Defense, Defense, Defense: That’s What Earl Grant Wants
Andy Backstrom (@andybackstrom)
Publisher
Jim Christian is an offensive mind. During four of his seven years at Boston College, the Eagles were inside the top 125 in adjusted offensive efficiency, according to KenPom.
Whether it was drawing up a backdoor alley-oop dunk from Ky Bowman to Jerome Robinson or developing a potent pick-and-roll game with Nik Popovic, BC’s high-octane offense was usually enough to at least compete with most teams in the ACC. After all, between Eli Carter, Olivier Hanlan, Bowman, Robinson, Wynston Tabbs and Jay Heath, BC had some high-scoring backcourts.
But the Eagles struggled to finish games. Mightily. And a big reason why was their defense, or lack thereof. In fact, BC allowed north of 70 points per game in all but one of his years with the program.
Enter, Earl Grant, who wants to keep teams below that threshold, night in and night out.
“For my 22 years in the business, I just worked with guys who believe in defense,” Grant said during last week’s media day. “You gotta defend and rebound. You start right there. You gotta take care of the ball.
“Those are the three things you gotta do first: defend, rebound and take care of the ball.”
Grant pulled out an anecdote from his second year as the head coach of College of Charleston. The Cougars were playing Towson and jumped out to an 18-15 halftime lead. When all was said and done, they won, 40-37, but Grant realized his team needed to find a better balance.
“We needed more offensive threats,” Grant said. “So we added more offensive threats, and we could score more. But we gotta build a foundation, ok? Or the whole program’s gonna crumble.”
His defense-first mindset bleeds through his practice routine. Drills designed to bolster his team’s endurance in a half-court set are employed, as are sprints for any technical fouls committed.
Brevin Galloway, a College of Charleston grad transfer who first met Grant at a Clemson camp when he was 11 years old, said that, when he came to BC, his new teammates wanted to know two things: First, how did Grant condition players, and, second, how does he coach defense.
“They wanted to know the concepts, the schemes,” Galloway said. “I’ve watched film with a couple guys about that kind of stuff.”
Makai Ashton-Langford transferred to BC from Providence ahead of the 2018-19 season. He sat out that year but played last season and got a good sense for Christian’s coaching philosophy. Ashton-Langford and his younger brother DeMarr Langford Jr., a former four-star recruit from Brewster Academy, stayed at BC while the likes of Tabbs and Heath hit the transfer portal.
It’s practically a new team. Returning Eagles accounted for a mere 27.6% of minutes played in the 2020-21 campaign. That’s the fourth-lowest percentage among high majors.
But Ashton-Langford says all that turnover actually helps BC embrace defensive chops.
“I feel like it would have been a lot harder if we had the same team from last year,” Ashton-Langford said. “Going from that to this year would have been harder. But I feel like [the fact] we have a new coach and new guys at the same time—I feel that made the transition a little bit easier than it would have been.”
Ashton-Langford discussed last week how this Eagles team, despite its unconventional makeup, has gelled together quickly. A summer session played a significant role but so did Grant’s culture. DeMarr Langford Jr. praised Christian, however, the sophomore guard admitted that Grant connects with the players “on a personal level” more than Christian did.
Ashton-Langford emphasized that he and his teammates have bought in. They have to.
The Eagles will be fighting an uphill battle all season. Coming off a year in which they won two conference games, they’re picked to finish dead last in the ACC.
“I'm glad I saw what I saw,” Grant said, referencing the league’s preseason poll. “We've only got one way to go. You can’t go no further down into the earth. You can only go up. So, for me, it’s a good starting point.
“Ain’t the first time that I’ve been a part of a team that had that number. Hey, it is what it is. We’ve got a hill to climb. This first year, we can build a foundation and hopefully we can climb some.”
