Confessions of a System Newbie, Entry #3

Excuse me while I kiss the sky! Because I am still in a purple haze after Rim of the World’s SYSTEM debut on Wednesday night. The Lady Scots played hard, aggressive basketball in a doubleheader against two teams that had winning records during the previous season. In fact, one of the teams was an amazing 30-3.

So, let's get to it...

To set the stage and provide a snapshot of my mental health at the time, our first game was bumped up upon our arrival. We walked thru the door and were asked to play…in more or less five minutes although we were still short a few key players. So rushed were we that we did not get a shoot-around. We didn’t even start the game with our second shift’s point guard! Rest assured that these issues were not very successful in alleviating my anxiety as we prepped for our first battle.

Of course, we were quickly down 12-0. The other team was much bigger than us with multiple girls around six feet tall. Our tallest isn’t tall at 5’9”. We are really a team of all guards. Our opponent didn’t have any trouble getting layups…but that soon changed. By the middle of the second half—there’s a running clock in summer—the other team was exhausted and couldn’t make shots under the basket consistently. Their passing became sloppy and our press became more effective. They were becoming frustrated with our frenetic full-court defense. One of their players even swung at one of our girls after a unintentional hard foul. Crazy. We closed the gap quickly and had a chance to win with less than ten seconds as one of our girls was fouled. She missed the front end of a one-on-one so we unfortunately lost by one. Only one! We didn’t meet any of our goals--it's tough with a running clock--although we were close on three-point attempts and turnovers forced. Nonetheless, I couldn't be more pleased with our first effort.

Our second game, which I thought would be more difficult as I thought our players would be exhausted, was played with the same intensity and a bit more comfort and confidence by the girls. Of note, the opponent had two starters at about 6’2” which didn’t excite me too much. Regardless, the girls never quit putting pressure on the ball and creating chaos. We trapped and did a lot of chasing. We achieved steals at a better pace than the first game. By the second half, our opponent's players were cramping up and leaving the game. They were beat. We traded baskets often—our threes, their twos. I can’t believe how often these teams missed shots under the basket due to fatigue. We ended up winning by one in overtime. We nearly met our goals for turnovers forced and 20 more shots than the opponent. We did meet our goal for threes attempted.

The night was incredibly exciting with our interceptor stealing the ball from the other team with two seconds to go as we were up by one. The girls huddled, screamed and cheered. Our fans were maniacal. It was mayhem. Everyone was sooooooo happy and energetic—that’s what it’s really all about. Those are, after all, the main things that I want the girls to experience.

Now, I don’t want to mislead you and have you believe that everything was rosy. Our implementation of THE SYSTEM is an evolving process. Our passing was not acceptable. We have to better hit our shooters on the chin with every pass. Our shooters’ timing was thrown off often with poor passes. We missed waaaaaaaaay too many free throws. I expect that we’ll miss many due to fatigue, but our percentage was still unacceptable. Also, we turned over the ball too much. I think this will improve as the girls become more comfortable with THE SYSTEM. Our offensive rebounding was poor, and we definitely need to find more two point field goal attempts, too. Our penetration into the paint was inconsistent. Too much hesitation when receiving the ball. We need to either shoot or get into the paint for a layup or a drive & kick when we get the ball.

That said, there were so many positive things to talk about that the girls are addicted to THE SYSTEM. Both games were played on OUR terms. The team is united and truly believes in what we’re doing. They are focused on our TEAM goals, not individual stats. They are confident and enthusiastic. The concepts of THE SYSTEM are so simple to latch on to. They’re so concrete. Easily comprehensible.

Yes, we still have a lot of work to do. However, there is much optimism in the program…and it’s only June. We have areas we’ll work to improve over the next few weeks. Besides the before-mentioned, our pace needs to be even quicker. We need to be more effective in forcing our opponent up the floor with every possession to maintain pace. Our offense needs to be getting the ball up the court faster to effectively take advantage of transition. So much to do.

I look forward to all of the hard work we'll put in. Every moment is a joy.

Despite all of my anxiety and stress leading up to this game, it’s still good to be the coach of the Lady Scots after our SYSTEM debut. In fact, it’s even better. Thank goodness my nerves didn’t get the best of me.

- Zack Delmont, Head Coach of the Rim of the World Fighting Lady Scots of Lake Arrowhead, California