Cassidy Hatches a Plan to Crack Opposing Defenses : College basketball: Cal State Northridge coach has introduced a run-and-shoot style along with a zone press.

Pete Cassidy has been mulling it over for the past couple of years. In the back of his mind, the Cal State Northridge basketball coach formulating a plan that he hoped would give his team a chance to be competitive at the Division I level.

Cassidy’s first realization was that his Matadors would have to employ a running game to compensate for their lack of size. Upon recruiting a group of three-point shooters last spring, Cassidy determined that the offense would be designed to get those players the ball.

After Cassidy hired Tom McCollum as assistant coach in August, the pair exchanged ideas. They talked over iced tea at a Northridge restaurant and in long sessions in Cassidy’s cramped office.

“We talked about what we might be able to do to give our guys the greatest advantage with our schedule,” Cassidy said.

“We felt with 17 road games against programs that are more established and probably have bigger, quicker, stronger, and in individual cases, more talented players, we had to adapt a style of play that would neutralize our road disadvantage.”

Cassidy was impressed by the success of Loyola Marymount’s run-and-shoot offense and he long had been an admirer of Redlands Coach Gary Smith, who employs a similar style.

Although the idea of an unrelenting quick pace intrigued Cassidy, it also terrified him. In his 20 years at Northridge, he had always employed a controlled offensive pattern.

Before making their decision, Cassidy and McCollum spoke to Loyola Marymount Coach Jay Hillock, a Lion assistant last season, and spent a day with Smith at Redlands.

“I asked Gary, ‘What do you run half court?’ Cassidy said. “He said he didn’t have a half-court offense. I gagged on that one. I couldn’t imagine a team without a half-court offense.”

For that reason, Cassidy’s system differs slightly from Smith’s--it does have a half-court offense.

It also is distinguished from Loyola’s style in that it is slightly less frenetic.

The advantage of the system on the road, Cassidy believes, is that it can keep the crowd out of the game.

“The crowd can’t get into the game as much when you are going up and down and there aren’t that many fouls called,” he said. “As long as we don’t commit stupid reaching fouls, we’ll be OK. Fouling negates the hustle and gives them (the opposition) rest.”

The recruitment of three-point shooting standouts Kyle Kerlegan, Keith Gibbs, David Keeter and David Swanson was critical to the plan.

“We knew we weren’t going to be able to punch it inside,” Cassidy said. “We knew we wouldn’t have Percy (Fisher, academically ineligible this semester) and Todd (center Bowser) wasn’t back yet. (Bowser rejoined the team in October).

“We knew we’d be lean inside and we didn’t know if we could stop anyone inside either. As for our recruitment efforts, we couldn’t get a dominant big man.

“If we could get a lot of three-point men, we could use the three-point line as a major weapon, so we recruited for players who could fit a system like that.”

Cassidy wasn’t comfortable with asking them to fire away, however.

“Gary Smith says there’s a message on the ball that says ‘Shoot me,’ but it is hard for me to give carte blanche,” said Cassidy, who has done just that.

When Kerlegan gets the ball on the fast break, he is supposed to put it up from his designated place beyond the three-point line.

“That’s really all I do,” said Kerlegan, who connected on a remarkable 145 three-point shots last season.

The transfer from Canada College in Redwood City averaged five three-point baskets a game and hit 48.4% of his attempts. He has yet to become as accurate in Cassidy’s system.

“Right now I’m just adjusting to this offense,” Kerlegan said. “The fatigue really hurts you when you shoot beyond the three-point line. Just lately, I’ve been coming around getting used to it.”

The left-hander has always been a gunner, but he prides himself on his shot selection.

In CSUN’s system, the majority of Kerlegan’s shots come from the same place. If the system is working and all five players get to their places and make the required passes, Kerlegan will be putting it up within five seconds of possession.

“I don’t think the key is being in certain spots,” Kerlegan said. “What is important is that you get there.”

Point guard Keith Gibbs is thrilled by the run-and-gun approach.

“Coach is giving us a lot of confidence by putting this offense in,” he said. “We heard he walked it up in the past, but that was the past.”

The offensive plan is intertwined with an unusual defensive system, a zone press.

“Man-to-man pressure, that’s the style every team plays,” Cassidy said. “It is pretty standard for all your great teams. Only a handful rely on zone presses. While everybody uses some form of zone press, it is usually as a supplement, like a faucet turning on and off. We do it as a way of survival. That’s what we do all the time.”

The idea is to invite the opposition to shoot quickly and hope that the ball gets into the hands of a weak shooter. The way the traps work, someone will be open unless the trap forces a turnover.

“We have to corral them and put them in the corners,” Cassidy said. “We had to go 94 feet defensively to activate the offense. The whole idea is to keep moving the ball up and down.”

A danger is the opposing point guard who can dribble through the traps and find the open man downcourt for a layup or dunk.

“It is a double-edged sword if they have a great guard who can shred the defense,” Cassidy said.

There is also the chance the opposing guard will try to walk it up and slow the Matadors.

“If he wants to walk it up, we go after him,” Cassidy said. “We have to make him go. That’s the grand design. Everyone will know what we are doing after one game. If they have to practice for us, that is an advantage to us. We are just going to get better and better at it.”

Cassidy took several of the defensive ideas from Kentucky Coach Rick Pitino by watching his teams and reading his articles.

He and McCollum also spoke to former Providence star Billy Donovan, who played for Pitino.

“I’ve always used multiple defenses but never to this extent,” Cassidy said.

Understandbly, the rapid pace has taken its toll.

“We are in a phase right now of inconsistency,” Cassidy said. “One day everyone is playing within themselves and we’re shooting the ball well and then the next day we are sloppy. But with this style, that is going to happen.”

It also demands much more physically from the players. Several have come down with sore legs, the flu and colds.

“We discussed it with other coaches,” Cassidy said, “and they said the good thing is that the players come back stronger and their resistance increases.”

Cassidy can only hope that the same won’t be true of the opposition once it gets a taste of his new style.

Nothridge will make its Division I debut Friday at Colorado.