JMU And Marshall Played The Funniest Basketball Game Of The Season | Defector
How? How does something like this happen? The short answer to that question is that Marshall is an institutionally nutty basketball team. Led by first-year coach Kim Caldwell, who previously spent seven seasons turning Glenville into a D-II powerhouse, the Thundering Herd play what might be the most intense style of basketball in the country. Everything starts with a nihilistic commitment to the full-court press, which Marshall stays in every minute of a game, after misses or makes. This requires so much effort from the players that Caldwell spends the game making hockey-style substitutions, yanking players on and off the court after just a few minutes of run and often making four or five subs at once. Twelve players on Marshall's roster played more than 10 minutes per game this season.
Marshall's press is just one piece of this puzzle. This is a team that also possesses a Moreyball zealot's commitment to the three, and a '90s basketball enthusiast's love of the offensive rebound. A typical Marshall possession ends with one of their shooters firing away from deep while at least three players crash the paint looking for the offensive board. This is how the Thundering Herd were able to take 99 shots on Monday, compared to JMU's 53, and still score 95 points despite making less than a third of those shots.
