At every level of college basketball governed by the NCAA, the men’s college basketball shot clock will be reduced from 35 seconds to 30. That’s a start, but it’s not enough to fix a flawed game.
For years, the NCAA men’s college basketball game has been in a state of peril. There are many reasons for this, including the one and done rule, and coaches over coaching, but the biggest reason is a combination of the shot clock being too long and over coaching.
The biggest gain that the NCAA has by choosing to reduce the shot clock is the increase in possessions. Theoretically, an increase in the amount of possessions per game will increase scoring, which is the primary complaint among college basketball. Even powerhouse programs are only scoring in the 60s.
It will also increase urgency during possessions. With a 35 second clock teams will have a minimum of 25 seconds to run a set in their half-court offense. Teams typically run a set, and the team will spend 10 seconds trying to run it correctly. If the first set does not work, they will look over to the coach who will call another set. By the time they get into the next set, there is only about five seconds left on the shot clock forcing a turnover or a bad shot. By reducing it to 30, teams won’t have as long forcing them to be more efficient on offense.
Going to 30 is a start but it needs to go down to 24, just like the NBA. By reducing it to 24, teams will have less than 20 seconds to score in the half court. In this up-tempo style of ball, coaches have to trust their players. If you watch an NBA game, the half court offenses are more free for movement. It’s not as much of a step by step play that’s been called. There is a lot of high ball screen, pick and roll offense. A big man will come up and set a ball screen at the top of the key and the point guard then makes a decision to take a shot or pass to an open shooter.
Very simply, coaches would not have time to call more than one play in a possession, and if the play wouldn’t work, the coaches would have no choice but to trust their players to make a play.
College basketball is on a downward trend and a change has to be made to make it more watchable. By coaches’ own admissions the game was getting worse. This isn’t the only change needed and it’s not enough of a change. Like I said, at least it’s a start.