Little bit of proverbial oil and The System, head coach David Arseneault and the Pioneer men’s basketball team are ready to fight once again.
Preseason expectations typically run high for Grinnell, but more so this year than others. The team enters the season ranked first in the MWC preseason poll and guard John Grotberg ’09 has been named to the d3hoops.com preseason All-America team. All five “finishers” from last year are returning: Grotberg, along with fellow guards David Arseneault ’09 and Bobby Long ’09, forward Mike Schmidt ’08 and center Keith Chamberlain ’08. The team also returns eight other letter-winners and will add a strong class of seven-first years to round out the team’s oversized roster.
To get The System running smoothly, Grinnell will likely utilize everyone on the roster. “We’re going to get all 20 kids out there,” Arseneault said. For those new to the world of Grinnell basketball, “The System” emphasizes fast breaks, three-pointers, and pulling down offensive rebounds to create an absurd amount of scoring. Squads play all out for about a minute until Arsenault subs a new team of five, NHL-style, into the game.
“It’s the most competitive team I’ve ever had,” Arseneault said. Praising the work ethic of the team, he added, “I’ve been able to back off on coaching a lot. They’ve been through this so much I haven’t had to do any pushing.”
The Pioneers begin their season with a challenge this weekend at the Buzz Levick Tip-Off Tournament at Wartburg tonight against Wisconsin-Eau Claire. Depending on the result, the Pioneers will move on to face the winner/loser of the Aurora-Wartburg game on Saturday.
