Robert D. Edgren Eagles senior captain Mert Baysal, with ball, says he trusts any of his teammates to take a shot and make a play with the game in the balance and time winding down. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
Robert D. Edgren Eagles senior captain Mert Baysal, with ball, says he trusts any of his teammates to take a shot and make a play with the game in the balance and time winding down. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
Robert D. Edgren Eagles senior captain Jacob Sterry, with ball, says in the team's "no-star system," each player takes turns being the go-to guy and to beat them, "they have to shut all of us down." (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
Coach Mark Williams, a self-described Oscar Robertson/Jerry West old-school guy, says the genesis of his Robert D. Edgren Eagles' "no-star system" is an effort to get his players to understand and respect the game, and to know that it will present them with individual opportunities to shine, not the other way around. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan – These days, the culture and nature of basketball almost demands that every team have a “go-to” player or collection of the same.
You might come across solo scoring artists such as John Ayers or Rebekah Harwell of Matthew C. Perry. A Mr. Inside-Mr. Outside combination such as Yokota’s Myles Andrews and Warren Manegan or Kubasaki’s Kai Yamaguchi and Kentrell Key. Or a collection of five stars such as you’d find in Seoul American’s girls lineup.
But Robert D. Edgren’s boys? Opposing coaches speak of the Eagles in jersey numbers, not names. Not one Edgren player averages more than 12 points and 10 rebounds.
And that suits coach Mark Williams and his players fine. They prefer the moniker “no-star system” in which nobody stands out, yet the Eagles are 17-3 and have Japan’s best winning percentage.
“Every single game, it’s somebody else leading,” senior captain Mert Baysal said. “In one game, I might be the leading scorer. In the next, (Jacob) Sterry might be. The next game, (James) Ervin might be. The next it may be somebody who came off the bench to score 25.”
“When a team comes, they can’t focus on one player to shut down,” fellow senior captain Sterry said. “We have a lot of players who bring a variety of skills to our team. They have to shut all of us down.”
It creates an air of mystery that the Eagles feel keeps opponents on their heels. “You never know where it’s coming from,” Baysal said. “One game, it may come from our big man; the next, we’re just popping threes. You don’t know what’s hitting you.”
To understand the genesis of the Eagles’ system, start with the coach: a self-described Oscar Robertson/Jerry West era team-first guy.
“Our emphasis is not on isolating one individual,” Williams said. “We have balanced scoring across the board, and the kids believe that it’s not their individual performance that causes the team to shine, but it’s the collective performance of all of those.”
He considers wearing the green and gold a “privilege, not a right” and that all facets of a player’s life matter, not just on the court.
“It fits our program and the kids have responded to this extremely well,” Williams said.
Most of the Eagles have been together for two years, since Williams took over the program. They set the goal of a Far East Division II Tournament title then, he said, and “I felt in order to do that, it would take a team effort and not one individual.”
“We have good players on the team and when they play together and as a unit, it’s fun to watch.”
Opposing coaches have taken notice, including Tim Pujol, whose Yokota team lost once in three tries to the Eagles.
“They have good size, the ability to shoot and penetrate and get good low-post play,” Pujol said. “Their No. 20 (Ervin) is a good shooter and penetrator. Sterry is good slashing to the basket. And they get good front-line play; No. 14 (Christian Weldon) is one of the best front-line players I’ve seen.”
It matters not, players said, who has the ball in his hands with the game in the balance and the clock ticking down.
“We run a play and whoever’s open, we give it to them,” Baysal said. “All 10 of us, I feel comfortable giving the ball to them at the last minute. We all know that we trust each other.”
That trust has helped the Eagles toward one goal, understanding that the only numbers that matter are the ones on the scoreboard. And the only scenario that matters at the end of the season is accepting Far East Division II Tournament title hardware.
“There were four games in a row this year when I scored zero,” Baysal said. “Winning. That’s all that matters. We could go undefeated (in the regular season), I don’t care. As long as we don’t win that championship, it means nothing to me.”
The Eagles have the searing pain of a 73-39 loss to last year’s champion and this year’s favorite to repeat, Morrison Academy of Taiwan, burning brightly in their memories.
“If we had played how we’re supposed to play, we could have beaten them,” Baysal said. “We got blown out and that killed me. That’s the one game last year that I wanted to repeat.”
It doesn’t matter, Baysal said, that the Mustangs have gone 24-0 thus far and have scored 100 or more points consistently all season.
“It doesn’t intimidate me that much because I know if we’re on top of our game, we can beat anybody out there,” he said.
