This is an article from Jackson, Michigan newspaper. Interesting take on a college adapting the "system". The "system" is not guaranteed to produce wins any more than Bob Knight's motion offense and man to man defense. But it is being used by more and more schools across America!
Jackson Community College women's basketball team finding success with helter-skelter style
Published: Saturday, January 08, 2011, 8:15 PM Updated: Saturday, January 08, 2011, 8:19 PM
The Jackson Community College women’s basketball team hopes to go from what some might call a novelty act to a team capable of challenging for a league title in the Michigan Community College Athletic Association.
On Saturday, the JCC women took a step in that direction by outscoring Ancilla 14-2 over the final three minutes en route to a wild 104-94 win at home.
The victory not only inched the Jets (6-8, 1-1) closer to the .500 mark, it marked the latest evidence that coach Andy Hoaglin’s mad science experiment, as he calls it, is capable of producing wins as well as gaudy point totals.
JCC topped the 100-point mark for the seventh time in 14 games. The Jets lead the National Junior College Athletic Association Division II in scoring at an eye-popping 98.4 points per game.
They are giving up 105 points a night.
“The learning is over,” Hoaglin said of his team’s helter-skelter style that relies on more than 100 shot attempts per game (35-40 of them 3-point attempts) and includes running five different players on the court in a mass substitution pattern every minute or so. “That learning curve can’t be as steep as it was the first semester.
“We’ve got to win games with this system, with any system. I hold myself personally accountable. I don’t want to be a .500 coach. I want to win a championship with this, and we’re able to do that.”
The Jets launched 112 shots and made 32, including 14-for-60 from 3-point range. JCC forced Ancilla (3-7, 1-1) into 40 turnovers.
Erika Bullock and Nicole Wurster scored 25 points apiece on Saturday. Davielle Thomas added 12 and Kelsey Roth 11.
“It’s the most fun way to play basketball that I’ve ever played,” said Roth, a graduate of Napoleon High School. “It’s run and gun. There’s never a lazy moment on the floor. I’m buying into it.
“We take chances. We play tough defense. We give up layups, but we play hard all the time.”
Ancilla coach Dave Liverance said that anyone who says that what JCC is playing is not real basketball is not paying attention.
“How can it not be basketball? That is basketball,” Liverance said. “They’re pushing the ball up and down the floor. They’re not forcing up things. They’re taking open shots.”
Liverance said the up-tempo style where everyone gets in the act has plenty of positives.
“At a JUCO where you have 15 kids coming in and you want to give kids playing time, sure, there’s a lot of merit in this style,” Liverance said. “Would it be something that I personally would do? Probably not, but it’s still a tempo you have to play at.
“On Monday, we play Lansing (Community College), who likes to slow it down and pound it inside. But you know what, it’s still about getting up and down the floor. You still have to block out, you still have to take care of the basketball.”
Hoaglin said he has seen how other coaches and opposing players react when they first see the JCC show in action.
“What I hear a lot after the game is, ‘That was fun,’ ” Hoaglin said. “I have gotten a lot of eye rolls at the beginning of the game.
“And at least 10 times this year, we’ll be going through the line after the game, and girls from other teams will come up to me and say, ‘I’d love to play here.’ ”
The ultimate barometer of success will be in the wins and losses. The new toy will lose its shine quickly if the results are not there, and Hoaglin knows that.
Last year, playing a much more conventional style and averaging about 65 points per game, the Jets finished 14-14 and 6-8 in the league.
“Sure, there’s some anxiousness with winning that I don’t share with everyone,” Hoaglin said.
As for the future of the run-and-gun-for-fun women’s basketball at JCC, get used to it, says the coach.
“It’s fun, and I’m not going to coach any other way,” Hoaglin said. “I wish I could find a couple high schools, say a Jackson or a Lumen Christi, run this system and have kids come to us right out of high school who have already run it.”
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