A great way
of learning about The Grinnell System is seeing it person. An even better way? Well,
being on the opposing team might be one.
That’s what
happened to Abbey Hengesbach, then an NAIA All-America guard at Concordia
(Mich.) University who took the court in the opening round of the 2013 National
Tournament against Olivet Nazarene. Hengesbach finished with 28 points, 15
rebounds, seven assists, three steals and two blocks as her team eliminated the
Tigers 90-80.
(Quick side
note: ONU made only one of its first 19 shots from beyond the 3-point line and
finished 9-for-47 in that one. Still, the Tigers eventually got within one
point in the second half, which is a wonderful testament not only to The System
but to the effort of their coaches and players.)
When
Hengesbach decided to take a year off from basketball and find a different
school, one of those she considered was NAIA Division II Olivet Nazarene -- based in Bourbonnais, Ill. -- through coach Lauren
Stamatis.
“I talked
with a couple of schools pretty seriously,” Hengesbach said. “Coach just sold
me on Olivet as a whole. Obviously, The System wasn’t anything I was used to.
She felt like I would play well in it, and here we are.”
So far, her
decision appears to have worked out. Hengesbach is second in NAIA Division II
at 24.1 points per game for the Tigers, who have won eight of their past nine
games to move to 11-4 (3-1 Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference) headed
into Christmas break. She is tied for fourth with an average of 4.33 steals and
seventh with an average of 5.4 assists.
And along
the way, Stamatis’ squad is averaging 111.9 points, better than their NAIA
record of 107.5 from last season.
Hengesbach
has been a big part of that, part of a 15-player rotation (this is The System,
remember?) that includes nine freshman. So with Hengesbach, Stamatis has 10
brand-new players getting it done.
“Having so
many new girls learning it at one time helped us all, I think,” Hengesbach
said. “Having them go through the process with me has made it less stressful,
that was really helpful.”
Stamatis is
in her third season running the program at Olivet Nazarene, taking over when
Doug Porter retired. She served as Porter’s graduate assistant for two years
before becoming the first full-time assistant in 2009, so she’s seen the ups
and downs of what the school refers to as “TigerBall.” She doesn’t plan on
changing.
“It’s funny,
Coach Porter asked me when I was his grad assistant how I would want my team to
play if I was head coach,” Stamatis said. “After about my second year here, I
knew there was no other way I would want to coach. To see the players have
success and to see how much they love it as a group is amazing.
“I knew even
if I left, this is how I would want my teams to play.”
Stamatis
first saw The System as an undergrad, as a member of the women’s team at the
University of the Redlands in southern California. At the time, the men’s
program was run by Gary Smith, and his teams set many NCAA Division III
records.
“When I first
saw it, my first thought was, ‘This is crazy, this is not basketball,’” she
said. “I had no idea what was going on. You have a certain perception of what
basketball should be, and this wasn’t it. You don’t really understand what
they’re trying to do.
“It wasn’t
until I started learning about it that I realized there were specific goals
they were trying to reach, and there was a method to it. I really liked it.”
Certainly,
given the way her team does it, there is a lot to like about what Stamatis is
doing at Olivet Nazarene. All 15 players have played in all 15 games – getting
between 6 and 18 minutes of run per game – and 13 of them have made a
3-pointer. Everyone averages more 1.2 points, too.
One
adjustment that Hengesbach worried about was sharing playing time, or least,
sitting out more than half the game. She has discovered that isn’t a problem.
“When I
played in traditional basketball, you always feel like you’re trying to save
energy throughout the game, because you know you’re going to be in there for a
while,” she said. “Now constantly going 100 percent is more of a habit, and
it’s a little easier.
“Coach had
told me when you have your shift, you’re so excited, and that’s the truth.
Obviously, the style we play, you’re going 100 percent all the time.
Personally, I’m much more efficient when I’m on the court.”
That was the
case late last week when the Tigers won both games at the JustAGame Holiday
Classic at Wisconsin Dells in Wisconsin. In the opener, a 120-103 victory over
William Penn University, Hengesbach had 22 points (one of seven players in
double figures), seven rebounds, seven assists and three steals.
She backed
that up by joining fourth teammates in double figures when Olivet Nazarene beat
Buena Vista University 116-110, as Hengesbach totaled 16 points, nine assists,
six rebounds and six steals.
With all those young players, the future clearly
is bright for Stamatis’ program. She had led Olivet Nazarene to the national
tournament in each of her two previous seasons, and there is little reason to
think this year will be any different. Her new players are getting it, the
returning ones continue to push the pace and achieve The System goals, and
everybody appears to be having fun doing it.
“During
finals week, a few of them were saying they were planning to go home for
Christmas and watch their high schools play,” Stamatis said. “They were saying
how boring regular basketball was going to be to them. They said, ‘Coach, I
don’t think I could ever play that way again.’
“So they’re
sold on it, and they’re having success. That’s a great thing.”
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