Fast and Furious
WHEN HOOPSHISTORIANS look back on the 2007--08 college basketball season, they mayconclude that its most significant moment came on an Indian summer evening inOctober '03. At the head of a heavy oak table in his Memphis steak house satTigers coach John Calipari, who has led teams to both the Final Four and theNBA playoffs. Next to him was an obscure junior college coach from Fresno namedVance Walberg. For six days Walberg had observed Calipari's practices,continuing an annual pilgrimage that had given him deeper insight into the workof two dozen elite college coaches, from Bob Knight to Dean Smith to BillyDonovan.
But now, after theappetizers and the porterhouses had been cleared from the table, Calipari askedWalberg something that no other coach had bothered to ask him. "So tell me,Vance," he said, "what do you run?"
Walberg laughed."You don't want to know," he replied. "It's a little bitoff-the-wall."
"No,really," Calipari said. "Show me."
And so, using apepper shaker as the basket, white sugar packets as offensive players and pinkSweet'n Low packets as defenders, Walberg explained his quirky creation, ahigh-scoring scheme featuring four perimeter players and a host of innovations.Unlike Knight's classic motion offense (which is based on screens) or PeteCarril's Princeton-style offense (which is based on cuts), Walberg's attack wasfounded on dribble penetration. To Calipari, at least, it embodied two whollyunconventional notions. One, there were no screens, the better to createspacing for drives. Two, the post man ran to the weak side of the lane (insteadof the ball side), leaving the ball handler an open driving path to thebasket.
But there wasplenty more. As Walberg pushed the packets through the phases of his offense,Calipari experienced a new kind of sugar rush. Walberg's scheme was madness. Itwas genius.
And it was unlikeanything Calipari, an old-school motion and play-calling acolyte, had ever run."The players are unleashed when they play this way," he says,"because every player has the green light to take his man on everyplay." When Calipari junked his playbook and switched to Walberg's offense,his mentors thought he had lost his mind. "You've won hundreds of gamesplaying a certain way, and now you're going to change?" Hall of Famer LarryBrown asked him. "And it's a junior college coach from California? What areyou, crazy?"
Now look. ThroughSunday, Calipari's Tigers were 23--0, ranked No. 1 in the nation and aiming tobecome the first team to enter the NCAA tournament undefeated since UNLV in1991. But Memphis is only the tip of the Walberg iceberg, a spreading mass ofteams using the Dribble-Drive Motion offense—Calipari's felicitous term—atevery level of the game (map, page 52).
In Jersey Citylegendary coach Bob Hurley, who adopted DDM two seasons ago, has taken St.Anthony (19--0) to No. 1 in USA Today's national high school rankings.Likewise, Omaha Central High has won the last two Nebraska Class A statechampionships while running DDM, and Grand Valley High in Parachute, Colo.,rode the attack to last year's Class 2A state title.
In California'sCentral Valley, where Walberg, 51, coached for 13 seasons at Clovis West Highand four at Fresno City College, his high-pressure offense and defense havechanged the way an entire region plays basketball. "It totally blew uphere," says Fresno Central High coach Loren LeBeau, one of Walberg's formerassistants. "We're in the top league in Fresno, and four of the six teamsare running this style." Under coach Tom Gonsalves, the girls' team at St.Mary's High in Stockton has gone 25--0 and risen to No. 9 in the nation usingDDM. Another practitioner, coach Jeff Klein at Chaffey Community College inRancho Cucamonga, describes the system this way: "It's almost like Vanceinvented a new language."
The Denver Nuggetsare running elements of DDM, and so are the Boston Celtics. "[Calipari] andI fax each other," says Celtics coach Doc Rivers. Meanwhile, one vocal DDMskeptic has changed his mind. "If I were fortunate enough to get back intocoaching, I'd seek Vance's help in a minute," says Brown, who joinedCalipari and Walberg last September at a clinic in Mississippi attended by morethan 400 high school coaches. "When I was coaching UCLA, everybody ran thehigh-post offense and the 2-2-1 press because of Coach [John] Wooden. He won 10national titles, so you could understand that. But to see all these people whoare incorporating what Vance does is mind-boggling."
It's enough tomake you wonder: Who the hell is Vance Walberg? How is his offense spreadingaround the nation? And if his brainchild is the hottest thing in U.S.basketball, why is he out of a job?
