Scoring in the college game has plummeted to levels unseen since the early 1950s. A shaved shot clock and stricter rules enforcement could provide the remedy.
Full speed ahead
The statistics scream outrage. ? Three years ago, college basketball endured the lowest-scoring season since 1952. The nation?s 345 Division I men?s teams averaged 67.5 points a game. ? Last season was the third-lowest scoring season since 1952, at 67.7 points per game. ? Nineteen-fifty-two? They weren?t using wooden peach baskets back then. But players still were transitioning from the two-handed set shot to the jump shot. ? The NCAA decided something more needed to be done. It passed a couple major rules changes for the season, which opens Friday for all four Big Four teams. ? The shot clock will be reduced from 35 to 30 seconds. ? The restricted arc near the basket has been increased from 3 feet to 4 feet, making it more difficult to draw a charging foul. ? In addition, the NCAA issued a directive to officials to closely enforce the rules in the following areas: ? Hand-checking and body-bumping the ball-handler. ? Physical post play and rebounding. ? Freedom of movement for players without the ball, meaning cutters through the lane. ? Making sure screens are stationary, not moving. ? Not allowing offensive players to ?jump into? legally
positioned defenders.
?I think the powers that be, the stakeholders of the game, wanted the rules changed,? said Akron coach Keith Dambrot, chairman of the NCAA men?s basketball rules committee board. ?They want more scoring. They?re worried about the entertainment value of college basketball. From that perspective, we had to do some things.?
More scoring and a faster pace? Most coaches are all for it.
?I love it,? said Canisius coach Jim Baron. ?I think it?s going to make it more exciting for college basketball, more up-tempo, more scores, more opportunities.?
?I like a faster-paced game,? said Niagara coach Chris Casey. ?I think the fans like a faster-paced game. I think you give a little more freedom to the players, it?s good for the game.?
Bigger, stronger
How significant is the decrease in scoring? That?s a subject of debate.
The high point in average scoring was 1972, when teams averaged 77.7 with no shot clock and no three-point line. Bob McAdoo and Bill Walton were first-team All-Americans that year. There were 210 Division I teams.
College basketball still was averaging 76.7 ppg in 1991, with 295 teams participating.
But the averages gradually have dipped since. Scoring was down to 70.2 ppg by 2003. It has hovered in the high-60s in 11 of the 12 seasons since. (The exception was two years ago, when the average was 71.0.)
There are a lot more teams now ? 345. But it?s not like the bottom-feeders are bringing the numbers way down.
Last season only 17 teams hit the 1972 average of 77.7. Just 101 teams averaged 70 ppg or better. National champion Duke ranked sixth at 80.6 ppg. The University at Buffalo led the Big Four at 75 ppg, which ranked 28th nationally.
St. Bonaventure coach Mark Schmidt says the reason for the scoring dip seems obvious.
?Kids are more athletic today,? Schmidt said. ?Guys are longer. They?re able to contest shots better. The game is different than the ?50s and ?60s and ?70s. Not that it?s better or worse.?
?I don?t think scoring is a big problem today,? Schmidt said. ?It?s hard to compare eras. It?s just like the NFL is a different game. The athletes are bigger and more athletic than ever.?
?It?s just evolution,? Casey said. ?Athletes are just bigger, faster and stronger.?
Shot clock
Lowering the shot clock should add a couple more possessions to each game, which increases the chances of a slight scoring uptick. When the 45-second shot clock was trimmed to 35 for the 1993-94 season, scoring increased from 73.6 ppg to 75.0. (The increase was short-lived.)
?I think it makes coaches coach and get their sets called early and not just run time off the clock,? said UB coach Nate Oats. ?I don?t know if I?d say there was a big need for it, but I like it. We want to play fast, anyway.?
?I don?t know that necessarily early on you?ll see better shot-making or shot-taking because of the adjustment to the clock,? Casey said. ?You may see more difficult shots being taken early.?
Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton, known for his superb defensive teams, worries about the risk of more bad shots.
?I don?t have guys who can make shots like Kobe, under pressure, falling away and banking them in on a contested shot,? Hamilton said to the Charlotte News-Observer, referring to Kobe Bryant. ?I don?t have a Carmelo Anthony on my team who can make contested shots. ? I don?t think there?s anything wrong with being a good defensive team. But that?s been evaluated by certain people in the media as ugly. I love an ugly defensive game.?
Syracuse?s Jim Boeheim takes the opposite view. He wants to see the shot clock go to 24 seconds, consistent with the NBA and international play.
