Boise basketball get a column in the Idaho Statesman

Do be sitting down when you read this. With tongue partially in cheek, we are shocked, shocked that the lead columnist for the Idaho Statesman produced a Boise State men's basketball article.

Graham's focus on defense paying off
Brian Murphy
Idaho Statesman
12/07/08

Greg Graham is never going to be confused with former Georgetown coach John Thompson, whose teams treated basketball as a 90-foot street war filled with hand-to-hand combat. Or Rod Jensen, for that matter, whose old Boise State teams were defense-first and defense-second.

But from the maybe-you-can-teach-an-old-dog-new-tricks department, the offensive-minded Graham has embraced - well, at least acknowledged - defense in his seventh season as Boise State's head coach.

"We're going to get after it. We're going to keep working on it. That's part of my coaching that's got to grow. I've got to keep the defense going and get better at it," Graham said after an 85-76 victory against Colorado State at Taco Bell Arena on Saturday night.

The emphasis on defense at practice - where Boise State has reduced its offense-defense breakdown to 60-40 and occasionally 50-50 -is beginning to spill over into games. As a function of their offensive tempo, the Broncos are always going to allow a lot of points. There are simply more possessions per game in a typical contest.

Graham is focused on the opponents' shooting percentage, which reached 44 percent last season, the second highest in the Graham era. He decided in the offseason to work more defensive drills into practice and place more emphasis on that side of the court...

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