I texted the Mid-Major Madness group chat around 5 p.m. on Thursday.
Turns out I am, in fact, a ball-knower.
I’m not sure I have ever had more fun watching a basketball game. There were 184 points, 144 shot attempts, and 37 turnovers. When LIU and IU Indy weren’t getting stripped or throwing the ball to the other team, the game was an all-out sprint from rim to rim for 40 minutes. I was cackling for most of the game, right up until the thrilling, 94-90 LIU win.
That said, every Jaguars game this season will likely follow that same structure. Run by head coach Ben Howlett, but originated by Jim Crutchfield, “The System” is an all-out attack — a combination of full-court pressure defense, a supercharged up-tempo pace, and an air-raid pace-and-space offense.
The full-court press is unlike anything you’ve ever seen. The Jags trap every ball-handler all 94 feet up the court, and they should easily force 20-plus turnovers and score 20-plus fast-break points every night.
The conditioning that the Jaguars need is insane. The whole point of The System is to run a marathon in every basketball game. It results in some comically entertaining basketball filled with highlight-level plays. You’ll see plenty of big-time plays when every game averages close to 90 possessions, and you’ll also catch plenty of dumb back-and-forth possessions that more closely resemble a volleyball game.
It’s like they’ve reinvented the wheel.
But the Jaguars actually run beautiful motion actions in the half-court. It’s a lot of DHO and cutting actions, prioritizing ball and player movement — i.e., pass, cut, shoot, score.
There are obvious downsides. The extended pressure and traps leave the basket wide open — if you beat the initial press, you have an easy man-up fast-break opportunity, and Greg Gordon had some eye-popping lob dunks on the fast break in this game. The Jags also sell out to stop spot-up triples in their base man-to-man in the half-court, so they’ll allow plenty of offensive rebounds.
But from an entertainment standpoint, a new bar has been set. IU Indy is the No. 1 reason to keep renewing your ESPN+ subscription – I expect 30 more games of grip-it-and-rip-it hoops.