?You can do anything you want in 24 seconds, but coaches think they can?t get a shot in 24 seconds,? Boeheim said. ?All the rest of the world can get a shot up in 24 seconds, and we can?t.?
Says Schmidt: ?The more possessions, the team with the better talent is going to win. That?s the concern if you knocked it down to 24 seconds. Now there?s not going to be as many upsets, because the better players are going to have more opportunities to score.?
Dambrot says the NCAA is convinced of the benefit.
?Thirty seconds will make a great deal of difference,? he said. ?But I don?t think it will make as much difference as how the game?s going to be called. The game is going to be called close. There?s going to be a lot of free-throws shot until people adjust. And I can tell you it?s going to be called close all year long.?
Calling the rules
Coaches have been forewarned in their conference meetings that officials will be diligent about the defensive points of emphasis.
?They?re definitely going to call that stuff tighter, they?ve already told us that,? Casey said. ?There?s a push to move your feet better so you don?t get called for catch-up fouls, where you?re late and try to catch up and pick up fouls.?
Officials will be on the lookout for pushing and shoving of cutters across the court. Defenders need to beat them to the spot to stay in front of them. They can?t slow them down with their arms or hips.
Officials also will aim to keep the low posts from being mosh pits. Defenders must box out legally. When a defender loses position and gets stuck behind the low-post player, the defender can?t use a swim move like a football player or a knee to the backside to get back into a fronting position.
Again, however, coaches have concerns. Two years ago there was a point of emphasis on hand-checking on the perimeter. Officials called it tight in non-conference games. Niagara played a game at Seton Hall that featured 102 free-throw attempts. But the enforcement dropped off by the conference season.
?I just think it?s really hard to clean it up in a year,? Schmidt said. ?To try to change what you?ve been doing your whole life ? or for four or five years ? now they?re going to say you can?t do it. Maybe three or four years down the road, it may be cleaned up. I think to try to clean it up in a year, it could be ugly.?
?It?s a game, so there?s inherently going to be some contact,? Casey said. ?Some of the contact affects someone?s ability to make a play, and that has to be called. But then there?s other contact that has no effect on the play. That shouldn?t be called, because now all you?re doing is improving scoring by parading to the foul line. I don?t think any of us want that.?
College basketball is heading toward a faster-flowing, more up-tempo style. Starting Friday, fans get to see how smoothly it can get there.
Full speed ahead
The statistics scream outrage. ? Three years ago, college basketball endured the lowest-scoring season since 1952. The nation?s 345 Division I men?s teams averaged 67.5 points a game. ? Last season was the third-lowest scoring season since 1952, at 67.7 points per game. ? Nineteen-fifty-two? They weren?t using wooden peach baskets back then. But players still were transitioning from the two-handed set shot to the jump shot. ? The NCAA decided something more needed to be done. It passed a couple major rules changes for the season, which opens Friday for all four Big Four teams. ? The shot clock will be reduced from 35 to 30 seconds. ? The restricted arc near the basket has been increased from 3 feet to 4 feet, making it more difficult to draw a charging foul. ? In addition, the NCAA issued a directive to officials to closely enforce the rules in the following areas: ? Hand-checking and body-bumping the ball-handler. ? Physical post play and rebounding. ? Freedom of movement for players without the ball, meaning cutters through the lane. ? Making sure screens are stationary, not moving. ? Not allowing offensive players to ?jump into? legally
positioned defenders.
?I think the powers that be, the stakeholders of the game, wanted the rules changed,? said Akron coach Keith Dambrot, chairman of the NCAA men?s basketball rules committee board. ?They want more scoring. They?re worried about the entertainment value of college basketball. From that perspective, we had to do some things.?
More scoring and a faster pace? Most coaches are all for it.
?I love it,? said Canisius coach Jim Baron. ?I think it?s going to make it more exciting for college basketball, more up-tempo, more scores, more opportunities.?
?I like a faster-paced game,? said Niagara coach Chris Casey. ?I think the fans like a faster-paced game. I think you give a little more freedom to the players, it?s good for the game.?
Bigger, stronger
How significant is the decrease in scoring? That?s a subject of debate.
The high point in average scoring was 1972, when teams averaged 77.7 with no shot clock and no three-point line. Bob McAdoo and Bill Walton were first-team All-Americans that year. There were 210 Division I teams.
College basketball still was averaging 76.7 ppg in 1991, with 295 teams participating.
But the averages gradually have dipped since. Scoring was down to 70.2 ppg by 2003. It has hovered in the high-60s in 11 of the 12 seasons since. (The exception was two years ago, when the average was 71.0.)
