Fixing HS Basketball

Yesterday I went on a rant in regards to AAU basketball and how to fix it. Today, it's fixing the high school game. There are so many issues in regards to high school basketball, the biggest of which is making the rules universal for ALL states. Having different rules in different states is beyond ridiculous. The reason there are different rules is because a certain coach stretched the rules that they did have and now the state association didn't want to deal with it, so they made a rule.

First thing first, either have a shot clock or don't. I love the shot clock and would prefer that the high school level should have it. It forces players and coaches to make quick decisions. Detractors will talk about how athletes will take over. Well, basketball is an athletic game. It will also force coaches to get more creative to find ways to get great shots. It'll be a bunch of bad basketball with a bunch of bad shots. And there isn't this now? Bad basketball is being played regardless if there is a shot clock or not. Last thing is, it makes the game universal globally. We might not go with a :24 shot clock but getting it to a :30 or :35 makes the game more universal and I think that should be the ultimate goal.

I believe Minnesota is the only state that has halves instead of quarters. I love the idea. Every other state has four eight minute quarters. Minnesota has 18 minutes halves. It also gives players four more game minutes by moving to 18 minute halves. It would definitely change the way many coaches coach. Although, I wouldn't mind going to four 10 minute quarters. It is how the game is played internationally and I again would love to have the game universal.

Something that I would like to see is giving program more time to practice BEFORE games start during the season. I'll use my Dad as an example. He has over a month before he plays his first game and fills in some gaps with some scrimmages. In Minnesota, we could potentially have less than ten days to have tryouts and then practice in anticipation of their first game. That's just terrible for the kids and as we know, adults always put the kids first.

The last thing I want to talk about is universal rules when it comes to having contact with the athletes. Certain states allow full access to the players ALL THE TIME and others have major restrictions. I have a friend who coaches in Virginia and he started workouts with his players a week and a half after his season ended. My Dad is a coach in New York and he has access to his players all the time with the exception of the two weeks before tryouts/practice starts. Here in Minnesota, we can only work with our players in June and July.

Again, I want the rules universal. I think it would be great to have full access to your kids in both June and July. I also think that coaches should be able to use a week in both April and October to potentially coach/install different things for their players.

I am sure there are other things that we can fix in high school basketball. Making the game similar in all states and then hopefully following all the FIBA rules would make the game better.