WHERE DOinnovators come from? An original idea—the new new thing—can be sparkedanywhere, but the majority of college basketball's greatest innovators share acommon trajectory: Unlike most of today's top coaches, who rose through thecollege ranks as assistants, they became head coaches early, often in anonymoushoops outposts. Carril was 24 when he became the jayvee coach at Easton (Pa.)High, the same age Knight was when he took over his first team, Army. Two oftoday's most respected innovators are Wisconsin's Bo Ryan, exponent of theSwing offense, who became the coach at Sun Valley High in Aston, Pa., at 26,and Michigan's John Beilein, who won the top job at Newfane (N.Y.) Central Highat 22 and later came up with the Five-Out offense.
No matter howobscure the team, "when you're a head coach you get to tinkering with whatyou want," says Walberg, who was 22 when he took over at Mountain View(Calif.) High. As a high school grinder over the years—he even coachedbadminton at one point—Walberg dabbled in variations of the flex offense andKnight's motion, among other schemes, but his real break came in 1997, when hehad his Clovis West team use a cutting-edge "four-out" offense (i.e.,four perimeter players) of the kind now favored by Saint Louis coach RickMajerus.
"It was pureluck," Walberg says, despite all evidence to the contrary. His best player,a heady, relentless point guard named Chris Hernandez (who would later star atStanford), was such a skilled dribble-penetrator that Walberg moved his postman to the weakside block, clearing two bodies from Hernandez's path to thebasket. When Hernandez broke down his defender he had several options: 1) shootan open layup, 2) pass to the post man (if his defender left him to stopHernandez), or 3) kick the ball out to an open teammate on the perimeter (ifhis defender had sagged to help out on Hernandez). The open player could shoota three-pointer, but if one wasn't available, the team would attack again.
Because there wereno screens and attackers were spaced so far apart, the formation opened yawninggaps for penetrators, as long as they had the talent to beat their defendersand the smarts to read defenses on the fly. "I wish I had chosen a fanciername than AASAA, but I wanted kids to understand that it wasattack-attack-skip-attack-attack," says Walberg. "What am I trying tosay? Get to the rim. It's basically here we come." All of Walberg's teamshear the same slogan (we like three-pointers, but we love layups), and shotcharts reveal that the teams take almost no midrange jumpers.
Walberg'sinvention shares some elements with European-style drive-and-kick formationsand the fast-paced spread offense of Phoenix Suns coach Mike D'Antoni, parts ofwhich are being used by Duke, Texas and UMass. But Walberg is sui generis.Since '97 he has added myriad phases, wrinkles and—perhaps most important—anelaborate set of competitive practice drills (with names such as Blood,Cardinal and Scramble) that hone the fundamentals necessary for the offense."Have you seen Vance at practice? Oh, man," says Brown. "His drillsare all building blocks to his offense and defense, which is the key tocoaching."
In fact, Caliparisays he now does far more coaching in practice than during games, when he usedto bark out play calls nearly every trip down the court. "The biggeststrength of this offense," Walberg says, "is I feel we're teaching kidshow to play basketball instead of how to run plays."
Dribble-drive istailor-made for today's high school and college teams, which favor speed in theabsence of classic back-to-the-basket big men, but it isn't for everyone. Itrequires quick, smart and talented guards who have a feel for the game. (See:Memphis point guard Derrick Rose.) It requires agile big men who can shoot fromthe perimeter and race downcourt. It requires deep benches and three-pointshooters who can punish sagging man-to-man defenses and the inevitable zones.Not least, it requires complete commitment from coaches, who have to give upthe control that comes with offensive play-calling and conventional half-courtdefenses.
Indeed, Walberg isso committed that he might need to be committed. He's still disappointed thatMemphis's swarming defense—the nation's best, holding opponents to 0.83 pointsper possession—hasn't adopted his gambling full-court press, which Walberg'sCalifornia converts contend is even more Promethean than his offense."Vance believes so much in what he does," says Brown, a disciple ofDean Smith and Henry Iba. "The first time I met him we were talking aboutdefensive principles, and everything I said, he'd say, 'No, no, no, you can'tdo it that way.' I'd say, 'Well, Coach Smith and Mr. Iba taught me this.' Andhe'd still say, 'No, no, no.' Is he not a character?"
