For the first time since 1994, the ACC will experiment with a 30-second shot. The change is long overdue.
Over the recent years, the college basketball landscape has changed. Gone are the days of four-year stars, bat tling season after season to win a title for their univer sity. The one-and-done era of college basketball is in full swing. As more and more players elect to leave college early for the fame and fortune that comes along with a big NBA contract, the college game has become little more than a second D-League, where NBA executives can scout the top high school tal ent for a year before swiping the 19-year-olds and drop ping them into the tough est basketball league on the planet.
What has the college game done to reflect this change? Very little. Instead of prepar ing its players for the fast pace and grueling length of the NBA season, the college game has almost slowed its tempo. Recent NCAA Championship games show a slow in the tem po of the game: three of the past five championship games have had a combined score of less than 120 points. In the 60 years before that, only five games have had a score below that mark.
To compensate for the drop in scoring, the NCAA made a concerted effort to call fouls more closely. However, the change in officiating failed to solve the problem and only aggravated fans and players alike with questionable and inconsistent foul calls.
The 30-second shot clock offers a solution to each of the above problems. The shorter time will drastically increase the pace of the game, boosting the score while also preparing the college players for the 24-second clock in the NBA.
ACC coaches seem to be on board with the changes. ESPN reports that the Pitts burgh men’s basketball coach Jamie Dixon said the lowered shot clock was a much-need ed improvement to the game.
“That’s where the game is headed,” Dixon said. “We want to be ahead of the game. We want to provide data and see what it’s like.”
The 30-second shot clock will be featured dur ing exhibition games be fore the start of the ACC regular season. Following the games, the ACC will report to the NCAA men’s basketball rules committee. Though the NCAA may be a long way away from a per manent decrease in the shot clock, it seems as if the an swer to the league’s scoring issues may be right under its nose
