Just one day into the job and Brian Good is already getting defensive about his basketball plans.
Barbados’ calling card will surely come at the business end of the floor now, as the newly installed men’s head coach said he plans to make defence his primary focus when he eventually takes to the court with the senior national outfit.
Good stated his philosophy during a telephone interview with MIDWEEK SPORT a day after becoming just the second non-national appointed to lead Barbados’ basketball setup.
“I don’t think there’s any mystery to what I am coming to do [because] we’re going to build a system where we will be the best defensive team that we can be,” the American collegiate coach said bluntly.
“If we can be great on that end of the floor, then we will give ourselves the best chance to win games, nullify any great offensive threats from the opposition and make up for any lack of talent that we might have.
“Once we can take a lot of pride playing defence, then that’s a start and we will always give ourselves a chance to win games,” Good added.
His attention to the business end of the floor should come as no surprise considering Good’s background as a defensive-minded collegiate guard who marked the likes of then Big Ten stars Steve Smith and Jalen Rose while playing for NCAA Division I school Wisconsin.
The renewed defensive focus will probably be the much-needed transformation for a team that had steadily lost its way on that side of the ball over the years.
At their last regional appearance three years ago, Barbados surrendered an unthinkable 84.4 points per contest, including three totals of 90 or more on the way to losing all but one of their five matches for a disappointing sixth-place showing.
“I don’t think the players here are individually bad defenders but sometimes what tends to happen is that there is a disconnect from the principles as a team,” explained Good, who saw most of Barbados’ best players as recently as last month.
“We could all be good individual defensive players but we’re still going to have to do this as a team and, as I said before, that’s where we will be able to make up for any perceived lack of talent.”
And Good is not certain Barbados suffers from a lack of talent either, having recruited two local players to his collegiate programmes in the past while identifying a number of gifted basketballers he expects to make the national squad thrive.
“I’m definitely not worried about the level of talent here and I plan to focus on execution because there’s plenty of good players here and from what I’ve seen the level just continues to improve,” said Good.