Walberg may havebeen a mad scientist, but he won games at an astonishing rate, usually withless talent than his opponents had. In the five years after it adopted hisoffense, Clovis West went 159--18, and during Walberg's four seasons at FresnoCity College (2002--06) the Rams went 133--11, winning the '05 state juco titleand regularly averaging more than 100 points a game. Nuggets assistant JohnWelch constantly observed Clovis West practices during his days at Fresno Stateunder Jerry Tarkanian. He recalls, "People used to think it was funny: Whyis a college assistant always over there with a high school coach? But I'vebeen around some unbelievable coaches—Tark, Hubie Brown, Mike Fratello, nowGeorge Karl and Tim Grgurich—and I've learned as much from Vance as fromanybody else."
By the summer of2003 Welch had joined Hubie Brown's Memphis Grizzlies staff. One day he calledhis friend Calipari. "I've always respected Johnny Welch," saysCalipari. "He's a basketball Benny, knows coaches, studies the game. Hesays, 'Look, I've got a guy coming in here, and I want him to spend some timewith you. You ought to look at his offense.'"
WHY CHANGE? It mayseem obvious now that they're coaching the nation's top-ranked teams in collegeand high school basketball, but Calipari and Hurley didn't need to overhaultheir systems. Calipari, 49, had won 336 games in college and the NBA and hadreached three Sweet 16s, two Elite Eights and a Final Four when he and Walbergsat down for dinner that night at Cal's Championship Steakhouse. During hisfirst three seasons at Memphis, however, Calipari had coached in only one NCAAtournament game. "It's like you're a teacher, and you're teaching for 15years, and your lesson plan never changed," he says. "This has beeninvigorating for me because it's gotten me to think, to study the gameagain."
Hurley, 60, hadwon 22 state championships, nearly 900 games and two mythical national titlesas head coach at St. Anthony when he adopted dribble-drive in the fall of 2005."I've had very few original thoughts in my life," Hurley says, "butI'm smart enough to take from people who are successful and seem to have agreater view of the game. We got to a point where kids spent more time in theweight room than out on the court working on skills. [Dribble-drive] gets youworking on skills. You can move your center around. It doesn't have to bemud-wrestling where just the stronger, more physical, more athletic kidswin."
Both coaches haveadded their own elements to Walberg's framework. Hurley uses what he calls"a European-style pick-and-roll," while Calipari departs from Walbergorthodoxy in several ways. Instead of going straight into the offense, Memphissometimes swings the ball around the perimeter or springs the point guard with(gasp!) a ball screen. And instead of sending his post man straight to thelane's weak side, Calipari allows him to go on what Memphis calls a "rimrun," in which the penetrating guard throws a lob in the vicinity of thebasket for an alley-oop dunk.
A born promoter,Calipari also came up with the name Dribble-Drive Motion for the offense."It's just easier to understand," he says. "AASAA? Come on, whatare you talking about?" Owing to the offense's continuous patterns, readsand backdoor cuts, he also branded it "Princeton on steroids."
Whatever you callit, Calipari's team is smitten. "It turned out to be great for us,"says swingman Chris Douglas-Roberts, one of the nation's most giftedpenetrators. "It's about spacing and players making plays. A lot of playerswho are in conventional styles get bored sometimes because they feel like theycan't show what they can do, but this offense lets a player show hisstrengths."
Although Caliparididn't adopt Walberg's scrambling full-court defense (he's convinced thatwinning at the highest level requires stopping opponents in the half-court), hedid transform his defense in one major way. He says that during his days atUMass, from 1988 to '96, he wanted his teams to be last in the league insteals. "Why last? Because [gambling for] steals gets you out ofposition," he explains. "I wanted to give teams one tough shot, andthat's it. Now we want to be first in steals—in the country. Because the way weplay now, if the other team holds the ball, we're going to be on offense 30percent of the time and on defense 70 percent. Now who's going to control thegame? But if we're going after steals, we make them play faster." At week'send the Tigers had 8.7 thefts per game.
Opposing teams canplay their own defensive trump cards, of course, and the most common gambitagainst Memphis's DDM attack has been to ditch man-to-man for zones and hybridjunk defenses, which clog the Tigers' driving lanes. Memphis has seen them all:2--3 zones (Gonzaga), 3--2 zones (East Carolina), 1-3-1 zones (SMU), thetriangle-and-two (USC). Arizona tried a two-man zone, with its post defendersstationed on the blocks. During its victory over Memphis in the 2006 NCAA WestRegional final, UCLA used a one-man zone, keeping a big man in the lane.
