The words of San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich after a Spurs victory last year speaks to what makes a great champion.

‘It just reinforces that playing defense gives us a chance to win any game, any night, even if the offense isn’t there,’ Popovich said. ‘This was another good example of that.’

Popovich’s Spurs have won the NBA championship in three of the last five seasons, and led the league in defense all three times.

Defense wins championships in the world of basketball, something that seemed to be overlooked by Binghamton University’s men’s basketball team last season when the Bearcats gave up a whopping 66.1 points per game, good for eighth best in the nine-team America East Conference. The result: a 13-16 overall record, a sixth-place finish and a first round loss to Boston University in the conference tournament.

The hiring of Kevin Broadus of Georgetown to coach the Bearcats has caused a campus-wide fervor, and he certainly knows where his team needs to improve.

‘Our motto this year is we’re just going to try to outwork guys,’ said the first-year head coach.

Defense is all about work, and Broadus is keen on making the team better on that side of the ball. Last year head coach Al Walker employed a man-to-man system, but the team was beat often through individual matchups and teams cutting through the middle of the defense.

Opponents were able to calmly establish their offensive sets and the Bearcats were easy to score on. Broadus hopes to change that by pressuring teams before they have the opportunity to get settled on offense. He plans to test the team’s ball-handling ability and wherewithal by putting intense defensive pressure on the ball.

‘Defensively we hope to apply a lot of on-the-ball pressure. It’s going to take a lot of teamwork,’ Broadus said.

Broadus plans to capitalize on the athleticism of his roster and use that on defense. Pressuring the ball up the floor takes superb team conditioning, and Broadus has worked his team harder than ever to make sure they will be ready for the grind that is to come. This sentiment has been echoed by senior Richie Forbes, a key guard for the team last season who electrified the Events Center with his scoring, but was a poster boy for the team’s defensive issues.

‘Last year I think I couldn’t play defense sometimes because I was tired and got up in my stance, but with conditioning this year,’ Forbes said, ‘he got us in great shape to play 30 to 40 minutes in my stance and stay on defense as long as possible.’

Forbes’ newfound commitment to his defense is encouraging and has drawn praise from Broadus, who says that Forbes has ‘totally bought in.’

The players seem to be buying what Broadus is selling about defense, and fans will get the first chance to see what they have at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Events Center against Quinnipiac.

Leaving a Georgetown Hoyas squad that gave up 58.1 points per game on its way to the Final Four last year ‘ or a full eight points less per game than the Bearcats ‘ Broadus has his work cut out for him here in Binghamton, and the Bearcats surely won’t become the San Antonio Spurs, or even the Georgetown Hoyas, overnight. But with the players on board with the new defensive philosophy and the talent in place to make a run at the conference championship, the early returns are encouraging.