Girls' basketball: Welcome to the era of up-tempo offenses

Dec. 8—Sam Farrell was taking in some basketball over the weekend, watching the Oxford Hills and Gorham girls play, when something grabbed his attention.

"Jeez, every kid that they've got can handle and run and they're big and they're strong," said Farrell, the Brunswick High girls' coach. "Both teams get it and go. Oxford Hills had their big kids running the floor as well as their guards, if not better. Trying to come up with a game plan to stop that, good luck."

It's not just those teams. Farrell and other girls' basketball coaches in southern Maine have been seeing a trend. Players are shooting more, and more players are shooting. Positions are becoming less defined, with the emergence of point guards who score and forwards who handle the ball like guards and stretch the floor. Up-tempo offenses, once a change of pace, have become the norm.

"All the dominant teams (used to have) one, if not two, true posts that were either 6-1 or 5-9 but rugged, and you had a traditional point guard who didn't shoot that much," said Farrell, who's in his 14th season as Brunswick's head coach. "Just about every team seemed to run two bigs, two or three guards, and (the game) was not as fast.

"Now it seems that everybody has changed. A lot of teams don't have that true point guard, and the best bigs in the state, if you look at (Gardiner's) Lizzy Gruber, (Cheverus') Emma Lizotte, Maddie Fitzpatrick, and (Bailey) Breen at Oceanside, they can all handle. They could run the point if you needed them to. That was unheard of 15-plus years ago."

Coaches have seen the theme of smaller lineups and more outside shooting escalate in recent seasons.

"Probably within the last three to four years," said Falmouth Coach Dawn Armandi. "I'm kind of old school, I still like the traditional high/low offenses here and there, but it's definitely more guard play. All forwards are expected to shoot 3s."

Windham Coach Brody Artes keeps stats for the SMAA, covering Class AA and A, as well as KVAC teams playing in Class AA North. Altogether, he said there were 27 players who averaged at least one 3-pointer made per game in 2018-19, and 26 the next season. That number climbed to 50 last year.

Old Orchard Beach Coach Dean Plante said he's seen that theme extend to Class B and C.

"The whole trend offensively at most levels has gone to a guard-oriented offense," he said. "You're looking for kids that can take it off the dribble, create their own (shot) and can shoot the 3. It's changed basketball, for sure. ... It's not an inside-out game anymore. It's outside-in."

Thornton Academy Coach Eric Marston said the notion of the tall, slower post player who anchors herself in the paint has become antiquated.

"There are not a ton of kids that can score with their back to the basket these days," said Marston, who's starting his 13th year with the Golden Trojans. "Part of that is just because the game has shifted so much. The analytics part of it, I think, has played a huge part, where there's a lot of coaches and teams that really push only shooting 3s and layups."

Marston's team is an example of this newer wave. With an anticipated lineup of Kylie Lamson, Hannah Cook, Jessica Dow, Addisen Sulikowski and Emily Coleman, the Golden Trojans will have five players who can handle the ball and step back for perimeter shots.

"It's definitely developed since when I was younger," said Cook, a senior. "When I was younger, everyone had a certain position that they played, one or two positions that they played well. Now everyone can play every position well. It doesn't matter if you're shorter or taller. The post can shoot 3s, the guards can go inside."

Height no longer dictates position or playing style. Cook is nearly 6-foot tall, and Sulikowski is 5-11. Both might have been interior players in an earlier era, but they are now two of Thornton's best shooters. Sulikowski can play all five positions, with the length and rebounding ability of a forward and the knockdown shooting ability of a guard.

"The game's definitely evolved into more of a shooting game," Sulikowski said. "The 3-ball is just as likely to go in for some people as a layup. People are working on their shots outside of school all season, AAU is a really big thing right now."

Fitzpatrick at Cheverus is another who fits the size profile of a traditional post player. Instead, the 5-11 senior is the Stags' leader in transition, bringing the ball up and finding players through traffic on the break.

She said players come up in basketball being pushed to develop their ball-handling skills by their clubs and AAU teams.

"AAU has helped speed up the game. ... One of our main things is always push the ball, always look ahead. I know a lot of other programs are like that," said Fitzpatrick, who plays for the Maine Firecrackers. "This new generation coming up has kind of had this drilled in their head, look ahead and push."

At Old Orchard Beach, guard Elise MacNair at 5-9 plays a similar scoring, do-it-all style as Fitzpatrick, and is right at home as the key cog in the Seagulls' four- and five-out offense (with most or all players on the perimeter).

"Back in the day, she (would have) been my 3 or 4. I was going to run her in the post and get mismatches," said Plante, who's entering his 19th season with the Seagulls. "You don't have a ton of traditional post players anymore. Girls' basketball in Maine has taken off, it's really good right now, and a lot of those kids are hybrid kids."