Shocker assistants devise the defense that defuses opponents (+video)

After Wichita State was finished dismantling Arizona on Thursday night, taking the Wildcats of everything they wanted to do and destroying every NCAA Tournament dream they ever had, Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall deflected the praise for his team’s effort.

He gave it to his assistant coaches.

How many of you can name the Shocker assistant coaches?

It’s OK if you can’t. Assistant coaches are used to not having their names remembered. Their satisfaction comes not in publicity but in preparation, and the Shockers have been as prepared as any team in the country during their two NCAA wins so far, by 20 over Vanderbilt and by 10 over Arizona.

“It’s like for a good student, they can get an A on a test of they study really hard,” said WSU assistant Greg Heiar, in his fifth season with the Shockers. “It’s the same thing in scouting. If you study really hard and watch a lot of video, you can get the answers to a test. But sometimes it takes you longer to figure a team out and sometimes you don’t figure a team out.”

More often than not, WSU figures its opponent out. Boxing provides the best analogies for almost any aspect of life, and the Shockers had Arizona on the ropes early. College basketball referees can’t stop a game because it’s a mismatch, but this one was a mismatch.

That’s shocking, because Arizona is an outstanding team. The Wildcats were seeded five spots higher than Wichita State.

But it was as if the Shockers knew every move Arizona was going to make. WSU pressured the Wildcats’ guards and focused on making sure Arizona’s big men never started their motors.

Plans are easy. It’s the execution that’s difficult.

Isaac Brown, in his second season on Marshall’s staff, is responsible for the scouting report on Miami. He was busy working on it Friday inside a small coaches office at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center.

Marshall, standing nearby, urged reporters to quickly ask their questions of Brown so that he could return to more important work.

“We were up until 3 a.m. last night as a coaching staff trying to get prepared,” Brown said. “When you have an opportunity to go to the Sweet 16, that opportunity doesn’t come along every day.”

Heiar estimated he’d had 14 hours of sleep since Sunday, when the Shockers found out they were headed to Dayton to play in the First Four on Tuesday night against Vanderbilt. Several planes, trains and automobiles later, he’s running on adrenalin.

“I did sleep in some (Friday) so I probably got 6 1/2 hours of sleep,” he said. “So I feel rejuvenated.

“But at this time of the year, it’s not about sleep. This is the best time in our lives as coaches and you should enjoy it. This job breathes life, energy and passion into me every day.”

Heiar concentrates heavily on defense and says being in charge of a scouting report is like being the opposition’s coach.

“We prepare our team so that we know what the other team runs, what they do,” Heiar said. “When I’m not doing the main scout, I’m in charge of the matchups. I have to make sure we understand the other team’s strength, weakness and personnel. I know our guys defensively, so I know who’s a better ball defender, help defender, who’s better at chasing guys and who’s better at guarding the dribble or ball screens.”

Heiar tries to use all of that information to give the Shockers an advantage.

“They do a great job,” Shocker senior forward Evan Wessel said of the team’s coaches. “We watch film three or four times before we’re gonna play and it focuses on what we need to be able to do to stop the other team.”

Sophomore forward Zach Brown said the players are given precise information.

“Our scouting reports are so descriptive, defined and structured in every single way,” he said. “To where we basically feel like we’re playing on the other team.”

The Shockers’ coaches, of course, aren’t the only ones putting in the long hours. Marshall’s strict demand of defense, though, does set him apart.

“They’re going to (play defense) or they’re not going to play,” Marshall said again Friday. He’s said it almost every day, it seems, since he was hired in 2007. He’s pounded home the defensive message so often that there’s no player who doubts him.

“What we tell our guys is you come in with these — obviously you have skills — but in order to show those skills, you’ve got to prove that you’re invested in (defense). You say that, but you have to mean it and you have to show that you mean it from time to time.”

Every Wichita State scouting report is basted in a defensive scheme. Offense is covered, but it’s the defense that matters most.

And that’s why the Shockers are consistently one of the nation’s best and toughest defensive teams. It starts with late-night scouting sessions, video galore, gallons of coffee and a determination to make the lives of the next opponent miserable.

This story was originally published March 18, 2016 at 7:05 PM with the headline "Shocker assistants devise the defense that defuses opponents (+video)."