Last week I discussed a topic concerning football that has gotten very little discussion regarding my belief that the TSSAA should do away with spring football practice. This week I thought I would discuss another topic that gets very little discussion as well. That topic deals with whether or not high school basketball should go to the shot clock, and that can be a very debatable subject.
I’m kind of on the fence about this particular topic and haven’t completely decided how I feel about it. One problem would be how would each school fund the change if the TSSAA decided to install the shot clock. It sounds like an easy thing to do to start with, but first you have to buy two clocks that are to be mounted on top of basket supports. The second part of that is you would have to pay someone just to run the shot clock as it would be separate from the regular clock. Schools are already paying scorekeepers, clock operators, PA announcers, referees and security for all home games.
My next question would be this: Does the game improve because you now have a shot clock and now teams can’t freeze the ball during games, especially towards the end of the game? I have watched teams try to run time off the clock late in a game, and probably 80% of the time the team with the ball will eventually turn it over and give the ball to the other team anyway.
A shot clock will reward a very good defensive team as the offensive team will be forced to get a shot off in a certain amount of time. I think the game in some aspects punishes good defensive teams, and the jump ball rule is one of those examples. A shot clock would force teams to shoot the ball more, but one could argue, unless they are an elite team, then the shot clock would hurt.
I don’t believe a shot clock will speed up the game, nor do I think a shot clock will make the game more entertaining. I think you will see more bad shots than you see now, and most teams I have seen play this year take bad shots for the most part. A shot clock would force basketball teams to take even more bad shots as the clock dwindles down to zero. I do believe I have talked myself out of being in favor of a shot clock, and maybe we should leave things as they are.
For more of my ramblings and opinions check out The Beating Around the Bush podcast available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Facebook and other places you get your podcast.
