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VK Open discussion (12-26)

Dec. 26, 2009 @ 5:40 a.m. by Joanna

by joanna

The topic of the day is one that I am not sure what my opinion is — Should high school basketball have a shot clock? If it did, how long? 35 seconds?

Please give your pros and cons.

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 26th, 2009 at 5:40 a.m. and is filed under Open discussion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

  • BobChi

    I think not, for two reasons. One, the game doesn’t seem to be suffering for lack of one. Two, someone would have to be hired to run the clock. I am very certain we are going to have to be looking at ways to cut costs, not raise costs, in the economic environment our schools are facing. And this one wouldn’t be optional – every school in the state would have to confront this expense.

  • Hovpen

    Just something else to use as an excuse for getting beat by a better team. Next thing, they will want replay cameras.

    I hope everyone had a safe holiday beginning and it continues as such.

  • inthedark

    I don’t think it is needed. With 8 minute quarters, if teams suddenly tried to run down the shot clock they would only have to put up 8 shots a quarter, hypotheically. Boring game. I agree with Bobchi that the game does not seem to be suffering from a lack of one.

  • Sportsfan

    Joanna I know this is a bit off topic, but it said open discussion.
    I read your article on the skilled athletes in our state and wanted to give a reply. I enjoy your articles very much and appreciate the job you do. Thanks! The athletes you mentioned by name have been successful not only because of their skill, which they were blessed with but also because they have a group of young men and women who surround them called a team.
    I think at times we focus on these “star” athletes but forget that they can’t do it alone. They all have a supporting cast around them who assist in their accomplishments. So at this Christmas season, I wanted to say HATS OFF to those athletes who show up every day for practice and never miss a game and NEVER get their name in the papers, but are as much or more dedicated to the sport they play.
    Thanks again Joanna for your dedication to the athletes and teams of this state.

  • thelogo44

    I have thought a shot clock has been way overdue for years now. Maybe it would help get rid of some of these 20, 30, 40 or even 50 point basketball games.

  • Hovpen

    Local papers should all strive to get as many names into their stories as possible. In the case of the Eagle which has so few reporters and covers so many games its not always possible. But on the local level, nothing sells papers like getting mentioned.

  • TheInsider

    The shot clock has actually been discussed, surveyed, and hypothetically voted upon by state officials and coaches. The shot clock is wanted and has actually passed the hypothetical vote. But, as someone stated above, it is all about finance. Every gym in the state would need 2 shot clocks installed. Another person would have to be added at the score table to run it…and it’s hard enough to find and pay people to run the regular clock now.

  • Elaine Guebara

    There has been a shot clock in California for as long as I can remember and it works. Why do you have to pay anyone the teachers should be able to do it. That is the way it worked in San Diego where I kept score for the high school teams.

  • TheInsider

    I don’t know too many teachers who want to spend 4 hours away from their family twice a week for nothing in return. We struggle to fill the regular jobs, of scorebook & clock operator.

  • Hovpen

    Yea, let the teachers do it. What’s another six tgo eight hours a week at work with no additional pay.

  • onlooker

    Yes, please get a 35 second shot clock! The worst thing is playoff and state ball when a team is up with two or three minutes left and they hold. It would make the game better and keep things honest.

  • Nitwit

    I get so tired of how bad the teacher have it. At least they have a job. They should be happy to help the kids out with a couple of extra hours of helping them in any way they can. You get one teacher to help with one game and then they can go home. They are also at the games anyway.

  • bucocatfan

    Yeah, get some teacher who doesn’t know a shot clock from a Timex and they will really do a great job. Then people like yourself can complain when an error occurs that we need better qualified/paid time keepers.