The mostsuccessful defense against the Tigers this season was USC's triangle-and-two,which helped the Trojans take Memphis to overtime on Dec. 4 before losing62--58. "We got tentative against USC," says Calipari, who calls moreset plays against zones and says he has installed countermeasures for thetriangle-and-two. (When Middle Tennessee State brought it out later inDecember, Memphis won by 24.) Besides, he adds, "if your primary defense isman but you're playing us zone, how will you be any good at it? And if you dostay in the game, what are you thinking with four minutes to go? We can't beatthese guys."
Perhaps, but it'salso true that zones are more likely to expose the Tigers' potential Achilles'heel. Memphis shoots only 34.2% from three-point range. "John's got justabout all the pieces," says Walberg, "with the exception of a knockdownshooter." Then again, a bad shooting night may not be enough to stop a teamwith perhaps five future NBA players. "Whatever you're running, you'dbetter have guys who can play," says Calipari. "If you forget that, youdon't have to worry about being innovative."
The same could besaid for Hurley's team, which includes six seniors (five of them guards) whohave accepted Division I scholarships. Yet Hurley points out that talentedplayers can always improve their skills, and he swears by Walberg'shigh-intensity practice drills. In fact, some coaches think Walberg's drillsare his crowning achievement. "It's like a franchise for McDonald's,"says Welch. "Not only are you getting a system, you're getting built-indrills to teach your system."
For all theirsuccess using DDM, Calipari and Hurley have one major difference. Calipari madethree trips to visit Walberg in Fresno, studied his game tapes and spenthundreds of hours speaking to Walberg about his offense. But Hurley and Walberghave never sat down and talked. One day last year they finally connected overthe phone. "I love your Blood drills," Hurley told Walberg."They're really great."
For a moment therewas silence on the other end of the line. Walberg didn't know whether to beproud that Hurley had fallen for his creation or horrified that one of his mostclosely held secrets had crossed the continent. "Blood drills?" he saidat last. "Bob, how do you know about Blood drills?"
HERB WELLINGdoesn't look like one of the most wired social connectors in U.S. basketball.By day he's a security guard at Omaha Central High, where he moonlights as anassistant coach for the boys' basketball team. A short, pear-shaped man,Welling, 45, wears tight purple Omaha Central T-shirts that make him look likea smaller cousin of the McDonald's character Grimace.
But underestimateWelling at your peril. He's the tactical brains behind Omaha Central, which hasused DDM to win the last two Nebraska state titles and draw sellout crowds ofrabid fans (including the Sage of Omaha, investor Warren Buffett, who knows agood product when he sees one). For years Welling was the righthand man toHoward Garfinkel at his famed Five-Star Camps, where Welling met the topcollege and high school coaches in the country. "Herb and I talk once aweek," says Hurley. "He originally called me, and we started talkingabout [DDM]." Before long, Welling had sent Hurley more than 200 pages ofnotes on the offense.
But how hadWelling "cracked the code," as he puts it? DDM wasn't something youcould master from a phone call or a few game tapes or even from attending aclinic, which reveals no more than 10% of the scheme's secrets, according toCalipari. Welling had never visited one of Walberg's or Calipari's practices,but he remained undaunted. "I'm kind of psychotic for finding outstuff," he says. "At school they call me the Minister ofInformation."
Basketball coachesare a secretive lot. Indeed, for Walberg, sharing has always been adouble-edged proposition. "I want to help people because a lot of peoplehelped me," he says, "but [DDM] is kind of my ace in the hole."Before dribble-drive broke nationally, Walberg would host dinners at his homefor interested coaches from Fresno-area high schools and junior colleges, oftensharing information liberally—perhaps too liberally. "Vance is toounselfish with his offense," says his friend Brad Felder, the Hanford(Calif.) High coach. "In the long run it will hurt him because the longer[the offense] is out there, the more others will adapt."
These days Walbergand Calipari have a policy: They'll let coaches observe their practices;they'll send them game tapes; they'll answer questions and host clinics. ButWalberg and Calipari won't give out their playbooks, and they refuse to makeinstructional videos. "I want to wait a few years," says Walberg, whoestimates he gets more than 300 calls a year from coaches seeking info abouthis offense. "I talked with John, and we didn't really want itout."
Adds Calipari,"If I wanted to do these tapes, I could make a ton of dough. But that'sVance's money. That's not my money."
