OCR Text |
Show jr. . me iveview mursuay, r euruary o, issi riKcr- Viewpoint Leave the Shot Clock for College and Pros By Jack Hill - r11; My recommendation is' that high school basketball be let alone. Forget the shot clock. On the collegiate level, employ the clock (30 seconds) except during the last four minutes of each half. This would insure game action while maintaining the suspense of a ' four corner delay or spread offense in the final minutes. In case of an overtime game, no shot clock would , be used. (' manned, outclassed team should have a chance, then the answer is "no" to the shot clock. The pro's went to a 24 second clock several years ago. Fans of the professional game like the idea. Game scorers average over 100 points per team paying customers like the race horse action, and the team with the best players almost always wins. Every year pressure is mounted to bring the shot clock into college and high school basketball. The pressure usually swells after a team pulls a slowdown upset of a highly touted squad. Fuel is added to the fire when fans witness not a "slow down" a virtual "stop" (like Mt. View's 19-18 upset of Provo a few weeks ago.) In that game entire quarters passed without either team scoring. A "stop" game is boring but a slow down, deliberate game can be an exciting action filled contest employing em-ploying great coaching strategy. It is the one way the undermanned team has a chance to win. Dr. Naismith's "winter activity for football players" has undergone many changes.. Nets have replaced peach baskets; foul lanes have increased in-creased from 6 to 12 feet; the center jump after every score has been eliminated; a three second area defined and a rule limiting the offense to 10 seconds to get the ball to mid- ' court are just a few. Other proposed changes include . raising the basket higher than 10 feet and including a three point score if the ball is shot from 23 feet or beyond. ' The latest proposal being debated is, "should there be a shot clock in amateur basketball. A clock that shows a set time that the offensive team has to shoot the ball or give it up. 1 1 think the answer to the shot clock ' proposal depends on how you answer this question. "Should the team with the best players always win?" If you reply "yes", then the answer is "yes" to the shot clock. On the other hand, if you, like me, feel that the under- |