Watching high school basketball is one of the finer pleasures in life. Witnessing up-and-coming athletes competing at a high level in a tense environment makes me wonder what could be better?
What could be better is if the powers-that-be enforced a shot clock on the boys game, just as they do for every other group. College mens and womens basketball has a shot clock, professional mens and womens basketball has a shot clock, girls high school basketball has a shot clock, and in many states the boys do too. But Washington is not one of those states and consequently the quality of the competition suffers here.
There are many good arguments in favor of installing a shot clock, here are a few of them.
1. It keeps play moving. Rarely do most teams take more than 30-35 seconds to get off a shot during any offensive set. Occasionally a team that severely lacks talent will jump ahead 2-0 or 4-2 in a ballgame and suddenly go into a four-corners stall type offense. This is not basketball, this is pathetic. Coaches that practice this embarrassing tactic should be booted out of their programs immediately. A shot clock allows a team to play defense and force a bad shot or create a turnover. It ends stall-ball entirely.
2. It improves the quality of the endgame. People watch basketball games to see the last four minutes of a tight contest. The teams have battled all night and the score is close. Without a shot clock, a team with as little as a five point edge can have essentially an insurmountable lead. If a team plays good defense they should be rewarded by getting the ball back. Installing a shot clock does that.
3. It improves recruiting visibility. Good players are naturally going to do more given more opportunities with the ball. A shot clock simply enforces that there will be those opportunities over the course of any given game. More opportunities make for better statistics. Better statistics make for better chance of being noticed by a college scout. This wont matter for top tier players who are going to get noticed regardless, but it will greatly aid those players who may be able to play at smaller schools if given the opportunity. Nobody was going to miss out on a Jon Brockman, but there are plenty of talented athletes in the area that could excel at small colleges who might get passed over due to lack of statistics.
4. A shot clock makes the game more like the college and professional game. In other words, it makes it real basketball. Playing without a shot clock is not basketball, its rec league, pick-up game stuff. In fact, its worse because in pick-up games teams play up to a number like 11 or 21. That means they have to keep attempting to score the entire game. The rule in Washington allows teams to stop attacking once they achieve a lead. Thats a terrible rule.
The arguments against adding the shot clock to the boys game do not make sense logically. If coaches care about competition, the shot clock will only make things more competitive.
I actually heard a coach say that he was against the shot clock because it was really only necessary in the fourth quarter. To this I respond, Duh! You mean it is only important to the critical part of the game where the outcome is to be decided? Thats the argument against a shot clock? That makes no sense to me.
The other old fogey argument against a shot clock is made by coaches who played ball in the 1930s and somehow believe the rules should never evolve to meet the changing demands of the sport. They want to maintain the status-quo. Back when these coaches played they shot red rubber balls into peach baskets and there was no need for a shot clock. Of course, games were usually played in the 12-15 total point scored range, players wore shorts the size of modern day underpants, and teams ran monotonous weaving offenses that took eons to find a two-handed set shot. Does any of this sound like modern basketball to you? It doesnt to me.
The game now moves at a fast pace and is easy to enjoy. The shot clock would make for more exciting fourth quarter finishes, thats about the only thing that would be different. Bring the shot clock to the boys game, its time to join the 21st century.