USA-365.com Commentary... 

High school principals, coaches, athletic directors.  Please.  Just say no.

Remember how the three-point shot "made the game more exciting?"  Did you see Illinois play the Air Force in the NCAA tournament last week?  Illinois was 8-of-22 from three point range while Air Force was 13-of-27.

I know I'm old, but three decades ago, if you took 25 shots from 20 feet out and lost a first round NCAA tournament game, the administration fired your coach before the bus got back to school.  But last week in the over-hyped 64-team national championship tournament, here is one of the favorites throwing up shots faster than college kids after an all-night drinking party.  Illinois and Air Force were both running around like chickens with their heads cut off, passing up layup attempts and launching 25-footers.  The announcers raved about how well-coached these teams were and how exciting this game was.

But we're stuck with the 3-pointer and its detrimental effect on fundamentals of the game at the youth level.  Kids don't practice dribbling and passing anymore.  They all want to shoot the 3-pointer because it's a lot easier than running set plays.

Here are some problems with the high school shot clock:

1.)  Who's going to pay for these clocks?  You cannot get them at CVS.  When they break, do you send them down to 'shop class' and let the kids work on them?

2.)  Do you use the shot clock for junior varsity, freshman and middle school games, too?  How can they prepare for the varsity if they aren't playing the same game?  You need 10 clocks, not two.

3.)  Do you understand what a middle school game with a shot clock would be like? You might as well change the name of it to the 'bad shot' clock.  Nobody will learn much and nobody but the next of kin will watch.

4.)  Which faculty member are you going to ADD to the group at the scorer's table at every level of the sport to be the shot clock operator?  It is not a job you can also give to someone who is already keeping the scorebook and eating nachos?

5.)  What if the clock breaks during a game and you only had two?  Do you play with a clock at only one end of the floor?  Do you tell one of the track kids to run up and down the sidelines carrying the clock for the offensive team to see?  Do you turn them both off, whip out a stop watch and have some science teacher throw a towel on the floor when the 24 seconds have expired??

6.)  Seriously.  If the essence of sports is a level playing field, how does a "hurry up and shoot" clock accomplish that?

All the great teams' coaches "spread the floor" or run a weaving offense that use angles, picks and screens and solid dribbling and passing.  Wonder why all NW Indiana high school basketball teams were eliminated before the semistate this year, almost a mathematical impossibility?

Because a lot of our teams play NBA basketball, a/k/a "street ball" or "hood ball."  In urban and suburban areas, almost everybody runs and presses and throws it into the post for the "kick out" and the "3."

We aren't interested in some form of the difficult to teach passing and moving "delay" game designed to run time off the clock and get a layup.  That's not exciting.

I've had coaches tell me that they don't run a delay game because their team "just can't play that way."  Well, get ready.  With the shot clock, those "we can play that way'" teams are your future champions.  Observers are to blame too, raving about players who sink a half dozen three-point shots as if that takes a lot of skill.  Install the 24-second clock and all you will see are three-point shots because that's all you'll have time for.

If high schools want NBA basketball, the shot clock is definitely the way to go.  But unless you're high on "meth," only "gangsta" rappers like the NBA until the playoffs.  And no one ever calls pro basketball intelligent.

Let's not dumb down Indiana's premier sport.