Somewhere between his tenure as head coach at Ball State and his current job at the helm of the Detroit Titans, Ray McCallum Sr. became a believer in up-tempo basketball.
McCallum didn’t talk it up. He didn’t make claims he couldn’t support (unlike first-year Loyola head coach Porter Moser whose “up-tempo” team is averaging the Horizon League’s second slowest 66.3 possessions per game). Rather, the veteran coach who served as an assistant at Indiana and Oklahoma before landing in Detroit just started putting the pieces together when he arrived in the motor city. His work spoke for itself.
Under his predecessor, head coach Perry Watson, the Titans played a sluggish 61.7 possessions per game (323rd among D-I teams that season) in the 2007-2008 and finished 7-23. McCallum arrived and pushed his team to play 65.0 possessions per game the next season, to 69.0 in the 2009-2010 season and to 71.1 possessions per game last season — the 24th most up-tempo team in D-I hoops.
So … why? What are the advantages to up-tempo play?
Under the current D-I average of 67.5 possessions per game, as calculated by Ken Pomeroy, teams average 35.6 seconds per possession, while Detroit last season kept teams to 33.8 seconds per possession. It doesn’t seem like much — a couple of fast breaks in one game could be the difference — but in a game so based around rhythm, it’s easy to throw opponents off with faster play over the full 40 minutes. Faster play breaks presses, keeps your opponent’s mind on the defensive end and can open up easier fast-break scores, but not every team is built for it.
You need legs, you need assist machines and you need legs behind the legs — a deep roster.
The 29 D-I teams that averaged 70.7 possessions or more per game last season (Detroit ranked 24th) combined for 455 (15.7 average) wins and 476 losses (16.41 average). That list includes super-fast Alcorn State (4-24) at 77.6 ppg, really fast Long Island (27-6) at 74.6 ppg and the ACC’s fastest legs at North Carolina (29-8) at 71.7 ppg.
Alcorn State head coach Larry Smith started 10 different players six or more times last season to accomplish their ridiculous up and down speed, but had no one player post an assist rate better than 19 percent (the 531st best assist rate in D-I hoops). Alcorn didn’t have the pieces.
When Ray McCallum Sr.’s son, Ray McCallum Jr., came to Detroit before last season, he passed by a slew of high-majors (UCLA and Arizona among them) to lead the up-tempo charge at Detroit. The 6-2 guard, now a sophomore, posted a 29.0 assist rate in his freshman season and is working with a 31.8 assist rate in two games this season. He’s quick and he’s Detroit’s top scorer.
Detroit, picked second to Butler in the Horizon League preseason poll, took a hit when it lost senior returning rebounds leader Eli Holman indefinitely to start the season (Holman allegedly was part of an assault at a party), but shrugged off the loss with everybody else back. What nobody wanted to admit: Detroit’s shallow roster sorely needed Holman’s depth in addition to his boards to run their system.
Monday was the big test. The Titans faced a re-building Notre Dame team picked ninth in the Big East preseason poll. This was McCallum Sr.’s system’s time to shine.
Detroit fought for and maintained a slight lead through the first half, 31-28, but had struggled to turn up the heat on 33 possessions and no fast-break scores. The Fighting Irish took a 41-38 lead with 11:15 to play and didn’t look back.
McCallum Sr. played his son and senior two-guard Chase Simon for 37 minutes apiece in the 53-59, 67-possession loss. The Titans won two of the four factors (offensive rebounding and free throw rate), but didn’t have the roster on the floor to play their disruptive game.
The Titans have time to work out the kinks though. They play Cleveland State, St. John’s, Alabama and Mississippi State in early December. All are resume-builders at risk of falling into the Titans’ high-speed trap. Not much word on whether Holman will return, but he might be the key to Detroit’s high-hopes season.
