This prep basketball season has seemingly transpired in the blink of an eye.

It’s gone by even quicker for Cullman’s boys, who’ve used their “#FAST32” brand of basketball to electrify its fanbase, take over as the state’s highest-scoring team and, most important of all, head into the playoffs with a full head of steam.

The Class 5A No. 10 Bearcats enter Friday’s sub-regional showdown against visiting Muscle Shoals riding a spiffy 10-game win streak and 23-7 record overall. Tip-off will be at 7 p.m.

Before looking into the future, though, let’s peer into the past and explore the origins of this “#FAST32” philosophy.

While competing at the 2012 Winterfest Shootout in Sevierville, Tenn., the Black and Gold ran into charismatic Douglas County (Ga.) coach Joby Boydstone, who subscribes to the ideology of “shoot it, drive it or sit the bench.”

Cullman coach Bobby Meyer chose to sit the bench, or at least directly behind it, during one of his counterpart’s games, just to soak in Boydstone’s coaching style. What Meyer witnessed was pure offense, in-your-face defense and zero long-set plays. The first player who had a great look took the shot. If it went in, great. If it didn’t, hustle for the rebound and then wash, rinse and repeat.

Douglas County barely outpaced Meyer’s boys 95-89 later that night, a surprisingly high output for Cullman. Despite the loss, the wheels were already set in motion. Over the ensuing offseason, Operation “#FAST32” was born.

“We really weren’t trying to play fast, but they forced us to play that style,” Meyer said of the close Christmas tourney contest. “We kind of saw, hey, there’s something to this.”

In order to bring the fast-paced style to Bearcat country, the coach immediately honed in on shooting and strength. Meyer’s players took hundreds of shots every day during the spring and then hit the weight room after school.

The result was a roster full of nine guys capable of draining a 3-pointer if needed and having enough energy to go all out for an entire 32 minutes, thus #FAST32.

The system has appeared to work so splendidly because each player rarely strays from their role. Some are shooters — Lane Donaldson, Lee Mattox and Jason McAfee. Some are drivers — Keaton Dean, Auston Neal and Austin Beck. The rest are both — Lawson Schaffer, Seth Swalve and Chase Slocumb.

When all the pieces are put together, however, the well-oiled machine is able to crank out points by the dozens and pester opposing offenses into full submission.

“That’s the most important part — understanding your role,” Schaffer said. “That helps us win the games. We know who needs to have the ball when they need to have it. We understand who’s hot. We just know each other, and that’s the biggest role we can play.”

Arriving at that point of cohesion did take some tweaking from Meyer, though. Generally a believer in man-to-man defense in the half court, the coach reached back to his Vinemont days and once against dabbled with the run-and-jump D in the full court. Toss in an up-tempo offense that relinquishes on-court control and shot selection to the players, and Meyer is truly in uncharted waters.

Oh, and did I mention that O gameplan dictates there are no bad shots? Even still, it’s been mostly smooth sailing for the coach.

“You just have to live with the shots that may be iffy,” he said. “You try and control it from the parameter of, look, this is what we would look for in a shot, but you don’t just say, ‘That’s a bad shot, don’t shoot that again.’ You’ve got to have a green light for everybody.”

Oddly enough, the transformation didn’t require much conditioning, either. Meyer’s two-minute rotations could have a bit to do with that fact.

The Bearcats’ deep bench also makes the frequent personnel changes a much simpler process.

McAfee reeled off seven treys in a big win over Holly Pond, Mattox is just as deadly behind the arc, Beck provides a “calming presence” down low in key situations and Slocumb is an explosive player on the perimeter and in the lane.

It’s not often squads have four players who act as an extension of the starting lineup, but this Black and Gold bunch is far from the average squad.

“This week, my biggest worry has been those guys on the bench, because they’re the X factors. They’re the guys who’re going to come in and make a big difference,” Meyer said. “When other teams rotate guys, they really just get in there and maintain the status quo. We feel like our guys off the bench are coming in there to escalate what we’re doing. They’re fresh. They’re going to be in there and be even quicker than what’s on the floor.”

Cullman’s starting five aren’t exactly slouches in their own right.

Schaffer, a junior, and Swalve, just a sophomore, are the “engine” that keeps the #FAST32 crew rolling down victory lane. Both are keen on putting up massive amounts of points — they combined for 69 in a double-overtime, area tourney-clinching thriller over East Limestone earlier this week — on any given night, all while also juggling distribution, ball-control and shot-creation duties, among others.

