Hawaii introduces the 'Seven Deadly Sins of Defense'

Gib Arnold knows he doesn't have the depth to run his usual up-tempo system in his debut season at Hawaii, so the first-year coach plans to slow the pace down and put a heavy emphasis on defense.

To reinforce those goals, Arnold has introduced what he calls the "Seven Deadly Sins of Defense."

According to Honolulu Star-Advertiser, the seven sins are allowing transition points, layups, no-dribble 3-pointers, uncontested 2-pointers or putbacks, committing fouls and having a "not my man" mentality of responsibility. The penalty for committing one of those sins? A whole lot of running. 

"Ideally we'd like to play an up-tempo game, but I don't think we can do that at this point because I think you've got to have great depth," Arnold said on a conference call this week. "So our philosophy this year is we're going to be pretty defensive-oriented. We're going to try to build a tough defensive team and as we grow as a team, the tempo will increase."

Hawaii hired Arnold to revitalize a program that sank to last in the WAC last season and hasn't enjoyed a winning season since 2007. The former USC assistant inherits one of the tougher rebuilding in the nation next season considering that of the four players returning from last season, only guard Hiram Thompson averaged more than 1.5 points and 1.0 rebounds.

"We have 10 newcomers coming in," Arnold said. "We did the math and we have the least amount of points and least amount of rebounds returning of any team in the nation."

Hawaii not surprisingly was projected last in the WAC in the preseason poll for the second season in a row, but Arnold remains optimistic about both this season and the future of the program. Thomas will likely be asked to be a team leader after averaging 9.2 points, 3.3 rebounds and 3.9 assists last season, but many of the newcomers will need to contribute immediately. 

"I do like this team, as young as it is," Arnold said. "We're all new, but their attitude has been phenomenal. I know we're picked ninth and we probably have the longest way to go of anyone in the WAC, but we accept that challenge and we're going to approach every day trying to get better."

Source: http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/blog/the_dagger/post/Hawaii-introduces-the-Seven-Deadly-Sins-of-Defe?urn=ncaab-278622

College Basketball players College Football point spreads ESPN 1000 NCAA Football Recruiting