A shot clock for SC high school basketball games? National ruling offers new hope
The push to have a shot clock for high school basketball games in South Carolina has been given a second chance. The decision to make it reality here could still be a year away.
Last week, the National Federation of State High School Associations decided that a 35-second shot clock will be permitted in boys and girls high school basketball games beginning in 2022-23. A proposal for a national rule mandating a shot clock was not approved.
In the past, states could adopt the shot-clock rule despite not having NFHS approval, with some caveats.. And last week’s ruling will be a step “to encourage standardization among states,” according to the NFHS.
“It is a great step in the right direction as far as the whole country having a shot clock,” said Westwood boys basketball coach John Combs, who is president of South Carolina High School Basketball Coaches association. “It helps our cause to help to get one in South Carolina.”
The proponents of a shot clock say it will help the game speed up and have a better flow or rhythm. It also will prevent teams from holding the ball for several minutes at a time. The biggest drawbacks, coaches told The State, were cost and installation and finding capable people to run them during games.
Combs and many other coaches around the state, including Byrnes High’s Layne Fowler, have been advocating to bring a shot clock to the Palmetto State. South Carolina men’s coach Frank Martin, Clemson’s Brad Brownell and other college coaches around the states also are advocates for having a shot clock in high school basketball.
In 2018, Fowler created a proposal and presented it to the Class 5A athletic directors in a straw poll taken on the final day of the S.C. Athletic Administrators Conference. That proposal was defeated 40-8 — with seven of the eight yes votes coming from Fowler’s region.
But Fowler said the NFHS ruling has given him new energy for the proposal and plans to talk to coaches and athletic directors again on the issue. He wants to hold meetings or forums that will answer any questions and concerns coaches and athletic directors might have on the issue.
Fowler has studied Georgia’s model, which was approved last June and will be phased in before making it mandatory for 2022-23. Currently, there are nine states, including Georgia, that use a shot clock in high school basketball.
NFHS director Karissa Niehoff said Thursday she guesses four to six more states will adopt the shot clock in high school basketball for 2022-2023 but doesn’t see a “groundswell” of states adopting it.
In South Carolina, the hope is to get enough support to bring the issue before the state’s athletic directors at next year’s spring meetings.
“Main thing is tell them what pros are and try to dispel some of the cons. Hear them out with an open mind,” Fowler said. “It usually is financial reasons, not philosophical reasons. Most people who have been around the game know that not only is a shot clock needed but it is better for the game.
“Coaches pitched a fit when the three-point line was introduced in 1985-86. But look what it has done for the game 30 years later.”
The State surveyed boys and girls basketball coaches in the Midlands for their thoughts on having a shot clock. Of the 35 coaches who responded, 23 were in favor of adding it, nine were opposed and three were unsure.
The costs of shot clocks installed over the basketball goals, according to Fowler, typically run around $3,500. New basketball goals at Byrnes will have them. But there are portable ones used in small colleges that cost much less and still are effective.
Fowler and Combs both believe there could be ways to work around the financial aspects associated with having a shot clock such as applying for grants to help pay for the costs.
“We can get past the financial sides but philosophically is it better for the game, fans and athletes? I think it is,” Fowler said. “It makes the game more intriguing — you don’t have to foul down by three with 45 seconds left. It just is the way to go.”
States that use shot clock in HS Basketball
- California
- Georgia (Will be mandatory in 2022-23)
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- New York
- North Dakota
- Rhode Island
- South Dakota
- Washington
This story was originally published May 20, 2021 at 11:02 AM.
