As the game goes on, players on the other team should be gasping for air.

Their lungs should feel like they are on fire. Fatigue should cause them to make more turnovers and fewer shots.

For the Fresno State women̢۪s basketball team this season, that isn̢۪t happening.

Four games into the season, and the team is still trying to use its new system to its advantage. With a 0-4 record, the system hasn̢۪t proved itself yet.

The new system is so unique because it is becoming the staple of how basketball is played in the Central Valley.

Go to a high school game in the greater Fresno area, and you have about a coin flip chance of seeing it. Designed by former Clovis West High School and Fresno City College men̢۪s coach Vance Walberg, it turns on the pressure on opponents.

It takes full court pressure on the defensive side and combines it with a fast paced offense.

To get the turnovers, players try and funnel the basketball handler to a focal point on the court and try to make them pick up the dribble. After that, the defense constricts, tightening up on the player and on passing lines, hopefully creating a tie-up, an errant pass or a three-second violation.

The result: More forced turnovers, more chances to score uncontested layups and higher scoring games.

On the negative side, it takes time to get used to; if you face a team with speedy point guards with great ball control, they can sprint past the pressure. It̢۪s also hard to play perfectly and, applied to the women̢۪s game, there̢۪s no 10-second violation in the backcourt.

Fresno State coach Adrian Wiggins didn̢۪t expect there would be immediate success with the system. But with a slew of young players and a deeper bench, this is the first year the team is using the system for the entire season.

“You have to think about it a different way,â€Â Wiggins said of the system. “You try and do the right thing every time. But in this system you only do that about 30 percent of the time, which doesn’t sound good, but in baseball, if you get a hit 30 percent of the time, you’re a Hall of Fame player.â€Â

So far, there have been glimpses that the system will help the team be competitive. In each of the Bulldogs̢۪ two exhibition games, the team scored more than 100 points. In the season opener against No. 13 Cal, Fresno State led for most of the game before fizzling out in the end.

The system worked well for Walberg. He was a candidate to become head coach of the Fresno State men̢۪s team and was skipped over for Steve Cleveland instead. At Fresno City, his team averaged more than 105 points per game in each of his four seasons. It landed him a Division I job at Pepperdine University.

Ironically, the style still made its way to Fresno State, but through the women̢۪s program.

So far, senior Tierre Wilson has liked it. She remembers Wiggins installing some aspects of it last season during the Western Athletic Conference tournament and being told how this was going to be something new that they were going to try.

“We’re just jumping into it head first,â€Â Wilson said.

For such a high paced system, it takes endurance. A heightened level of stamina is needed, which means more running in practice and pushing the players past their physical limits.

“Coach told us we should be puking,â€Â Wilson said. “You feel like you’re going to sometimes.â€Â

As the Bulldogs̢۪ season goes on, pay attention to players of opposing teams. As the clock runs down and it get deep into the second quarter, if they̢۪re bent over, gasping for air, the system is working. And in those cases, Fresno State will probably be winning too.