Shot clocks are necessities
November 14, 2014
Basketball is meant to be an exciting game with fast-paced, up-and-down the court action. So why the IHSAA hasn’t implemented a shot clock is dumbfounding to me. No one wants to watch your school’s top athletes hold the ball at halfcourt.
In last year’s regional championship game, Arsenal Tech High School held a one point lead over Pike with 6:30 left in the fourth quarter. Tech’s next possession lasted an astounding three minutes. The kicker? They didn’t attempt a single shot. Tech ended up winning 60-52, with their last 10 points coming from free throws.
How is one team supposed to stop another team from holding the ball early in the fourth quarter? They could trap, but that runs a risk of leaving someone open. They could start fouling, but that would result in some of the best players playing tentatively due to foul trouble. There is really no perfect way to stop this nagging issue in high school basketball.
Only eight states, California, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota and Washington, have applied a 30-35 second shot clock into their game. However, Maryland only uses it for girls’ games.
This isn’t because I want the games to be higher scoring. In fact, some of the highest scoring states don’t have a shot clock. It’s because, as a basketball fanatic, holding the ball is ruining the game. Please IHSAA, save our basketball.
Steve Bean • Nov 21, 2014 at 12:08 pm
I attended my first high school basketball game over four decades ago. I have seen teams hold the ball for an extended period of time in only two games which I’ve attended over those 40 years. A shot clock in high school basketball is a solution in search of a problem. The five second rule is still in force. If you don’t like your opponent holding the ball, come out and defend them. The team with the ball is entitled to use the entire front court after the ball crosses the center line. If play slows down because they are holding the ball, the blame lies with the team on defense, not the one on offense.
If there had been a shot clock in 1954, Milan would not have won the state championship, and perhaps the greatest sports movie of all time (“Hoosiers”) never would have been made.