Photo Credit: Robert Deutsch/USA TODAY Sports
Lately, it seems there have been many calling for a “fix” to help college basketball. After what USA Today described as the “slowest season ever,” men’s college ball has become less of a get-down-the-court-and-score-as-best-you-can and more of a prevent-whoever-has-the-ball-from-scoring-at-all-costs. In addition to slowing the pace of the game down, this has caused the excitement level of certain games to waiver and anticipation to diminish. Essentially, (yawn) wake me up when it’s March.
In their version of an attitude adjustment, the NCAA Rules Committee has officially voted to decrease the 35 second shot clock to 30 seconds in attempt to boost scoring and decrease trial playing time under the hoop.
“There was enough noise, for lack of a better term, that something needs to be done when you’ve got 15-plus years of decline in scoring in our game,” said Rick Byrd, Belmont University’s head coach and chair of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Rules Committee. (News & Observer)
While some programs might struggle with the change in pace this will create (I’m looking at you, UVA), other schools will welcome the shift (Michigan State, LSU and VCU all sighed a collective “Meh” at this news).
The 30 second shot clock is nothing new in college basketball. Women’s teams have been using it for years. And (fun fact- in case this question comes up at your weekly night at trivia) in Canada, the college basketball shot clock is 24 seconds.
The NCAA Rules Committee is also considering moving from five timeouts to four with only three rolling over into the second half. Also, they want to disallow coaches from calling TOs during live ball positions and also keep them from calling them within 30 seconds of a media timeout.
The next step is to have the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight panel hear the proposal to decide if it will be executed.
So, will the change “fix” college basketball’s monotonous decline? Most can agree on a joint “maybe.”
(smiles) Nice job by my far younger “sister” on this! For a column like that, it’s great to have a little snark. Happy for ya!
Basketball has come a long way since my youth, when the late Dean Smith (with Jordan, Worthy and Perkins) was stalling and Terry Holland (with Sampson and Jeff Jones) let him do so. I’m glad to see a quicker clock for action’s sake.
(For those who don’t know her, Tori is a fantastic ambassador for the city of Richmond and VCU, and a great occasional trivia teammate, even if her imagination makes her worry way more than she should. I’ll NEVER give my sibling of another mother any worries. You can smile and be comfortable, and I hope you keep writin’!)