Guerrilla Basketball

Lest I be misunderstood, let me begin this post by stating that basketball is just a game, and should not really be compared in any serious manner to warfare. That said, please humor me as I explain my (very limited!) understanding of 18th century battle tactics, and attempt to extend that understanding as a half-serious metaphor for our style of play this season:

European warfare during the time of the American Revolution was very structured and organized. Soldiers stood shoulder to shoulder in formation lines, faced other soldiers across the field lining up in exactly the same manner, and attempted to blow each other's heads off.This style of battle was effective as long as the enemy adopted the same unspoken customs and rules. However, when the Massachusetts Minutemen refused to line up in a field and instead employed guerrilla tactics of fast moving, smaller scale attacks against the orthodox British lines marching back to Boston, the playing field was evened and the British Redcoats took heavy losses.

Recently, conventional high school basketball has reminded me a bit of orthodox, 18th century European warfare. One team walks the ball up the court, implicitly gives the other team time to set their defense, and then proceeds to attack in a predictable fashion. Both teams play by the traditional rules and customs of what is considered proper play, and inevitably, the team with the greater talent or size (the Redcoats) wins the game.

Our style (based on Coach Walberg's ideas) by comparison, is designed to force teams out of their conventional basketball comfort zones, create confusion and uncertainty, and as a result, be "Minutemen" who defeat teams that we would not beat if we were to play conventionally...