Shot Clock: Time for Change in High School Basketball?

With your team up 55-50, a minute and thirty seconds left in the game, no shot clock, and your team has the ball, what do you do? Well of course the smart thing to do would be to stall and run out the clock until it strikes 0:00. To change the stalling, or what some call the “spread offense”, in high school basketball, officials are considering implementing a shot clock at the high school level.

This debate has been going on for years, according to the article “Time to Implement a Shot Clock in High School Basketball?” by Michael Popke. This article in Athletic Business Magazine states that the “federation’s Basketball Rules Committee has addressed proposals to add a shot clock multiple times in recent years, that failed to garner enough support” (2013).

There are few things to consider when debating about whether or not to have a shot clock in high school basketball. First, there are financial issues with having a shot clock. Many schools would have to purchase new scoreboards that include a shot clock or a shot clock to add to an existing scoreboard. With recent budget cuts, schools may not be able to purchase these items. Another factor to consider with implementing a shot clock is hiring and training people to operate the new equipment. Yes, this isn’t a huge problem; but this is another cost for schools that already have budget issues.

In my opinion, the last but most important thing to consider is the need to train officials. Many high school officials are not used to shot clocks. Paying attention to when the shot clock goes off, or when it is getting close to expiring instead of watching the game for potential fouls is something that concerns me.

Having a shot clock in high school basketball is not something that needs to be implemented right away. In time I believe it is inevitable, but right now there is not enough support, or reason, to implement a shot clock in high school basketball.