Here is an article from this mornings local paper here about the potential change in the shot clock length. Lots of Duke references!! I figured someone might find it interesting.
On The Clock
Coaches Take Sides on the Shot-Clock Debate
Posted: May 14, 2015
By NICK SUNDERLAND
HARRISONBURG – Eastern Mennonite University basketball coach Kirby Dean is a lifelong Duke fan, meaning he’s had much to cheer about over the years.
Since legendary coach Mike Krzyzewski took over the Blue Devils’ program in 1980, Duke has reached the Final Four 12 times and claimed five national championships overall – the most of any school in that time frame.
Before that run of success, though, one of Dean’s favorite Duke teams was its 1978-79 squad, which featured a pair of future first-round NBA draft picks and current CBS college basketball commentators: Mike Gminski and Jim Spanarkel.
The game Dean remembers best from that season was Spanarkel’s bizarre Senior Day outing against fourth-ranked North Carolina, where the Blue Devils – who won 47-40 – took a 7-0 lead into halftime after iconic Tar Heels coach Dean Smith directed his team to play stall ball in his Four Corners offense.
“I’ll never forget that,” Dean said in a phone interview Wednesday. “That was awful. I mean, that was painful to watch.”
As such, it’s no surprise Dean is delighted to see that the NCAA rules committee seemingly appears set to ditch the men’s game’s 35-second shot clock in favor of a 30-second version.
Belmont coach Rick Byrd, the committee’s chairman, told ESPN.com in late April that there was a “really decent chance” of a 30-second shot clock being adopted starting this coming season. According to ESPN.com, Byrd’s committee will decide by Friday whether to pass that recommendation, which would also need to receive approval from the Playing Rules Oversight Panel on June 24.
“I’d be tickled if they took it to 24. It’d be just like the NBA,” Dean said. “I just like that pace. I think it plays into our hands, because we’re already playing as fast as we can. The other thing it does is it creates less time for teams who want to run intricate offenses, they have less time to get into that offense and be effective.”
The New Orleans Times-Picayune reported that in two of the past three seasons scoring in Division I men’s basketball has been its lowest since 1952, with this season’s average mark falling at 67.6 points per game.
Dean, whose Royals run an up-tempo offense in Division III’s Old Dominion Athletic Conference, doesn’t think there’s a problem with college basketball. But some high-profile coaches, such as Southern Methodist’s Larry Brown, have come out publicly to speak against where they believe the sport is headed.
At last year’s American Athletic Conference media day, Brown – having coached Kansas to an NCAA title in 1988 and the Detroit Pistons to an NBA championship in 2004 – told reporters fundamentals are eroding in the college game and a shorter shot clock will only yield an “uglier” product.
“The whole pageantry of it all and the student sections and the excitement that surrounds the game, I think that overpowers the fact that it is ugly from time to time,” Dean said. “I think you’re still talking about a product that’s so good that it’s able to overcome the fact that it’s become kind of slow and monotonous at times and very physical defensively, which has taken some of the fun out of the game. I do think the more we work towards changing that, the better off it’s going to be.”
In February, an ESPN.com poll revealed 60 percent of the nearly 500 college coaches broached on the prospect of changing the shot clock from 35 seconds to 30 seconds supported the movement.
James Madison coach Matt Brady said last week he would be “surprised” if the measure failed to pass, but added that he did not necessarily think the development will be good for the college game.
“What I’ve said all along is there’s a great majority of people, I feel, that prefer the college game to the pro game,” Brady said. “I feel like the reason is, I think there’s differences in our games, and I think making them similar now in terms of the shot clock and lengthening the 3-point line just makes the games more closely aligned.
“… College basketball has done a great job of engaging and capturing the college basketball fan, and I think that’s why college basketball is so incredibly popular. And I think any time you add rules that make it look more like the NBA, I think you’re blurring the line and have a chance to lose those fans.”
Brady (Siena) and Dean (EMU) played college basketball in the early years of the 45-second shot clock, instituted in the 1985-86 season as the NCAA’s answer to prevent stall-ball tactics.
The NCAA adopted its current 35-second format in 1993.
Brady’s Dukes got a taste of what playing with a 30-second shot clock would be like in March in the CollegeInsider.com Postseason tournament, where Madison fell 73-72 in a first-round road game against USC Upstate. The CIT, College Basketball Invitational and NIT all experimented with a 30-second shot clock this past season.
“It didn’t change our planning for the game,” Brady said. “As a staff and as a team, we definitely felt that it’s different. It is quicker. It’s a quicker clock, and we had a number of possessions where we felt pressure – time pressure – during the course of the game. It’s a different number, and I think it’s going to take some getting used to.”
