Proposal for shot clock in play

Committees start process

The CIAC boys and girls basketball committees, working jointly, approved a proposal Wednesday for the use of a 35-second shot clock beginning with the 2022-23 season.

In an email to all of the state’s athletic directors on Wednesday, obtained by Hearst Connecticut Media, the proposal is to use the shot clock “at all playing levels,” which means also JV and freshmen games.

This is just the first step for a shot clock to be approved in the state of Connecticut. Right now, it

stands as a proposal that now goes before the CIAC member schools to be vetted.

The debate over having a shot clock in the game has been going on for years. But it finally became a realistic possibility for CIAC basketball once the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) approved the use of a 35-second shot clock by individual state associations last April.

Currently, there are just eight states using a shot clock: California, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, North Dakota, Rhode Island,

South Dakota and Washington.

Gregg Simon, the associate executive director of the CIAC, previously told Hearst Connecticut Media that previous surveys of both boys and girls basketball coaches had them overwhelmingly in support of a shot clock.

Simon also said the CIAC conducted a survey in April of member schools, with the athletic directors responding on the school’s behalf. It wasn’t as overwhelming, but still in favor of having a shot clock: 58 percent in favor, 42 percent against it.