Cut and run

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- What makes me convinced Texas A&M is maybe the best defensive team in the country is the way it stuffed Penn's backdoor cuts. Maybe they just watched UCLA's 41-43 loss to 13-seed Princeton in the Tournament (a game that, like Penn's this year, started 7-0 in favor of the favorite), in which the Tigers won on a backdoor cut.

And you might think that it's not too hard to stop a cut to the basket, but the Quakers torched UNC earlier this season through their passes into the high post and then sharp cuts to the hoop.

But Texas A&M did a superb job of not only knowing the cuts were coming, but sticking like glue to guys like Brian Grandieri and Darren Smith trying to find their way through the man defense. As a result Penn didn't get a single free layup thanks to their motion offense in the half-court, they scored virtually all of their inside points off of drives from Ibrahim Jaaber and Mark Zoller.

"All our guys really helped defend pretty well today, and I can't recall a backdoor that they got," Aggies coach Billy Gillispie said.
"I thought the best defender of the game was maybe Joe Jones. Not taking anything away from Marlon [Pompey] or Dominique [Kirk], or Acie [Law] or anyone who played, Joe did the best job he's done probably in his career helping against a really tough team to help against"