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Q: Back to Coach Lambert. You mentioned he was ahead of his time with fast-break basketball. Was he also ahead of his time as far as playing tough defense? W: Well, I would say so. Well, I don’t know if he was ahead of the time on that, but he did play tough defense. But he played man-to-man, didn’t use zones. But pretty much the same style of defense that I used, practically on my entire coaching career, 40 years. Three men were always playing a man-to-man, and two were playing zone. The two farthest away from the ball, wherever it was, were playing zone. As the ball would change, then you might change from man-to-man to zone, but you still had your man. You still had, even though you’re playing a zone, you still have your man. Your man would go through you, and you’d have to go with him. And you couldn’t stay out and play the zone there, you’d have to go with him. But then somebody else would be farther away, and they’d have to move back farther. So that, that was his main defense. And I think he was very successful at it. You don’t hear too much about great defensive coaches unless they’re playing ball control offense. You hear, about Coach [Henry] Iba, a great coach at Oklahoma State. When he had Bob Kurland, he won a couple of national championships there. You heard about his great defense, and, I’d say, at the beginning of every year, if you would say, among the top five defensive teams in the country as far as points scored, Oklahoma State’s gonna be among ’em. But it wasn’t because of their defense, and it wasn’t because they played good defense. It’s because they held the ball so long on offense. But you’re never gonna find them high in the offense, and you wouldn’t find the margin between their points allowed and their points scored as you might find in some others. But that doesn’t mean that he wasn’t great at the other. Q: This type of defense, with the three playing man-to-man and the two playing zone. Did Coach Lambert originate this defense? W: I have no idea. Q: Now when you played, did you play in the old Memorial Gymnasium? Or where did you play? W: We played most of my games in Jefferson High School, which was larger than the old, we played some, in the old Memorial Gymnasium, but played over in the Jefferson High School, which had a larger gym. Q: And what was that like? Playing there? W: Well, you liked to play on campus. As far as the actual playing, it was fun playing in that smaller place right on campus. In the game I played, I drove hard, and Lambert would always have the football players sitting under the baskets. They’d catch you if you were driving hard. And he’d always get a bunch of them in there. Q: So, it was fairly small crowds, I’m assuming? ’Cause it wasn’t that big a place? W: No, as far as numbers, but it would be crowded. It would be full, and crowded with people wanting to get in. Q: So there were a lot of students that wanted to see the games, that couldn’t get in, because there wasn’t room? W: Oh, yes, yes. Q: So it was, uh, clamoring for tickets? W: Oh yes, yes. Q: Did you practice there as well? Or where did you practice? W: No, we practiced in the old gym, on the campus. Yes. We practiced there all the time. Same place. The old gym. Q: What was it like practicing there? W: It was all right. No, no, didn’t think, never thought too much about it. You, you don’t -- Q: Have you been back to see now it as a computer science building? W: No, I haven’t. I haven’t really been on the campus at all. I’ve been back to Lafayette or West Lafayette, but I haven’t actually been on campus to see things. Not in over about five years. I have been back, when I received some honors back there, but I didn’t get around. |
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