ON THE CLOCK
Will Ohio high school basketball decide to use a shot clock anytime soon?
When a reporter asked Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell last month about watching high school basketball in Ohio, the NBA All-star immediately lobbied for change.
“First and foremost, we need a shot clock,” Mitchell said.
With the Ohio High School Athletic Association girls and boys basketball tournaments underway, this is the time of year hoops enthusiasts such as Mitchell flock to local gymnasiums in greater numbers. None of those fans will see a shot clock used in Ohio. Two years ago, the National Federation of State High School Associations announced a 35-second shot clock would be permitted in high school games by state association adoption beginning this season.
According to the NFHS, 17 states and the District of Columbia are using a shot clock in at least some of their high school basketball games this season. And two more states — Idaho and Minnesota — will adopt the shot clock for the 2023-24 season.
However, implementing the use of the shot clock is not a front-burner issue in Ohio, OHSAA director of media relations Tim Stried said.
Meanwhile, Mitchell is hardly the only one counting down the days until the shot clock arrives in this state.
Here’s what to know:
Do Ohio coaches want the shot clock?
The NFHS’S most recent polling data is from 2018. It revealed the majority of coaches and officials who responded were in favor of adopting a 35-second shot clock in a future season but opposed to adopting a 30second shot clock. The majority of state associations that responded were against a 35- or 30-second shot clock.
Regarding support for the 35-second shot clock, 4,429 coaches (62%) and 4,666 officials (51%) favored it while 21 state associations (64%) were opposed.
The NFHS data didn’t specify whether the coaches who were polled oversaw girls or boys teams.
Arguments for the shot clock
The absence of the shot clock can allow teams to significantly slow the pace of a game or even hold the ball for long periods of time.
It’s not uncommon for a team less skilled than its opponent to essentially play keep away in an effort to neutralize better players.
Such tactics are not ideal for fans who spend money to watch games and don’t enjoy the action grinding to a halt.
Some coaches contend the lack of a shot clock isn’t good for players who hope to compete at the collegiate level. The NCAA uses a 30-second shot clock for women’s and men’s basketball. The NBA uses a 24-second shot clock.
“We’re falling behind the rest of the world,” Akron St. Vincent-st. Mary boys coach Dru Joyce II said. “Kids in Europe play with the shot clock their whole life, so they have the understanding of what it truly means. They recognize that in a game you’re going to have more possessions. There’s going to be more opportunities to score, more opportunities to defend.
“We need a shot clock. It’s our game. We can’t allow the rest of the world to take the game away from us.”
The length of a hypothetical shot clock in Ohio high school basketball is the subject of another argument. Akron Buchtel boys coach Rayshon Dent likes the idea of 45 seconds. CVCA boys coach Matt Futch said 35 or 40 seconds makes sense to him.
Joyce and East boys coach Chad Hazard advocate for 30 seconds, which is the length of the shot clock the Buchtel boys encountered in December while competing in a tournament in Las Vegas.
“The pace of our game and the energy of our game was way different because of the shot clock,” Buchtel guard Khoi Thurmon said. “You have to shoot the ball. It makes you more engaged in the game. There’s no breaks. Also, you’ve got to push the ball, and that’s next-level basketball.”
Arguments against the shot clock
Some coaches fear more blowouts would be an unintended consequence of adopting a shot clock. Northwest girls coach Kevin Lower also opined games with a shot clock “could get ugly” because of lopsided scores.
“I like the shot clock, but I can understand why there’s not one,” Dent said. “Because if you have a team that’s less talented, you’re looking at 100-point wins with shot clocks. Is that good for the sport or for the young [athletes’] morale, ‘cause it is still amateur athletics. This is not professional.”
North girls coach Jane Uecker guides an inexperienced team composed of many players who are relatively new to the sport. A former Bowling Green player, Uecker said she believes a slower game is conducive to greater and more diverse player participation in high school, so she prefers no shot clock.
“[The shot clock] takes a little bit away from the coaching strategy,” Lower said. “We play six girls, and if I had to shoot it every 30 seconds, [we would] be dead running back and forth.
“I know it’s going to come down the pipeline, and it’s going to happen. I think if it was at least 40 or 45 [seconds], I’d be fine with it.”
OHSAA unlikely to embrace shot clock soon
The OHSAA is open to discussions about the pros and cons of the shot clock, but the association accepting the shot clock is not on the horizon, Stried said. The OHSAA’S board of directors hasn’t even voted on the shot clock in Stried’s 16 years with the association.
Stried said the two most glaring obstacles to implementing the shot clock statewide are tied to officiating and cost.
“There are more stoppages and resets and often confusion regarding issues with the shot clock than any other aspect of the game — and that’s at the college and pro level,” Stried said. “Extrapolate that down to the high school level where you have often inconsistency [with] people running the [game] clock.
“The officiating side and how to use and run the shot clock is a really big topic. Now, that’s not to say it could never happen, but it would definitely need a very gradual rollout.
“It would really need an additional person. The same person that runs the scoreboard cannot run the shot clock. That’s a separate person.”
Based on Stried’s research, the cost to outfit a high school gym with two shot clocks is about $4,000.
“That’s an issue more for some schools than others,” he said, “but certainly there’s a cost involved.”
How does the OHSAA view arguments?
Stried said instances in which no shot clock results in teams slowing the game and negatively affecting fan experience are akin to situations seen in pro sports. Two examples he cited are NBA coaches resting players in the name of load management and rough weather impacting Cleveland Browns games at home. Fans aren’t happy with those scenarios, either.
Stried concedes the shot clock adds an element of excitement to the college and pro levels. He also agrees it would help prepare high school players for the collegiate stage.
However, Stried said only about 4 or 5% of high school basketball players compete in college.
“From the OHSSA standpoint, participation, safety, officiating, fairness, all those things are a full-time job,” Stried said. “We are trying to educate coaches. We’re trying to keep kids safe. We’re trying to make sure coaches have their CPR training.
“You could list a hundred things that we’re trying to accomplish, and is having the shot clock on that list? No. It doesn’t mean it might not ever happen, but we’ve got a lot more priorities than adding something that’s going to aid the 4 or 5% that go on to play in college.”
Stried offers a rare perspective because in addition to working for the OHSAA he moonlights as a high school basketball official.
Even without a shot clock, Stried pointed out a rule prohibits an offense from merely holding the ball for a long stretch if a defender applies pressure within 6 feet of the player who has possession. When a player with the ball faces such pressure, he or she has 5 seconds to make an offensive move or lose possession due to a violation of the rule.
“At least in basketball, the defense can force the hand a little bit,” Stried said.
But whenever an offense chooses to hold the ball and the defense declines to pressure, you can bet the shot clock debate will reignite.
Which states use the shot clock?
According to the NFHS, the following 17 states are using the shot clock in high school basketball this season:
● Arizona (conferences 3A-6A only)
● Arkansas
● California
● Iowa
● Florida
● Georgia (varsity only)
● Maryland
● Massachusetts
● Montana
● Nebraska (Class A only)
● New York
● North Dakota
● Rhode Island
● South Carolina (invitationals/showcases only)
● South Dakota
● Utah
● Washington
According to the NFHS, the following states will adopt the shot clock for next season:
● Idaho
● Minnesota