Perhaps, but thetwo coaches didn't account for Welling, whose pursuit of the prize wasrelentless. In 2005, after first hearing about Walberg's offense at the PeteNewell Big Man Camp in Las Vegas (where his stepson was a camper), Wellingstarted breaking down game tapes that Walberg had sent him. Then Welling metDuane Silver, a retired high school coach in Waco, Texas, who had written abooklet on the drive-and-kick offense and maintained a coaching website. Silverintroduced Welling to John Jordan, the coach at St. Francis High in La Cañada,Calif., who attended Walberg's clinics and drove six hours nearly every week toscout his games and practices in Fresno.
Jordan sentWelling a 100-page dossier on Walberg's offense and defense, which landed, inturn, on Hurley's desk in New Jersey. "Then I got various materials thatthey don't even know I have," says Welling. "We had about every clinicthat Walberg's ever done. We had his practice booklet and a lot more. It wouldblow you away, but then I'd have to shoot you."
The Minister ofInformation also has Walberg's lingo down cold, from drop zones to Blooddrills. And that's only the start. Last summer Welling made two DDMinstructional videos—one with the offense and one with practice drills—thatsell for $39.95 each or $71.95 together (plus shipping and handling) throughSysko's, the basketball-video retailer. "It's the Number 1 seller out ofour catalog over the last year," says Sysko's executive Jim Blaine,"and it's only been out for seven of those 12 months."
That's right: HerbWelling, a security guard from Omaha, is outselling videos by Wooden, Carril,Duke's Mike Krzyzewski and North Carolina's Roy Williams. Told of Welling'ssuccess with his invention, Walberg—who turned down a Sysko's offer—managesonly a thin smile. "Well," he finally says, "I guess that'sAmerica."
The way Walbergsees it, though, that's the least of his concerns at this point.
From: Ray West
Subj.: Why!
Date: Sat., Jan.19, 2008, 11:28 p.m.
To: VanceWalberg
Dear Mr.Walberg,
I am very sorry tohear of your resignation. I am just a small-school high school coach thatstudies the game more than most. I know you are an unbelievable innovator in atime of no innovations in basketball. You are brilliant! You can tell me to goto hell, but I must know the real reason you resigned. You didn't give it muchtime to recruit your style of players. I am 12--1 using your offense! I hopeyou coach again, you have been very nice to me with your help. You can e-mailme or just leave me wondering. Best of luck in the future. I hope you coachagain. Thank you.
Respectfully,
Ray West
IN DIAGRAMS thedribble-drive is represented by what coaches call a squiggle: a zigzag linewith an arrow at the end. It's an apt symbol as well for Walberg, who's tryingto move forward while whipsawing from one emotional extreme to the other. Onthe one hand, he's enjoying the ultimate in mainstream professional respect.The top teams in the NBA (the Celtics), college (Memphis) and high school (St.Anthony) are running his stuff, and it's spreading like a benign virus throughthe sport he loves. Yet at the same time this is the most excruciating momentof his 30-year career. On Jan. 18, midway through his second season atPepperdine, Walberg abruptly resigned.
Both he andPepperdine athletic director John Watson insist that he wasn't forced out, butWalberg says his dream job on the majestic shores of Malibu had becomeuntenable. After winning 92% of his games at Fresno City College, hisrebuilding Waves teams had gone 14--35. But it wasn't just about the losing.Since the summer of 2006 Walberg had lost six players through transfers and onethrough expulsion, erasing the depth that his attacking style demands.Meanwhile, at least one parent—Terry Tucker, the father of two Pepperdineplayers—was unhappy about things Walberg had done in practice: making oneplayer suck his thumb for acting like "a baby," calling another player"a p---y" and labeling another "a turnover midget."
Though Walbergapologized to the last player and Watson took no disciplinary action—he ruledthat Walberg's actions were "inappropriate" but not abusive—the tensionand the losses were a volatile mix. During the three weeks before hisresignation, Walberg says, he slept no more than 2 1/2 hours on any night. Whywouldn't his players commit all the way like he had? "It just became reallytough," Walberg says, struggling for words. "My wife and kids, wetalked and talked. It was like a big part of my life was being taken out of me.I love coaching so much. You can't imagine not getting your players to buy in.They weren't bad kids, but I just couldn't get 'em over the line."
