As a result, the historically black colleges of the South were the only places African-American players could compete, and African-American coaches could coach. This was also part of the problem-under the logic of segregation in the South, black and white college teams could not even play each other. The techniques were immediately successful-in 1941, McLendon’s first year as head coach, North Carolina College won the Negro National College Championship Tournament. During one game, McLendon’s team ran so much that the referees had to call a timeout in order to catch their breaths. The coach developed a platoon system, moving players in and out of the game so that constant pressure could be kept on the other team. Practices, however, were a different matter, as McLendon sent his players through punishing conditioning regimes. McLendon believed this style was not only more effective at scoring points, but more fun for everyone-the players, coaches and spectators. The plan was for a shot to be taken once every eight seconds. As McLendon imagined it, the game was played baseline to baseline, with aggressive defense and the ball getting pushed up-court on offense. McLendon also expanded on Naismith’s idea of attack on offense and defense by designing a system based around constant movement. Or, as he told his players, they were free to use the whole alphabet, as long as they avoided the “Three Ws”-wine, weed and women. First, following on Nasimith’s core principles, McLendon believed that basketball was to be used as a tool to help develop discipline and character.
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