Knox College opens with The System

Emily Cline, the women's coach at NCAA Division III Knox College (a Midwest Conference rival of the original System team, the Grinnell men's squad), debuted with this wonderful style of play Monday with the Prairie Fire. As I said in an earlier update on Coach Cline, I'm amazed she is the first coach from the MWC to take the plunge, given all the success creator David Arseneault has had with the Pioneers all the years.

I e-mailed Coach Cline and asked for her thoughts on the opening workout, and here is her response:

Emily Cline: "It was great to get out on the court for the first time as a System coach. We put our break in tonight and got a lot of shooting, passing and ballhandling in as well. My players seemed to catch on pretty quickly to the concepts and they went really hard. So I was pleased by the effort.

"However, I know that I have so much to learn about the minutia of The System that I am even more motivated to study and learn as much as possible. Also, practice planning is different coaching The System than conventional basketball so I need to get a better handle on that as well. Overall, I think I will love coaching The System but the learning curve is going to be steep."

Man, that is such good information. I really appreciate Coach Cline taking the time to get back to me, and I wish her and her team the best of luck this season. We'll check back in with them soon.