re the best player on the team, most of them,” Adams said. “And they’re getting the most shots and getting the most touches. And then you bring them in and say: ‘We love you, but we’re doing it a different way. We’re going to share the ball. And we’re going to play defense. If you want to do those things, you’ll get to play a lot of minutes.’”
Adams’s defense is not foolproof, of course. Trouble can arise if the ball reaches the middle of the floor and Texas Tech’s defense is so overloaded with help on one side that an opponent skips a quick pass to the weak side, leaving the Red Raiders in “long close-outs,” Sutton said. Bill Self, the Kansas coach, has been able to crack the code a few times, most recently in the Big 12 title game, a 74-65 Jayhawks victory.
“There’s not many flaws in it, but there are a few areas where you can attack,” Sutton said. “And when something like that happens, Coach calls timeout and tries to get it fixed.”
What rival coaches often do is come calling or visiting in the off-season to pick Adams’s brain. As others did for him, Adams has shared some of his schemes, with N.B.A. personnel and college and high school coaches.
“Probably the best compliment was Baylor’s Scott Drew,” Adams said. “They kind of took their mini-zone and came back and started running our side defense, and he gave me a lot of credit, said I ought to write a book, and they won a national championship. The only problem with that was he started running it better than I did. I was a little jealous of that.”
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