Defense wins championships.

Coaches love to say it. Players hate to hear it. And even though the saying is more tired than media coverage of Tyler Hansbrough’s broken nose, it’s the truth.

This has become even more apparent to me this year. A couple of buddies and I coach a sixth grade basketball team in Lawrence, the Blue Devils. The name was given to us — it wasn’t by choice.

I’ve learned a few things this year. One, I’m convinced an entire generation has A.D.D. Two, nothing motivates sixth graders like a free Gatorade. And most importantly, defense does win championships.

Our team was the best defensive team in the league first semester. We held opponents to a league-low 24.6 points per game. Our defense was so good that it brought tears to the eyes of several opposing teams’ best players. You know your defense is good when it makes the other team cry. Just ask Kansas State’s Jason Bennett.

In the second half of our sixth graders’ championship game, we held the Terrapins to four points. That’s the equivalent of Kansas holding Nebraska to 16 points in the first half in Lincoln earlier this season. We came from 12 points behind at the half to win the league championship.

After starting the second season this semester 2-0, the Blue Devils have lost five straight games. We’re scoring at the same rate as last semester. We have the same players. We’re coaching the same way. But our boys quit playing defense. We’ve given up a league-worst 39.1 points per game and I’ve gone from feeling like John Wooden to Ricardo Patton.

The only thing we do well anymore is take charges, and that’s because we told our boys we’d give them a Gatorade for every charge they took. I even taught them how to take a charge, how it sells the charge if you grunt when the offensive player runs into you. Now our boys grunt more than female tennis players and we’re by far the best-hydrated team in the league.

Coach Bill Self should use a similar tactic for his Jayhawks, who at times fall too much in love with blocking shots instead of taking the charge. But free Gatorade might not entice his players. He could try bottles of Cristal.

The Jayhawks should also pay attention to the Blue Devils’ triumphs and tribulations this year. Basketball is basketball no matter what level, even sixth grade, and championships at every level are won on the defensive end.

Kansas won the Big 12 title this season and climbed to second in the national rankings because of its defense. Kansas is fourth in the nation in field-goal percentage defense and is holding opponents to 37.4 percent shooting. According to www.kenpom.com, Kansas leads the nation in defensive efficiency, which is calculated by taking the number of points allowed per every 100 possessions.

These stats aren’t a coincidence. Bill Self is one of the best coaches in the nation when it comes to coaching defense. This hasn’t always made him a fan favorite here in Lawrence, where everyone became spoiled by watching the fast-breaking, high-scoring Roy Williams teams. The Jayhawks during the Williams era scored a lot of points and won a lot of games. But Williams never won a national championship with the Jayhawks — Self will.

Williams’ teams always had that one game in the tournament where their shots — or free throws — quit falling. It happens. Shots aren’t going to fall every game, every half. Just ask Kevin Durant and the Texas Longhorns.

But defense doesn’t have to come and go. It can compensate for an off shooting night. Defense, like rebounding, is about effort. It helps to be athletic, quick, lengthy and well-schooled. Sound familiar? Those are Self’s Jayhawks.

Self has been criticized by some that he just recruits the best players available, doesn’t try to build a team and just tries to accumulate as much talent possible. That’s far from the truth.

Self recruits guys that are talented on the offensive end but can also be molded into defensive specialists. Take Brandon Rush. When Rush arrived in Lawrence two years ago, he was regarded as a guy who could light up the scoreboard and didn’t care much about defense. But Self saw that at 6-foot-6 with long arms and great lateral quickness, Rush had the potential to be a great defender.

During the beginning of Rush’s freshman season, he looked lost on the defensive end. Then with some time under Self’s tutelage, Rush has turned into one of the best on-the-ball defenders in the country. It was Rush’s defense that held Durant to seven points in the second half last Saturday.

This year, Self’s master plan is coming together. The Jayhawks’ offense feeds off their defense. They don’t have one player that is a defensive liability. They have bought into Self’s defense-first mentality.

As a childhood teammate used to say, “If they don’t score, they can’t win.” If the Jayhawks keep this mentality about their opponents through March, they’ll find their way out of the first round and they might have a chance to win the whole dang thing. Just ask my Blue Devils.

Moore is a Shawnee senior in journalism.

—Edited by Kelly Lanigan