The Shot Clock

Every year there is a debate in many states in regards to putting in a shot clock for high school basketball.  This year, in the Hopkins vs. Shakopee Minnesota State Semifinal led more people to believe that a shot clock would be a good idea in Minnesota.  I'm a firm believer that having a high school shot clock would be good for the game.

I grew up in New York and around the time I was 10 (might've been earlier), the state decided that a shot clock would be a good idea for high school basketball. The initial plan was to go with a :45 shot clock (the college game was also :45 at that time).  After the college game moved it down to :35, then New York followed as well. So, I never played a high school game without a :35 shot clock.

Obviously, it was a little different playing with one compared to middle school ball but, you learn to adjust as a player and then a coach.  If you didn't get anything in the first :20 then we would run a set around :15 in order to try and get a shot.  As you moved to the varsity level, that timeline shifted a little more and we would try to get into our set around :12.

One thing I really liked with the shot clock is that the players and coaches are forced to make quick decisions on a consistent basis.  Coaches have to become creative with their sets and the players are forced to make plays.  I think this encourages better coaching because teams can't just rely on continuous offenses, like the flex, for extended periods of time.

I understand that the this will lead to some forced shots by some bad players but sometimes that happens in high school basketball.  It will also widen the gap between the good and the bad teams because there will be more possessions (which hopefully forces all coaches to work with their youth programs more, which equals, better basketball).

Two bad teams square off and then shot clock forces bad players into a bunch of bad shots.  That happens without a shot clock.  I've seen a lot of really bad games at the high school level and it wouldn't matter if there was one or not.  Maybe they would make more shots if they actually attempted more.

Another issue is the cost behind installing the shot clock and then having competent shot clock operators.  For a lot of schools there are a lot budget issues and doing this would cause more of a hassle.  I would say installment is a one time fee ranging from $1500-$5000 with then $25 per game to the shot clock operator. That's a lot of money for some schools but if you go into a lot of gyms throughout the state of Minnesota you will notice that the shot clocks are already installed on top of the baskets, they just aren't in use.

At one point the PSAL (NYC's public school league) decided that only certain levels would be using the shot clock.  For example, in Minnesota only 3A and 4A schools would be required to use them during games.  Maybe a conference would be forward thinking enough to force schools to use them for conference games.

The last thing I want to bring up about the shot clock is how it is used on the international level.  The shot clock is used at ALL levels international.  We are the only country in the world that doesn't use it consistently through all ages.  Even at lower age groups they use a :24 shot clock.  It would make sense to have universal rules but we want to make our own rules in the US that truly don't have a rhyme or reason behind it (:30 shot clock for women and :35 for men).

Make the game universal.