Shot clock not going anywhere

The shot clock has been shot down by the National Federation of State High School Associations.

But it will continue to click away in North Dakota.

The NFHS basketball rules committee recently considered a proposal to add a shot clock to the national rules. But a press release from the NFHS said the committee agreed that the sport is functioning well without it.

However, Matt Fetsch — an assistant to the executive secretary at the North Dakota High School Activities Association and the NDHSAA’s boys basketball liaison — said he doesn’t anticipate North Dakota dropping the shot clock. The shot clock has been used for several years in Class A, and became a part of Class B basketball this past winter.

The national federation’s decision “will have zero impact on our game,” Fetsch said. “I can’t see it changing anything. The comments I heard about the shot clock were overwhelmingly positive.

“I think if you ask schools, particularly those in Class A where they’ve used it longer, that they’d never want to back to not having the shot clock. What I hear is that the clock has made the sport a more exciting game. I think there was some uncertainty in Class B going into the season. But once they started using it, it was mostly positive feedback. I think the shot clock changed the pace of the games, moved them along more quickly.”

The shot clock doesn’t allow stalling in games. Fetsch pointed out a girls state championship game in Oregon this winter. The state has no shot clock — the final score in the title game was 16-7. The game didn’t have the faster pace that Fetsch sees as a benefit with a shot clock.

The one penalty the NDHSAA has for deviating from a national rule is that it is ineligible to have a position on the national 11-person basketball rules committee. But Fetsch doesn’t see that as a large price to pay. “If it’s good for our state, then it just is what it is,” Fetsch said.

DeVillers is a sports writer at the Grand Forks Herald

Tags: high school, sports, basketball