Colonels' up-and-down style is something to behold

Colonels' new strategy is controlled chaos on the court
January 26, 2012
By KEVIN TRUDGEON

WINCHESTER- Coming of a six-win season in which his team graduated all of its size, Al Smith had a question to ask himself.

A longtime coach who cherished ball movement, solid defense and working for the best shot possible, the James Wood boys' basketball coach was at a crossroad.

He could continue down the well-traveled path of traditional basketball, hoping that his squad of small but quick players would be able to hold its own against bigger, more athletic teams in a halfcourt setting.

Or he could venture down the road less traveled and try something a little different.

"I knew with the guys we had coming back that we would not have much of an inside game," Smith said. "We got 6-foot-3 at the tallest, but everyone else is pretty much between 5-foot-9 and 5-foot-11. And all of them have some decent quickness, all of them have some decent speed and all of them can shoot from the outside.

"And I had heard of this [system] a long time ago that I, like most coaches probably, had dismissed as a gimmick. To just go out there and shoot 3's and see what happens sounded crazy. But I was intrigued by it because it also sounded fun."

It's been called "Run-and-Gun", "Attack Basketball", and even "Hockey on the Hardwood."

But more poetically it's known simply as "The System" - and for anyone who has gone to watch the Colonels play this year, there's no arguing that it's not your ordinary style of basketball.

Utilizing the 3-point shot, a full-court trapping defense and hockey-like substitutions that see five new players enter the game almost every two minutes, "The System" is basketball's version of a war of attrition.

From the opening tip James Wood is pressing and trapping, running and gunning. No shot is off limits, no steal attempt too risky. It lends itself to huge momentum shifts, numerous turnovers and multiple defensive breakdowns.

By the end of the game the opposition is usually left gasping for air.

At its finest it is an unrelenting force that simply overwhelms an opponent, such as when the Colonels forced 35 turnovers, hit 16 3-pointers and had more shots from beyond the arc than Kettle Run did from the field in a 97-58 win back on Dec. 16.

And at its worst it is almost the exact opposite, like the 102-64 blowout loss to Hedgesville in the Hollidaysburg (Pa.) Tournament just five days later.

What it's not though is some fly-by-night idea that was thrown together at the last minute.

"I really researched the heck out of it and reached out to some coaches that run it for advice," said Smith, who said he talked to Grinnell College (Iowa) men's basketball coach David Arseneault and others for tips on implementing "The System."

"I was still pretty skeptical, but I thought I'd give it a chance at our team camp down at EMU this past summer."

Despite only having three practices to try and learn all of the nuances of their new game plan, the Colonels went out and put it to the test.

"When we first started playing summer league basketball, that's when we put it in," said senior guard Chad Potter (team-high 11.3 points per game). "When we first started doing it, it was hectic and out of control, but it was also a lot of fun to play."

The enjoyment factor was something Smith said he noticed right away with his players and a big reason for why he decided to give "The System" the green light heading into the season.

"It's so much fun to play," said junior Michael Carter (11.1 points per game). "We're all guards so we can all run it. We were hesitant at first, but once we started playing it we saw how it could work."

Although it can come across at times as chaos on the court, with James Wood players flying every which way, there is a method to the madness.

Pace of play is the key component in running "The System" correctly, and Smith said there are a series of goals his team has each game that are geared towards making sure that things are moving at the rate they want them to be.

"We want to get up 80 shots a game, 40 of them from behind the 3-point line. We want to rebound 35 percent of our misses, we want to create 26 turnovers and we want to have a plus-20 shot differential compared to the other team," Smith said.

"When I told our guys that, they were all waiting for the punch line. Because the year before, if we put up 12 3-pointers in a game I wasn't happy. We had a good inside game and we worked and worked and worked until we got a good shot, Now we want to get that shot up in 12 seconds or less."

The results have been mixed so far.

Through 16 games the Colonels are averaging nearly 24 more points per game (78.3), nine more steals (16.8) and have almost double the number of 3-pointers made (172) in nine less games.

On the flip side they are allowing their opponents to shoot better than 57 percent from the field and score more than 80 points per game while shooting just 36 percent themselves (27 percent from beyond the arc).

They are 6-10, the exact number of wins they finished with all of last season, but are still searching for their first win in the Northwestern District at 0-4.

They've been within striking distance in each district game, but have been unable to do enough down the stretch to pull out a win.

Ask them if they're discouraged, though, and they'll say it's all part of the process.

"We knew we'd struggle at first. We're not used to this, we're used to a slow-down pace, but we're getting the hang out of it the more we practice and play it," said junior guard Nick Foura (10.4 points per game).

"This system takes awhile to get used to, but we just need to stop fouling and make our free throws. We live and die by the 3 and we've still got to correct our defensive rotations. But we feel confident against every team we play."

A big reason for that are the kind of runs "The System" lends itself to.

Trailing 31-18 early in the second quarter against Sherando, James Wood forced two turnovers and ripped off three consecutive 3-pointers in a 24-second span to close to within four.

Those kinds of spurts give his team confidence to keep at it even when trailing late in a game, according to Smith.

"We know that at any point in time we could rip off a 12-0 run and be right back in it," Smith said.

As with anything new or different their have been criticisms of the new style of play, but Smith said that's expected.

"There are going to be people who think that it's just a gimmick, that it's funny and that we're dumb for playing this way, but I go back to the phrase of, 'There's more than one way to skin a cat,'" Smith said. "There's more than one way to win a basketball game.

"I believe you can win playing this way. You look at teams like Loyola Marymount under Paul Westhead, you look at Sonny Allen who won this way at ODU, you look at Arseneault at Grinnell ... you can win on many different levels playing this way."

Despite their struggles of late - they're 1-5 in their last six games - the James Wood players believe they're right on the cusp of breaking through.

"We knew that [we'd struggle] at times, but we're progressing with each game," Potter said. "We're still learning, but once we get to the district tournament and stuff I think we'll be just fine. We can play with anyone."

Smith said at times he's found himself yelling out an instruction that was from his old system and has to catch himself.

Just as it has been for the players, it's been an adjustment for the coaching staff, but one he does not regret making.

"I just think with the team chemistry that we've got this year and the way these guys have been playing, they're having a lot of fun and I'm having a lot of fun and the record is going to be what it is," Smith said. "I've seen enough good, positive things to know that we can win in this district playing this way.

"You can describe what we're going to do in five words. We're going to run, we're going to trap, we're going to shoot, we're going to rebound and we're going to sub. That's it, those five things. And we're going to have fun doing them."

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