“As they go, it’s going to crank everybody else up into their game,” Meyer said of the duo. “They do a lot for us to set up the rest of the team. And then the rest of the team has to step up and do their thing also.”

That hasn’t seemed to be a problem for any of the three other starters.

Donaldson is absolutely deadly from downtown, Neal adds an authoritative presence in the post and Dean is an aggressive driver unafraid to put his head down and do what it takes to get to the rim.

“I feel like the reason we’re able to play so fast is because we have so much focus in practice,” Dean said. “We never stop and rest or complain. We all like each other. We all like being here, so it’s easy to get after each other and push each other. It’s helping our legs. It’s helping our drive. Mentally, I feel like there’s never a time in practice we’re mentally out of it.”

Flipping the switch from practice to actual games wasn’t always easy at the outset.

The Bearcats started running “#FAST32” during summer play dates but weren’t quite sure it would translate into wins against elite teams. They were right to be concerned, but only slightly, as the Black and Gold started the season on a three-game skid with tough-luck losses to formidable foes in J.O. Johnson and Butler (twice).

Cullman’s improvement has been constant ever since. The Cats have only fallen four times in their last 27 contests — and not once to a gimme opponent (6A Gardendale twice, area-rival East Limestone and Arab).

They’ve averaged a state-best 82.47 points per game, too, cracking triple digits three times, the 90s in six instances and the 80s in five others. The Black and Gold have only dipped below the 70-point threshold twice.

“Gradually, we’ve learned how to finish in this style. There was a point in time where the boys and the coaches understood you can’t just run down there and fire it up when you’ve got a seven- to nine-point lead. You’ve got to control the possessions in those last couple minutes,” Meyer said. “We’ve lost seven ballgames. Six of those were easily winnable. We could be looking at a team right now that’s 29-1. But we’re happy with our 23-7 at this point.”

It’d be easy to assume Cullman is constantly out of control on the court, but that hasn’t been the case at all. Instead, it’s more of a “controlled chaos,” one Meyer said has actually helped reduce turnovers and stay competitive on the boards.

Running offensive sets and a tight half-court defense, the Bearcats typically turned over the ball about 20 times per game last season. Even with the more frantic style, that number’s dropped to about 12, mostly because there’s no time for turnovers when shots are being fired off at rapid rates.

The quick attempts also disallow opposing big men to set up shop down low and box out for easy rebounds. Those post players are instead forced to box out on the fly or in transition, which evens up Cullman’s perceived disadvantage in the height department.

The “#FAST32” lifestyle was quickly swallowed whole by the Black and Gold’s faithful followers. Their home gym’s been filled to the brim more times than not this season, and the student section has been unmatched by its Cullman County counterparts.

The reasons for the uptick of interest in Bearcat basketball are straightforward for Meyer.

“You don’t have to sit and watch a long-winded offensive play,” he said. “You’re going to get a shot up in probably 10-12 seconds, if not quicker. We’re always playing defense. We’re always playing offense, trying to get the ball up and down the floor.

“Who wouldn’t want to watch that kind of game? You certainly get your $5 or $6 worth of entertainment when you come watch us play.”

Schaffer wholeheartedly agrees with his coach. He’s been thrilled to see the spike in attendance since Cullman showed its opening three-game losing streak was the exception, not the rule.

“In the beginning of the year, not many people came. They were kind of wondering what we were about,” Schaffer said. “We put on a good performance, but we hadn’t turned it into a win. Now we are. We’re putting up 100 points, winning games and beating teams by 20-30 sometimes.

“It’s making it a lot more fun. This year’s probably been one of my favorite years of playing basketball since I was a kid. We’re looking forward to making it to the BJCC really.”

Whether the Cats do run all the way to state or not, don’t expect “#FAST32” to go out with this year’s team. Meyer said he sees the system staying on campus for many years to come.

“Other teams know what we’re doing, but the guys, the coaching staff and myself just have such a non-fear factor of what we’re doing,” the coach said. “We’re just going to go out there, and we’re going to play it like a sprint marathon. If you don’t play that way, then you’re going to be left behind.

“It’s been quite a unique experience. We hope to continue this and have players that understand how to fill in roles as we go. We want to continue this as a status quo at Cullman High School.”

% Rob Ketcham can be reached at 256-734-2131, ext. 138 or at robk@cullmantimes.com.