Burrell Morphs Into Xavier's No. 1 Stopper

Atlantic 10's Defensive Star Sets Sights on Purdue's Moore

The most important player on the court for Xavier on Thursday played 37 minutes, missed all three of his field goal attempts in the first half and did not attempt any in the second half. Instead of focusing on scoring, guard Stanley Burrell opted for the less glamorous assignment of covering Georgia's best scorer like a second skin.

Burrell, an athletic 6-foot-3 senior, said he would have viewed his lockdown-defender role as absurd just three years ago, when his defense was "nonexistent." But after concentrating on scoring for most of his career, Burrell has eschewed offensive goals and embraced the task of trying to shut down the opponent's best perimeter scorer throughout the season.

"It has become an obsession," Xavier assistant James Whitford said. "He has taken it on as his identity."

Instead of looking for his point total on the postgame statistics sheet, Burrell now searches for the totals of the man he guarded, hoping he kept shot attempts and points to a minimum. After thriving against a defensively challenged Baylor team on Thursday, Purdue will get a stern defensive test when it faces a player like Burrell, the Atlantic 10 defensive player of the year, in today's second-round West Region game at Verizon Center.

Burrell is averaging a career-low 10 points per game this season, but he would rather talk about both good and bad defensive performances against some of the nation's more heralded players.

Burrell takes the most pride in holding Indiana freshman Eric Gordon to a 4-for-12 shooting effort, even though Gordon finished with 20 points. He also held Tennessee guard Chris Lofton to 3-of-12 shooting and Virginia guard Sean Singletary to 5-of-12 shooting. The one performance Burrell wishes he had back came against Temple's Dionte Christmas, who exploited Burrell's overaggressive defense.

Burrell played physical defense Thursday against Georgia's Sundiata Gaines, who made 6 of 14 shots and finished with 13 points. To prepare for Gaines, Burrell visited Whitford's room Wednesday night to watch extra tape and mine for nuances in Gaines's offensive tendencies. A few years ago, Whitford said, it was difficult to get Burrell to pay full attention in team scouting meetings.

Always offensive minded in high school, Burrell led Xavier in scoring as a freshman. During that season, Xavier played Miami (Ohio), where Whitford was an assistant. Whitford recalled: "He could not guard a lick. He was a liability on defense."

Whitford also remembered a particularly poor performance during Burrell's sophomore year, when he was a "disaster" against Saint Joseph's. Junior B.J. Raymond said Burrell was the player whom coaches talked about in the sense of, "Who can we put Stan on so [the opponent] doesn't have a career night?"

"My whole thing was to save my energy for offense," Burrell said. "I felt defense was just wearing me down, and whatever happened down here, that's on everybody else. That's not how you are supposed to play, and you learn that through experience."

During his first three seasons at Xavier, Burrell routinely spent hours in the gym working on his jump shot, but his statistics did not reflect the extra work. He shot a career-low 38.4 percent last season. He felt he was putting too much pressure on himself to score.

"Sometimes on offense you can try too hard and it can hurt you," Whitford said. "Defense is the other way around. The more anxiety level you have, the more effort you give, it usually helps you. Anxiety helps you on defense, it kills you on offense."

After a season in which Burrell watched then-teammate Justin Cage excel defensively, Burrell dedicated himself to a senior season of "redemption," aiming to slow every standout player he faced.

Blessed with lateral quickness, Burrell has gotten stronger overall. And instead of spending extra time in the gym shooting jumpers, he now tirelessly watches DVDs of opponents.

"You have to do your homework," he said.

This season, Burrell has taken a team-high 48 charges. Xavier Coach Sean Miller said, "Stan took one charge in his first three years combined, which tells you how much he has improved defensively."

On the rare occasion coaches do not assign Burrell to the opponent's best scorer, he usually requests him. With five other players averaging double figures, Xavier needs more defense from Burrell than points. Today's assignment: E'Twaun Moore, Purdue's leading scorer. Purdue also has a defensive standout in sophomore Chris Kramer, the Big Ten's defensive player of the year. If Burrell and Kramer played one-on-one, a reporter asked Burrell, would the score be 0-0?

"C'mon, man, I still have 1,600 career points," Burrell said. "I'll score some points. But now my role is to get my team ready to get stops. That's all I care about."