BENNETT'S MINUTES: High school basketball imperfect, but leave it alone

Thursday, March 8, 2018

As Cloverdale prepares to try to end its regional tournament jinx tomorrow at Greenfield-Central, it’s time to take a look at a couple of things that have been gaining steam lately.

High school basketball is not perfect, and it never will be. It was a great year for Putnam County, that’s for sure.

On the girls’ side, South Putnam won its second straight sectional and Greencastle made it to the sectional finals. Cloverdale set a school record for wins, and North Putnam showed improvement.

On the boys’ side, Cloverdale won the only title but North Putnam and Greencastle both played in sectional finals. South Putnam had its best record in several years, and returns almost the whole roster next year.

Five teams from the Western Indiana Conference made it to sectional finals, and three of those were ours. Edgewood defeated West Vigo in the finals at Northview.

Yet, I still hear people making suggestions that changes need to be made. The clamoring for single-class basketball again has diminished over the years, and any one hanging onto those hopes needs to find a new topic of their dreams.

The two topics I hear most about in terms of making changes are the seeding of sectionals and the addition of a shot clock.

I just don’t see the need for either one.

As far as sectionals go, the blind draw is as fair as it will ever get. The current alignment of six-team fields at most sites in the four classes seems the best mathematical format.

If three teams were better than the others, then one side of a seeded bracket would still be tougher than the other. If coaches were to vote at a meeting on the order of the teams in their sectionals, some might sway their allies to get into a bracket away from a team they don’t want to play.

I informally polled local coaches about the topic, and none were in favor of it. If the teams with the best records play in the first round, such as this year at South Putnam with Cloverdale and Monrovia, then so be it. If things go according to the records, then the championship might happen on the first night. No big deal.

I have been stunned at the statewide support for a shot clock, which I fear is a far worse evil in my eyes. Twitter polls and other research methods have shown overwhelming support for the idea — about 70 to 30 percent in favor in some of them.

I see even less of a reason for this one. I have probably been to 100 varsity basketball games this year, give or take a few, and I have not seen anyone “hold the ball” other than for the last shot of a quarter.

If there were a bunch of 15-12 games every night, and people constantly tried to slow down the game, then you could sign me up for that one. I just never see it happen.

Besides the lack of a need for it, there are other logistical nightmares. I have run a shot clock before, in my college days at Indiana State, and it’s not easy. Not that someone couldn’t figure it out, but it is far more complex than it appears. There are very specific rules for whether or not the clock restarts on a kicked ball or other happenings during the game.

Frankly, I see at least one game a week where the scoreboard operator gets caught up in the game and either doesn’t start the lock or lets it run too long. Not everyone, mind you, but often enough that it’s a problem.

I left one game this year thinking the final score of a game was a certain set of numbers, and found out later that one of the teams actually had two more points. One basket had not been put on the scoreboard in the third period, and it was never caught.

This particular game wasn’t close, so it didn’t matter. But in a close game, such an error could have made a huge difference.

Other logistical problems include the scorer’s bench. Most schools have one designed for three or four people — the scoreboard operator, one book keeper from each team and one other seat.

Colleges have a different person to keep the time, score and shot clock and all those people wouldn’t fit in the current benches.

Some of those things could be fixed, of course. People would eventually learn how to run the clock properly, and if schools needed to make additional seating available for scorekeepers they could find a way.

But as far as the game on the court goes, I just don’t see the need. I see many teams every year who need a shot clock making them wait a certain period before shooting, not one requiring them to shoot every 30 or 35 seconds.

There are more issues with officiating that should be addressed first.

But that’s a much longer conversation for a different day. For now, keep the blind draw and forget the shot clock.

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