Those squiggles onthe page are worth only so much, after all. Whatever you're running, you'dbetter have guys who can play. "If you believe in God, there's a reason forme to go through this," Walberg says. "What it is, I don't understandright now."
Walberg doesn'tknow what comes next. His friends say he was happiest at the high school andjuco levels, where his teams won and the gyms were always filled. But he couldalso end up as an NBA assistant or perhaps join the Memphis staff. Walbergwon't have trouble finding work. And for now, when he despairs, he can alwaysflip on the TV and watch Calipari's team run the offense that he laid out insugar packets on a restaurant table five seasons ago.
"No matterwhat, I'm super happy for John," Walberg says. "At least I know itworks."
With Dribble-Drive Motion, Walberg says, "I feelwe're teaching kids HOW TO PLAY BASKETBALL instead of how to runsplays."
"It's like a franchise for McDonald's," Welchsays. "Not only are you getting a system, you're getting BUILT-IN DRILLS toteach it."
Walberg is enjoying the ultimate in professionalrespect. Yet this is the MOST EXCRUCIATING moment of his 30-year career.
THREE FUNDAMENTAL DRIBBLE-DRIVE MOTION PLAYS
THE ANKLE BREAKER
In one phase, the point guard (1) breaks down his defender on the dribble,driving the lane where he can either make a layup, dish to the weakside postman (5) or kick out a pass to an open teammate on the perimeter (2, 3 or4).
THE REVERSE AND KICK
In another phase, the point guard (1) drives to the elbow and passes to theshooting guard (2), who can shoot a three-pointer or drive to the hoop, wherehe'll be able to lay it up, dish to the post man (5) or kick it out to theperimeter (3 or 4).
CYCLE AND REPEAT
Players can rotate through DDM by getting a pass at the free throw lineextended (2), penetrating the lane and looking to attack the basket, dump apass to the post (5) for a layup or pass out to the wing (3) for athree-pointer.
MORE
In the Post
College basketball insight and analysis in GrantWahl's mailbag, every Wednesday.
ONLY AT SI.COM
Crossover Dribble
SI found 224 junior high school, high school, collegeand pro teams in North America that are running the Dribble-Drive Motionoffense in some form.
