“The System” refers to the high-scoring basketball strategy created by David Arsenault Sr. characterized by a consistent use of the full court press, frequent substitutions and a lot of three-point shots. Recently, The System paid off for the Pioneers on a national scale last week when the men’s basketball team broke the NCAA record for three-point shots made in a game with 34 treys. The S&B’s Lily Seibert [seibertl] and Candace Mettle [mettleca] checked in with students in the Grill to see what Grinnellians think about their school’s signature style.
“All offense and no defense? Ideal. I don’t watch basketball, but as far as I’ve heard, it’s pretty awesome.” — Molly Vorhnolt ’19 (Photo by Liz Paik)
“It’s entertaining to watch, I guess. I don’t actually go to any of their games, so I wouldn’t know. They break records with it. Some people think it’s a disgrace to basketball, but, you know, it’s D-III basketball so they can dick around if they want.” — Cally Carr ’21 (Photo by Liz Paik)
“I know they don’t play in the paint a lot. It’s boring. I’d like to see some more action. Play actual, real basketball.” — Madison Wardlaw ’20 (Photo by Liz Paik)
“I don’t even know what that means.” — Hannah Grischuk ’18.5 (Photo by Liz Paik)
“I just really like how famous this tactic is. I was the manager of the basketball team in high school, and we were really bad. The coach was desperate and asked, ‘What should we do?’ And I knew about this tactic and I told him, and they were like, ‘Wow, the same as Grinnell?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, it’s famous.’” — Mai Phuong Vu ’21 (Photo by Liz Paik)
“Do Division I teams do this? I’d like to see how it would work at a Division I level, because I feel like it’s something you can only really do at a D-III level in the Midwest Conference.” — Carlos Piedrasanta ’20 (Photo by Liz Paik)