  • http://www.pullanthropy.com TheMudddawg

    No to the shot-clock. It would take away an advantage of a lower-skilled team being able to slow the game down (if they so choose) and have a chance to win. I see WAY too many teams trying to run up and down the court with a more talented team and they have NO chance of playing/winning that game. Smart coaches will slow it down or play a style more befitting of their team (and LESS befitting for their opponent). Play to what gives you a chance to win, not what the other teams are doing. And ZERO chance you are going to find enough teachers to come for free and run it, besides the absolute nightmare it would create having people not familiar with it trying to run it, let alone someone different from night to night. Don’t bash teachers, the do more for less than any other career out there, most of them for the love and passion of it.

  • nitwit

    bucocatfam you are an idot you teach them how to run the shot clock just like they learn how to run the time clock. No one showed me how to do it am I’m not a teacher.

  • Local HS Football Fan

    Also with all the cuts going on in Education….passing a rule that requires every school in the state to buy new equipment will not fly. We have schools dropping some coaches and even some sports to keep going as they are. Having a new expense and then paying someone to run the clock is not something that makes much sense in todays budget issues. The smaller schools in the state still do not have the small play-clocks for football.

  • Local HS Football Fan

    Also did a super fast search and found that the average price of two clocks and control is about 1,800 to 2,000. Most schools run two gyms on JV/Varsity nights. So about $4,000 to get the clocks and controls.

  • TheInsider

    Nobody said anything abou the teachers having it bad. I don’t care what your profession is…do you want to work more than you’re contracted? Those who WANT to help will get paid extra. I’m just saying, good luck finding enough who WANT to do it. I don’t blame any of them for not wanting to do it. Bottom line, is the bottom line.

  • thelogo44

    I’m quite sure they could get a teacher to do it. I sat by 3 or 4 of them at last game so obviously you wouldn’t be dragging them away from home.

  • bucocatfan

    “No one showed me how to do it am I’m not a teacher.”

    I can believe the part about you NOT being a teacher! Knowing how to run a shot clock, I’m not so sure.

  • Nitwit

    No I am not a teacher but I am a teachers mon and he is a coach of basketball and football. I kept the shot clock and the score book and I 65 at that time.

  • BobChi

    It is often difficult to get enough teachers or other people to do PAID jobs for school sports, not to mention unpaid. And shot clock is not a job you can just drag someone out of the stands for – there are many kinds of circumstances for which the shot clock is started, stopped, reset or not reset. Yes, people could be trained to do it, but good luck finding enough who will do it for free on a regular, committed basis.

    Isn’t it a part of coaching defense to teach how to defend when the other team is in a slowdown situation? When do you sit back for a while, when do you attack, when do you press full court, when do you foul? How do you position players in each type of circumstance?

  • sbcoach

    Running the shot clock is not bad, I have done it in the past during Region VI basketball game, and I’ve only had one miscue. If you pay attention to the action on the court, there really is nothing to it. That being said, a shot clock will never happen in Kansas, simply because of the finances. As has been said, you would need 2 shot clocks for every gym and they aren’t cheap. Yes, I agree with TheMuddDawg that putting a shot clock in would drastically effect some teams style of basketball. Granted it does get boring watching a team hold the ball on the perimeter. I once watch a Bishop Carroll-KMC girls varsity basketball game when Kapaun had the ball to start the second quarter and literally held position the ENTIRE quarter. All they did was hold the ball up top, make the occasional pass, a little movement off ball, but that was it. While it did make for a boring quarter, I faulted BC just as much for choosing to pack in the lane and not play defense. Was there not a rule many years ago where a defensive team was actually penalized for electing not to play defense and letting a team run the stall offense without putting pressure on the ball? In some games, I think maybe this would be a good rule to have. Simply put, no to the shot clock for various reasons.

  • http://www.pullanthropy.com TheMudddawg

    sbcoach: as a follow up to the rule about lack of sufficient action, they also added the closely guarded count which allows the defence to chose if they are okay with the other team stalling or not.

    all:
    i just hate to force someone into an up and down game when they clearly arne’t capable of it. the clock is easier to run if you are tuned in to what you are doing, but not enough teachers want that job. they just want to go root, which is FINE.