NBA
93 Denver Nuggets
139 Boston Celtics
MEN'S DIVISION I COLLEGES
66 Pepperdine Univ., Malibu, Calif.
186 University of Memphis
203 University of Texas at El Paso
MEN'S SMALL COLLEGES
9 Grand Canyon University, Phoenix
21 John Brown Univ., Siloam Springs, Ark.
25 Cabrillo CC, Aptos, Calif.
26 Bakersfield CC
34 Cal State--Dominguez Hills
44 De Anza CC, Cupertino, Calif.
51 Fresno City College
68 Moorpark (Calif.) CC
72 Coll. of the Desert, Palm Desert, Calif.
75 Chaffey CC, Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.
82 Palomar JC, San Marcos, Calif.
86 Columbia CC, Sonora, Calif.
89 Cal State--Stanislaus
90 L.A. Valley CC, Valley Glen, Calif.
94 Metropolitan State College, Denver
105 Oglethorpe University, Atlanta
110 Piedmont College, Demorest, Ga.
111 Emmanuel Coll., Franklin Springs, Ga.
122 Bethel College, North Newton, Kans.
123 Fort Scott (Kans.) CC
143 Blue Mountain (Miss.) College
147 Miss. Gulf Coast CC, Perkinston, Miss.
148 N.W. Mississippi CC, Senatobia, Miss.
175 Lock Haven (Pa.) University
214 Univ. of Puget Sound, Tacoma, Wash.
WOMEN'S COLLEGES
4 University of Alberta, Edmonton
5 Medicine Hat (Alberta) College
52 Fresno City College
60 Antelope Valley JC, Lancaster, Calif.
70 Cerritos CC, Norwalk, Calif.
138 Mount St. Mary's, Emmitsburg, Md.
171 W. Oregon Univ., Monmouth, Ore.
176 Robert Morris, Moon Twp., Pa.
BOYS
1 Russellville (Ala.) High
2 Vestavia Hills (Ala.) High
3 Nome-Beltz (Alaska) High
6 Valley Christian High, Chandler, Ariz.
7 Estrella Foothills High, Goodyear, Ariz.
8 Dobson High, Mesa, Ariz.
10 O'Connor High, Phoenix
12 Tolleson (Ariz.) Union High
14 Bentonville (Ark.) High
15 De Queen (Ark.) High
17 Dover (Ark.) High
19 Mansfield (Ark.) High
22 Trumann (Ark.) High
23 Valley Springs (Ark.) High
24 Servite High, Anaheim
27 Bakersfield High
30 Thompson High, Bakersfield
31 Westmont High, Campbell, Calif.
33 Jesuit High, Carmichael, Calif.
35 Sierra Canyon (Calif.) High
36 Otay Ranch High, Chula Vista, Calif.
38 Mesa Verde (Calif.) High
39 Clovis (Calif.) High
40 Clovis (Calif.) East High
42 Clovis (Calif.) West High
45 Valhalla (Calif.) High
47 Escondido (Calif.) High
49 Fresno Central High
50 Fresno High
53 Hoover High, Fresno
55 Garden Grove (Calif.) High
56 Granite Bay (Calif.) High
57 Hanford (Calif.) High
59 St. Francis High, La Cañada, Calif.
61 Le Grand (Calif.) High
63 Madera (Calif.) High
65 Madera (Calif.) South High
69 Newark (Calif.) Memorial High
71 Oceanside (Calif.) High
73 Paradise (Calif.) Adventist Academy
74 El Rancho High, Pico Rivera, Calif.
76 Riverbank (Calif.) High
77 Rocklin (Calif.) High
78 Rosamond (Calif.) High
79 El Camino High, Sacramento
80 Lincoln High, San Francisco
81 Valley Christian High, San Jose
83 Montgomery High, Santa Rosa, Calif.
84 Shafter (Calif.) High
85 Simi Valley (Calif.) High
87 Soquel (Calif.) High
91 Westminster (Calif.) High
92 Taft High, Woodland Hills, Calif.
95 Golden (Colo.) High
96 Peak to Peak High, Lafayette, Colo.
97 Lyons (Colo.) High
98 Palisade (Colo.) High
99 Grand Valley High, Parachute, Colo.
100 East Hartford High
102 Largo (Fla.) High
103 Vanguard High, Ocala, Fla.
106 Cairo (Ga.) High
107 Dalton (Ga.) High
109 Towers High, Decatur, Ga.
113 Metter (Ga.) High
114 West Hall High, Oakwood, Ga.
115 Woodstock (Ga.) High
116 Lebanon (Ill.) High
117 Rich Central High, Olympia Fields, Ill.
119 Shenandoah High, Middletown, Ind.
124 Oxford (Kans.) High
125 Bowling Green (Ky.) High
126 Muhlenberg (Ky.) South High
128 Trinity High, Louisville
129 Lone Oak High, Paducah, Ky.
130 St. Mary High, Paducah, Ky.
135 St. Thomas More High, Lafayette, La.
136 Southwood High, Shreveport, La.
137 Glenelg Country, Ellicott City, Md.
141 Minnetonka (Minn.) High
142 Ackerman (Miss.) High
144 Loyd Star, Brookhaven, Miss.
145 Byers High, Mount Pleasant, Miss.
151 Meadow Heights High, Patton, Mo.
152 Pleasant Hope (Mo.) High
153 Lafayette High, St. Joseph, Mo.
154 Lindbergh High, St. Louis
155 Webster Groves (Mo.) High
156 Willow Springs (Mo.) High
157 Omaha Central High
