No slowing down North Shore girls basketball

Andrew Fierstein cannot look away for even a second. As a basketball shot clock operator his job requires constant attention but during North Shore girls basketball games Fierstein's position is the most demanding on Long Island.

"The girls game is a lot quicker, there's a lot more change of possessions," said Fierstein, a sophomore at North Shore. "They really take shots quick."

The North Shore girls basketball team has a unique style of play known as "The System" - a hybrid of the late 1980s Loyola Marymount teams under Paul Westhead, nicknamed the Guru of Go, and the Grinnell (Iowa) College men's basketball team's high-tempo offense, full-court press defense and hockey line-esque 5-for-5 substitutions on average every minute.

There are five principles to North Shore coach Keith Freund's version of The System: North Shore must attempt 80 total field goals, attempt 40 three-pointers, force 32 turnovers, rebound 40 percent of their missed shots and take 25 more shots than their opponent in each game.

The Vikings (11-2, 8-0 Nassau Conference A-III) average more than 103 field-goal attempts, 42 three-point attempts, 36 forced turnovers, rebound 36.8 percent of their misses and take 46 more shots than their opponents each game.

Led by junior Amanda Johansen, who is averaging 14.2 points, 11.6 rebounds and 5.3 assists, North Shore controls its own destiny in its quest for a conference title and is looking for its first playoff win in five years but success did not come easy and The System has drawn both praise and ire.

Implementing The System

North Shore won a conference championship in 2009 running a post-up offense but 6-1 Chloe Johnson graduated and Freund recognized his team was going to need to run a different offense in order to have success. That's when he found out about David Arseneault's system at Grinnell which at that time had led all levels of the NCAA in scoring for 13 of the previous 15 years.

"I knew we couldn't play post-up basketball anymore," Freund said. "I was on websites looking for fast-break stuff. I read and it blew my mind; this is exactly what we should be doing."

After buying Arseneault's books and tapes and speaking with him Freund was convinced to implement The System at North Shore but he did not have an easy time selling his players on it.

"I didn't really like it because I was just used to slow the ball down, pass it around, never really thought of basketball this way," said Johansen, who now says she can't think about going back to playing post-up basketball.

After a poor start last season Freund admitted he had doubts in his new scheme, then it all clicked in a loss to Westbury.

"We were down 24 points with three minutes to go and closed the game on a 25-2 run and we lost by one," Freund recalls. "The girls said 'coach we got it,' and we didn't lose again till playoffs."

Practice like they play

When the team scrimmages at practice the players rotate on and off the court like rush-hour commuters filing in and out of subway cars.

To practice three-pointers the Vikings get into two lines and fire shots in rapid succession, counting off each made basket until the 17-player team makes 75 three-pointers, a feat which takes seven minutes. This is the closest North Shore comes to any kind of drill during practice and Freund tells his players little more than which players are on each line during the scrimmage portions of practice.

There is never the sound of a whistle or a raised voice from Freund, who does not shy away from his coaching weaknesses.

"I'm not a good half-court coach and my kids can't play half court," Freund said. "We try to turn the game into a fast-break drill, almost 4-on-3 the whole game."

Happy players, parents

To the delight of parents and players alike all 17 Vikings get to play. Senior Elizabeth Sheerin played for the Vikings when they were a post-up team two years ago and says she "definitely" likes The System more.

"It's actually a lot more fun, everyone gets a lot of playing time and we all really enjoy it," Sheerin said. "It's taken us a year to get it completely down but we're in a good spot right now."

Jericho coach Theresa Cantwell, whose daughter Alexandra is on North Shore, said she would not run The System for her team but does like aspects of it.

"I love the pressing, I love the man-to-man," Cantwell said. "It's a great way for a community to have a lot of kids play . . . the parents are happy."

The System has made the Vikings a matchup opposing coaches dread and opinions range from envy to indignation.

Teams have varying methods of preparing for North Shore, from practicing 5-on-9 to going against boys teams, in an attempt to simulate the speed, pressure and athleticism of the Vikings.

Opposing coaches have an array of descriptions for The System, from "awesome" and "great" to "chaotic defense" and "absolute mayhem."

When a spectator asked senior Jackie Gioia why the Vikings shoot so many three-pointers she responded by channeling Woody Hayes.

"Because there are no fours," Gioia replied.

A disciple

Freund keeps in touch with Arseneault and other coaches around the country who run The System via a message board.

"In reading his posts he's apparently a pretty solid disciple," Arseneault said of Freund.

Arseneault is going to write a book in which he chronicles how coaches around the country use The System and he said Freund is a candidate to be featured.

Freund, 34, is undecided about being in the book but he is certain North Shore will continue to use The System.

"I'll never play slow again. I don't know if three years from now when our team changes if I'll still do the pressing and the trapping but I can't see ever walking the ball up the court," Freund said. "There are coaches who do very well winning games 35-32.

"That's not my mentality. I don't have the patience for that."