On The Clock
Coaches Take Sides on the Shot-Clock Debate
Posted: May 14, 2015
By NICK SUNDERLAND
HARRISONBURG – Eastern Mennonite University basketball coach Kirby Dean is a lifelong Duke fan, meaning he’s had much to cheer about over the years.
Since legendary coach Mike Krzyzewski took over the Blue Devils’ program in 1980, Duke has reached the Final Four 12 times and claimed five national championships overall – the most of any school in that time frame.
Before that run of success, though, one of Dean’s favorite Duke teams was its 1978-79 squad, which featured a pair of future first-round NBA draft picks and current CBS college basketball commentators: Mike Gminski and Jim Spanarkel.
The game Dean remembers best from that season was Spanarkel’s bizarre Senior Day outing against fourth-ranked North Carolina, where the Blue Devils – who won 47-40 – took a 7-0 lead into halftime after iconic Tar Heels coach Dean Smith directed his team to play stall ball in his Four Corners offense.
“I’ll never forget that,” Dean said in a phone interview Wednesday. “That was awful. I mean, that was painful to watch.”
As such, it’s no surprise Dean is delighted to see that the NCAA rules committee seemingly appears set to ditch the men’s game’s 35-second shot clock in favor of a 30-second version.
Belmont coach Rick Byrd, the committee’s chairman, told ESPN.com in late April that there was a “really decent chance” of a 30-second shot clock being adopted starting this coming season. According to ESPN.com, Byrd’s committee will decide by Friday whether to pass that recommendation, which would also need to receive approval from the Playing Rules Oversight Panel on June 24.
“I’d be tickled if they took it to 24. It’d be just like the NBA,” Dean said. “I just like that pace. I think it plays into our hands, because we’re already playing as fast as we can. The other thing it does is it creates less time for teams who want to run intricate offenses, they have less time to get into that offense and be effective.”
The New Orleans Times-Picayune reported that in two of the past three seasons scoring in Division I men’s basketball has been its lowest since 1952, with this season’s average mark falling at 67.6 points per game.
Dean, whose Royals run an up-tempo offense in Division III’s Old Dominion Athletic Conference, doesn’t think there’s a problem with college basketball. But some high-profile coaches, such as Southern Methodist’s Larry Brown, have come out publicly to speak against where they believe the sport is headed.
At last year’s American Athletic Conference media day, Brown – having coached Kansas to an NCAA title in 1988 and the Detroit Pistons to an NBA championship in 2004 – told reporters fundamentals are eroding in the college game and a shorter shot clock will only yield an “uglier” product.
“The whole pageantry of it all and the student sections and the excitement that surrounds the game, I think that overpowers the fact that it is ugly from time to time,” Dean said. “I think you’re still talking about a product that’s so good that it’s able to overcome the fact that it’s become kind of slow and monotonous at times and very physical defensively, which has taken some of the fun out of the game. I do think the more we work towards changing that, the better off it’s going to be.”
In February, an ESPN.com poll revealed 60 percent of the nearly 500 college coaches broached on the prospect of changing the shot clock from 35 seconds to 30 seconds supported the movement.
James Madison coach Matt Brady said last week he would be “surprised” if the measure failed to pass, but added that he did not necessarily think the development will be good for the college game.
“What I’ve said all along is there’s a great majority of people, I feel, that prefer the college game to the pro game,” Brady said. “I feel like the reason is, I think there’s differences in our games, and I think making them similar now in terms of the shot clock and lengthening the 3-point line just makes the games more closely aligned.
“… College basketball has done a great job of engaging and capturing the college basketball fan, and I think that’s why college basketball is so incredibly popular. And I think any time you add rules that make it look more like the NBA, I think you’re blurring the line and have a chance to lose those fans.”
Brady (Siena) and Dean (EMU) played college basketball in the early years of the 45-second shot clock, instituted in the 1985-86 season as the NCAA’s answer to prevent stall-ball tactics.
The NCAA adopted its current 35-second format in 1993.
Brady’s Dukes got a taste of what playing with a 30-second shot clock would be like in March in the CollegeInsider.com Postseason tournament, where Madison fell 73-72 in a first-round road game against USC Upstate. The CIT, College Basketball Invitational and NIT all experimented with a 30-second shot clock this past season.
“It didn’t change our planning for the game,” Brady said. “As a staff and as a team, we definitely felt that it’s different. It is quicker. It’s a quicker clock, and we had a number of possessions where we felt pressure – time pressure – during the course of the game. It’s a different number, and I think it’s going to take some getting used to.”