158 Wakefield (Neb.) High
159 St. Anthony High, Jersey City
160 Montclair (N.J.) Kimberley Academy
161 Wood-Ridge (N.J.) High
162 Millbrook High, Raleigh
163 Bishop McGuinness, Winston-Salem
164 Akron North High
165 Chardon (Ohio) High
166 Lebanon (Ohio) High
167 Monroeville (Ohio) High
168 Glandorf High, Ottawa, Ohio
169 Enid (Okla.) High
170 Okarche (Okla.) High
173 Pennsbury High, Fairless Hills, Pa.
174 Shaler Area High, Glenshaw, Pa.
177 Baldwin High, Pittsburgh
178 North Allegheny High, Wexford, Pa.
179 Bolivar (Tenn.) Central High
180 Cordova (Tenn.) High
181 Evangelical Christian, Cordova, Tenn.
183 Dyersburg (Tenn.) High
185 Lenoir (Tenn.) City High
187 Briarcrest Christian, Memphis
188 Melrose High, Memphis
190 St. Dominic School, Memphis
191 Dyer County High, Newbern, Tenn.
192 Hillsboro High, Nashville
194 Philadelphia (Tenn.) Elementary
195 Sale Creek (Tenn.) High
197 Union City (Tenn.) High
198 Baytown (Texas) Christian Academy
199 Hays High, Buda, Texas
200 Clear Lake High, Houston
202 Billy Ryan High, Denton, Texas
204 Everman (Texas) High
205 North Crowley High, Fort Worth
206 Groom (Texas) High
207 Langham Creek High, Houston
208 St. Thomas High, Houston
209 Lufkin (Texas) High
210 Midland (Texas) High
211 Coll. Park High, The Woodlands, Texas
212 Patrick County High, Stuart, Va.
213 Puyallup (Wash.) High
215 Fife High, Tacoma, Wash.
216 Benton (Wis.) High
217 Cuba City (Wis.) High
219 Green Bay Southwest High
220 Badger High, Lake Geneva, Wis.
221 Middleton (Wis.) High
223 Prairie du Chien (Wis.) High
224 North High, Sheboygan, Wis.
GIRLS
11 St. Mary's High, Phoenix
13 Batesville (Ark.) Junior High
16 Dover (Ark.) High
18 Pulaski Academy, Little Rock
20 Pocahontas (Ark.) High
28 North High, Bakersfield
29 Stockdale High, Bakersfield
41 Clovis (Calif.) East High
43 Clovis (Calif.) West High
46 Valhalla High, El Cajon, Calif.
48 Bullard High, Fresno
54 Rosary High, Fullerton, Calif.
58 Hanford (Calif.) High
62 Livermore (Calif.) High
64 Madera (Calif.) High
67 Merced (Calif.) High
88 St. Mary's High, Stockton, Calif.
108 Dalton (Ga.) High
112 Pope High, Marietta, Ga.
120 Shenandoah (Ind.) High
127 Butler Traditional High, Louisville
131 Tilghman High, Paducah, Ky.
132 Logan County High, Russellville, Ky.
133 Allen County--Scottsville (Ky.) High
134 Clark High, Winchester, Ky.
140 Mercy High, Farmington, Mich.
146 Byers High, Mount Pleasant, Miss.
149 SBEC, Southaven, Miss.
150 Meadow Heights High, Patton, Mo.
172 Nyssa (Ore.) High
182 Dyersburg (Tenn.) High
184 Greenfield (Tenn.) High
195 Sale Creek (Tenn.) High
196 Indepen. High, Thompson's Sta., Tenn.
218 Glenwood City (Wis.) High
222 Middleton (Wis.) High
AAU
32 Carmichael (Calif.) Red Raiders
37 South Bay (Calif.) Sports Academy
101 Nike Team Florida, Clearwater, Fla.
104 Georgia Stars, Atlanta
118 Indiana Elite LNO, Indianapolis
121 Iowa Barnstormers, Iowa City
189 Memphis War Eagles
193 Nashville Celtics
201 Full Court Athletes, Dallas
PHOTO
Photograph by Greg Nelson
THE MASTER Walberg devised the attack that Memphis (left, in white) has ridden to the top.
PHOTO
RIC TAPIA/ICON SMI (WALBERG)
[See caption above]
PHOTO
FLOOR EXTENDED BY SI IMAGING
THREE ILLUSTRATIONS
PLAY DIAGRAMS BY SLIM FILMS
1 2 3 4 5
PHOTO
JOHN BIEVER (CALIPARI)
THE APPRENTICE Calipari tweaked Walberg's offense, renamed it and ran with it.
PHOTO
GREG NELSON
THE NATURAL With his ability to blow by defenders, Memphis's Rose is ideally suited to run the dribble-drive attack.
PHOTO
JEFF ZELEVANSKY
THE OLD LION Teaching DDM to players like Tyshawn Taylor rejuvenates Hurley.
PHOTO
JEFF ZELEVANSKY
[See caption above]
ILLUSTRATION
Illustration by Slim Films
PHOTO
DAMIAN STROHMEYER (RIVERS)
THE PRO Rivers (inset) exchanges faxes with Calipari and has guard Rajon Rondo and the Celtics using elements of DDM.
PHOTO
HEINZ KLUETMEIER
[See caption above]
PHOTO
JOHN BIEVER
THE STUDENTS Their coach has had to give up some control, but the undefeated Tigers have still thwarted every defense thrown at them.