Playing 'The Right Way'

By Taylor Eldridge

Basketball, in its purest state, is a game of undeniable beauty.

It is the sound of an empty gymnasium being filled with the squeaking of sneakers on hardwood. It is the blissful sound of a ball swishing through the net.

It is poetry in motion. It is the pick and roll. It is the give and go.

It is five strangers with nothing in common - different upbringings, cultures, races, religions - stepping onto a court and playing as a singular unit, as if becoming teammates suddenly made them fluent in the same language, the language of basketball.

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On Tuesday night, the McPherson boys basketball team traveled to Rose Hill and prevailed with a 71-43 victory. In a season full of blowout victories, this particular blowout held greater significance - it marked the 400th victory in the 21-year coaching career of Kurt Kinnamon.

In 19 years under Kinnamon, McPherson has won an average of nearly 20 games per season, claimed 13 league championships, and won four state championships. This season alone the Bullpups are 18-1, ranked No. 1 in Division I of Class 4A, and are winning by a preposterous margin of 22.6 points per game.

Winning like that resonates in every corner of the state, but it isn't what makes Kinnamon such an important figure in Kansas high school basketball.

In an era where 1-on-1 play, or "hero" ball, is idolized and scoring seemingly is player's first, second, and third priority, Kinnamon's McPherson teams have become an astounding anomaly. In McPherson, basketball is not just a game. Under Kinnamon, basketball is an art form.

Hang around Kinnamon long enough and it won't be long before you hear him speak about playing the game the "right" way. It seems like an empty cliche, and maybe it is -- is there really a "wrong" and "right" way to play a game?

That isn't what Kinnamon means, though, when he wants his team to play "the right way." The right way isn't about one brand of basketball being superior to another; it is about believing in something grander than the individual.

"Everybody is on the same page and everybody has the same goal in mind," Kinnamon says. "The right way doesn't have to be fast, it doesn't have to be slow, it has to be your own identity and not somebody else's."

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To play basketball for McPherson, Kinnamon has a simple list of requirements that are attainable to any player regardless of their ability, height or age.

You better be willing to work, willing to listen, and willing to learn. From Day One, you are made fully aware that you are a part of something greater than yourself - you are a part of perhaps the richest high school basketball program in the history of Kansas.

McPherson players are drilled to make the extra pass, to dive on the floor for loose balls, to sacrifice yourself for the betterment of the team. You better believe getting down in a stance and defending is a necessity to earn playing time.

The final product is on display on a court near you every Tuesday and Friday in the winter. McPherson plays the game with such artistry, one is left wondering at times if they are even playing the same game as their opponents.

To gain a true appreciation for what McPherson does, the beauty is in the details.

Notice how players prefer to make the extra pass to set up a teammate with an even more open shot than to settle for a jump shot of their own. Notice how the team moves together on the court, as if an invisible string binds them together as a connected unit. And notice how there are no egos to assuage, no mouths to feed, no players trying to "get theirs."

A countless amount of talented squads over the years have fallen victim to the Kinnamon way, succumbing to the ruthless passion that McPherson operates with while ripping through you.

And ever since McPherson won the state championship in Kinnamon’s first season playing the same way, the wins have never stopped coming.

"I think kids see the way we play the game,” Kinnamon says. “And I think the results speak for themselves.”

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When Kinnamon took over the vacant position in McPherson before the 1995-96 season, he wasn’t in search of wins. The wins would come, he knew, but they would be a byproduct of teaching young players to play basketball in what he believed was the right way. 

For nearly two decades, Kinnamon has taught the children of McPherson how to play basketball in its purest form. He taught them about hard work, about putting others before yourself, about dedication and accountability.

His teachings extended beyond the out-of-bounds lines on the court.

And that is why Kinnamon joining the exclusive 400-win club is not a personal win, but a victory for the game itself.

It is pointless to discuss which coach’s tactics are better than others. Kinnamon isn’t the first coach to reach 400 wins, by a long shot, and many other coaches have won even more than him with different methods. Simply put, there is no distinguishing which is the “right” way.

But there is one thing I can say with certainty: McPherson basketball under Kinnamon is a game of undeniable beauty.

To him and his players, that is more than enough.

“I don’t really know if there’s any one right way to play,” Kinnamon says. “But this is the best way that I know how to teach them to play it.