There are a lot more teams now ? 345. But it?s not like the bottom-feeders are bringing the numbers way down.
Last season only 17 teams hit the 1972 average of 77.7. Just 101 teams averaged 70 ppg or better. National champion Duke ranked sixth at 80.6 ppg. The University at Buffalo led the Big Four at 75 ppg, which ranked 28th nationally.
St. Bonaventure coach Mark Schmidt says the reason for the scoring dip seems obvious.
?Kids are more athletic today,? Schmidt said. ?Guys are longer. They?re able to contest shots better. The game is different than the ?50s and ?60s and ?70s. Not that it?s better or worse.?
?I don?t think scoring is a big problem today,? Schmidt said. ?It?s hard to compare eras. It?s just like the NFL is a different game. The athletes are bigger and more athletic than ever.?
?It?s just evolution,? Casey said. ?Athletes are just bigger, faster and stronger.?
Shot clock
Lowering the shot clock should add a couple more possessions to each game, which increases the chances of a slight scoring uptick. When the 45-second shot clock was trimmed to 35 for the 1993-94 season, scoring increased from 73.6 ppg to 75.0. (The increase was short-lived.)
?I think it makes coaches coach and get their sets called early and not just run time off the clock,? said UB coach Nate Oats. ?I don?t know if I?d say there was a big need for it, but I like it. We want to play fast, anyway.?
?I don?t know that necessarily early on you?ll see better shot-making or shot-taking because of the adjustment to the clock,? Casey said. ?You may see more difficult shots being taken early.?
Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton, known for his superb defensive teams, worries about the risk of more bad shots.
?I don?t have guys who can make shots like Kobe, under pressure, falling away and banking them in on a contested shot,? Hamilton said to the Charlotte News-Observer, referring to Kobe Bryant. ?I don?t have a Carmelo Anthony on my team who can make contested shots. ? I don?t think there?s anything wrong with being a good defensive team. But that?s been evaluated by certain people in the media as ugly. I love an ugly defensive game.?
Syracuse?s Jim Boeheim takes the opposite view. He wants to see the shot clock go to 24 seconds, consistent with the NBA and international play.
?You can do anything you want in 24 seconds, but coaches think they can?t get a shot in 24 seconds,? Boeheim said. ?All the rest of the world can get a shot up in 24 seconds, and we can?t.?
Says Schmidt: ?The more possessions, the team with the better talent is going to win. That?s the concern if you knocked it down to 24 seconds. Now there?s not going to be as many upsets, because the better players are going to have more opportunities to score.?
Dambrot says the NCAA is convinced of the benefit.
?Thirty seconds will make a great deal of difference,? he said. ?But I don?t think it will make as much difference as how the game?s going to be called. The game is going to be called close. There?s going to be a lot of free-throws shot until people adjust. And I can tell you it?s going to be called close all year long.?
Calling the rules
Coaches have been forewarned in their conference meetings that officials will be diligent about the defensive points of emphasis.
?They?re definitely going to call that stuff tighter, they?ve already told us that,? Casey said. ?There?s a push to move your feet better so you don?t get called for catch-up fouls, where you?re late and try to catch up and pick up fouls.?
Officials will be on the lookout for pushing and shoving of cutters across the court. Defenders need to beat them to the spot to stay in front of them. They can?t slow them down with their arms or hips.
Officials also will aim to keep the low posts from being mosh pits. Defenders must box out legally. When a defender loses position and gets stuck behind the low-post player, the defender can?t use a swim move like a football player or a knee to the backside to get back into a fronting position.
Again, however, coaches have concerns. Two years ago there was a point of emphasis on hand-checking on the perimeter. Officials called it tight in non-conference games. Niagara played a game at Seton Hall that featured 102 free-throw attempts. But the enforcement dropped off by the conference season.
?I just think it?s really hard to clean it up in a year,? Schmidt said. ?To try to change what you?ve been doing your whole life ? or for four or five years ? now they?re going to say you can?t do it. Maybe three or four years down the road, it may be cleaned up. I think to try to clean it up in a year, it could be ugly.?
?It?s a game, so there?s inherently going to be some contact,? Casey said. ?Some of the contact affects someone?s ability to make a play, and that has to be called. But then there?s other contact that has no effect on the play. That shouldn?t be called, because now all you?re doing is improving scoring by parading to the foul line. I don?t think any of us want that.?
College basketball is heading toward a faster-flowing, more up-tempo style. Starting Friday, fans get to see how smoothly it can get there.
