Xavier Nation Magazine Feature: Going For The Kill
XU players focus on three consecutive defensive stops, then do it again. And Again.
Rory Glynn, Xavier Nation Magazine
12/11/2019
George Raveling, the longtime college basketball coach and Nike executive, once said that in order to combat player boredom, coaches need to "think of new ways to do old things." In basketball, they don't come much older than playing defense, around since Dr. Naismith asked some guy to stand between him and his peach basket.
Intensity and attention to detail are crucial to playing effective defense, but maintaining both at a high level for 40 minutes a night sometimes can be a challenge. Which is why Xavier coach Travis Steele embraces the concept of the "kill."
The premise is simple: A "stop" is an empty possession for the opposing offense—a missed shot or a turnover. A "kill" is three consecutive stops. Steele likes targeting kills because it makes effective defense measurable, tangible, and attainable for players. A new way of doing an old thing.
"It's a way to engage their minds and to make the game smaller," Steele says. "You want to break it down for them, give them little things to grab onto during the game, rather than just say, 'Hey, let's go play for 40 minutes.' There's a lot that can happen in 40 minutes. We want to attack each possession." Steele says the Musketeers try to get to seven kills each game. "If you do that, you win 96 percent of the time, regardless of whatever else is going on," he says.
The program has tracked kills since the 2009–2010 season. Last season, when XU averaged 5.17 kills per game, it had seven or more in a game eight times (IUPUI, Miami, Oakland, Eastern Kentucky, Detroit Mercy, DePaul, Creighton, and Villanova). The Musketeers won all eight, with an average margin of victory of 13.25 points.
Steele isn't alone in valuing the kill. According to Jeff Greer of The Athletic, Chris Mack took the concept with him to Louisville, and John Calipari uses it at Kentucky, as do Tom Crean at Georgia, Georgia Tech's Josh Pastner, Texas A&M's Buzz Williams, and Tony Bennett of national champion Virginia, among others. Steele says he remembers adopting the concept from Bennett.
The Musketeers staff tracks kills throughout each game. At media timeouts, players are reminded how many kills they have at that point and how many stops remain toward the next kill. Once XU has two straight stops, no player wants to be the one who gives up the basket or commits the foul that resets the count to zero.
"We always get hyped up in our little circle," junior guard Paul Scruggs says. "When that last stop is coming up, we're always saying, 'Kill time!'"
At Musketeer home games, Steele wants fans to join the bench when the Xavier defense is about to get a kill.
"When we're at two stops, a lot of the fans right behind the bench probably hear our bench, our players, our staff, our managers, everybody start barking like crazy to let our guys know that it's 'kill time,'" said Steele. "We're encouraging Xavier Nation to join in, especially when we're about to get a kill."
