South Carolina’s unyielding defense shut down Baylor in Friday’s Sweet 16 matchup, carrying the Gamecocks to a 70-50 win.

Coach Frank Martin has long been known as a defensive expert. But when young SI Kids reporter Max Bonsetter asked him a question about how he coaches defense, Martin had never heard the question before.

“When you coach and teach your team defense, what’s more important: technique or attitude?”

Here’s what Martin had to say:

“First of all, a lot of respect to you. That’s a heck of a question. I’ve been doing this a long time and that’s the first time anyone’s ever asked me that. That’s a heck of a question. Attitude comes first. We got to have guys that are going to believe in our mission, that are going to believe in what we want to do. Once they believe, then we can teach them the technique.”

Meanwhile, some of the questions adults asked during the press conference were much less compelling.

For example:

I think this the first Elite 8 ever for South Carolina. Can you just kind of put into perspective what that means for the school and the program?

How important was it to get off to a good start in the second half? You guys dominated the latter part of the first half. Just talk about that little start of the second half and how important that was to you.

Talk about the defensive effort for all 40 minutes for the game. Seems like you never let up.

After Friday’s lockdown performance, South Carolina’s defensive efficiency now ranks No. 2 in the nation by Ken Pomeroy’s ratings.

Baylor shot just 30.4 percent from the field and turned the ball over 16 times. A nine-minute scoring drought for the Bears in the first half led to an 18-0 South Carolina run, and the Gamecocks controlled the game from there on out.

So shoutout to Max for asking an on-point question, and also for seeing the defensive battle coming in his Sweet 16 preview. You can follow him on Twitter @maxhoopssports for more youthful insight.

[ASAP Sports; CBS]

About Jesse Kramer

Jesse is a writer and editor for The Comeback. He has also worked for SI.com and runs The Catch and Shoot, a college basketball website based in Chicago. He is a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. Follow Jesse on Twitter @Jesse_Kramer.

5 thoughts on “Frank Martin had a tremendous response to this young reporter’s question

  1. Kid: asks question he wants to know the answer to, and thinks others might also be interested in.

    Adult reporters: ask questions that aren’t really questions. They’re statements designed to show how observant or knowledgeable the reporter is, inviting the coach to say how important it is (Very!), express his feelings (Happy! Sad!) or otherwise confirm the observation.

    1. “Talk about reporters’ inability to ask questions, instead relying on cliched structures for bland statements. Come on. Talk about it. Talk more.”

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