The University Inter-scholastic League recently approved the implementation of a 35-second shot clock for high school basketball games.
It’s about time.
Admittedly, I am old school about a lot of things in sports. For example I am not a fan of NIL or the abuse of the transfer portal now taking place.
However, a shot clock is old school when you consider the NBA, WNBA and college have been using one for many years. It only makes sense that prep players now follow suit.
There has been an across-the-board uptempo the game at all levels for a long time now. The days of coach Norman Dale (Gene Hackman) in Hoosiers telling his team to pass the ball four times before shooting are long gone.
However, the official implementation won’t go into effect until the 2028-29 season, and even then only for Classes 5A and 6A, so the few teams that do still employ the four-corner stall in an attempt to equalize things can do so for a while longer.
Among those seeing the benefits of a shot clock in high school is Aledo Ladycats basketball coach Donny Ott. However, he does think the change should come with some necessary caution.
“It worries me these initial first few years that some games can be decided or altered because of an honest user error at the table,” Ott said.
He said a shot clock rewards basketball execution rather than the ability to manipulate the game clock.
“There are times when a team gets a lead and essentially stops trying to score,” he said. “This actually happened to me while coaching against Duncanville in the state semifinal game back in 2024, where we lost 39-31 in overtime while I was coaching at Summer Creek.
“The offense becomes a matter of passing the ball around the perimeter, forcing the defense to chase, and waiting for the opponent to make a mistake. While that can be a legitimate strategy under the current rules, it doesn’t always produce the best basketball.”
Ott noted that a shot clock would change that dynamic in several ways:
Teams would need to run their offense, create advantages, and make decisions rather than simply protect a lead.
Teams would need to understand spacing, screening, cutting, attacking closeouts, and creating quality shots within a defined time.
Defensive teams could be rewarded for forcing difficult shots, disrupting actions, and maintaining discipline for an entire possession.
Players moving on to college basketball would already understand the pace, urgency, and decision-making associated with a shot clock.
One would expect college coaches are excited because it’s one less thing they have to train freshmen for. While the college clock is five seconds quicker (30 seconds) than what high school will be, at least players will now be coming in used to the process.
“I wouldn’t necessarily expect every game to become faster or higher scoring,” Ott said. “A good shot-clock offense can still be patient, deliberate, and disciplined. The difference is that the offense must eventually produce a shot attempt. For me, that’s an important distinction.
“The shot clock doesn’t have to eliminate half-court basketball — it simply requires teams to play offense with purpose.”
Ott makes a sound point — no pun intended — when he says a key part of the transition is finding the right people to operate a shot clock. After all, unless someone has worked a scoring table in college, it’s a new process.
“Someone must understand when to start it, when to stop it, when to reset it, and when a partial reset applies under the rule,” he said. “Some more common problematic situations would be when a shot hits the rim and the offense recovers the rebound, the defense tips or deflects a pass, there is a foul before or during the shot-clock period, the ball goes out of bounds after a defensive deflection, or a shot-clock violation occurs, or the clock malfunctions.
“The operator must know the applicable rule, follow the officials’ signals, and react correctly in real time. A mistake can affect possession, the outcome of a game, or create a dispute that takes time to resolve.”
Ott stressed this could be an even greater challenge at the small school and subvarsity level, where finding game workers can already sometimes be a task. Add in the time it will take to train and it becomes more of a possible issue.
But the shot clock won’t be used in 3A and 4A schools before 2030-31 and not in 1A and 2A schools before 2032-33, so there is ample time to figure things out.
“Bottom line for me is that I fully support the direction of the change from a basketball standpoint but do worry about Texas and all of our high schools being able to administer it consistently across all schools, funding all implementations of the clocks for all schools, and finding quality/competent workers for all schools,” he said.
Whether we like it or not, sports is constantly moving in a new direction. No one asked my opinion about the NFL kickoff changes, but they made them anyway and I’m still furious about them ruining the onside kick.
Baseball breaking ties (in regular season) by starting the 10th inning and beyond with a runner on second base? Don’t get me started.
But some changes make sense. College football overtime making teams go for two points after scoring on the second possession keeps games from going until 3 in the morning.
So what’s next? Years ago a radio host in Dallas suggested installing an “instant win” circle the length of the court from his team’s basket. If a player makes a shot from that circle, roughly 90-plus feet away, his/her team wins the game, no matter how much they trail.
Works for me. Sure beats the four-corner stall.
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here