Countdown to Oregon’s high school shot clock
OSAA panel appears ready to ok the 35 second clock at all levels
In 1979, I watched one of the most tedious basketball games I have ever witnessed. It wasn’t because it was insignificant—this was an Oregon High School state championship game. It wasn’t because it was a blowout—the final margin was just two points. But that Double-A title game at Eugene’s McArthur Court between Marist of Eugene and Portland’s La Salle High School was marked by a stall-ball coaching approach that resulted in a titillating 23-21 OVERTIME (!) victory for the Marist Spartans. My cousin played for Marist that day. I don’t recall how many points he scored, but it wasn’t many when your own team didn’t record two dozen for the entire game. It was a real yawner.
A similar outcome much more recently—a 15 to 7 win for Springfield over Willamette in the 2012 Girls 5A title game—underscores part of the push towards a commonality among basketball games at all levels: the use of a shot clock to limit the time a team can hold onto the ball.
The Oregon School Activities Association’s Executive Board meets Sunday in Wilsonville, where members are expected to give their initial ok for schools to begin using 35 second shot clocks in games beginning with the 2023-24 season.
Kris Welch, Assistant Executive Director of Basketball for the OSAA says the enthusiasm for shot clocks has been high in Oregon, but the fervor increased after the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFSHS) voted last spring to no longer oppose state use of shot clocks. That means states which adopt the timers can still be part of national rules committees for their respective sports. Before that decision, only ten states—including California and Washington on the West Coast—had adopted shot clock rules. Another eight states—including Idaho, Utah and Montana—have approved use of the timers beginning in two years. Several other states, like Oregon, are pondering approval.
Rob Younger, who heads up the Oregon Athletic Coaches Association, says schools, coaches, and the OSAA have been working on the shot clock idea since 2017.
There are shot clock detractors, especially at smaller schools, where talent differentials make slowdown basketball a necessary tactic to stay in games, or at least reduce the margins of defeat. Critics also worry that the increased tempo will actually hurt player fundamentals, resulting in rushed shots and increased turnovers. But Derek Duman, President of the Oregon Basketball Coaches Association (and West Albany boys head coach) says the skills worry appears to be unfounded. “We tend to view European players as having better fundamentals than Americans,” he said. “And they already use shot clocks there.”
The criticism of shot clocks is drowned out by support from those who say it will add excitement to most contests, and prepare players for the challenges of the college game. Duman says the recent poll done by his Association at the end of this past season has as high an approval rating as Oregon has ever seen in the years the issue has been studied.
Former Basketball Coaches Association President Patrick Coons—the longtime coach at Beaverton’s Westview High School—says the OSBA was founded in 2015 to address this exact type of change.
“We wanted coaches to have a voice,” says the enthusiastic Coons. “The shot clock was our first issue and we wanted to know what the coaches thought.”
“This is one of the things we felt was needed to help bring the fun back for players and fans.”
Oregon high schools will still have to wrestle with all the details involved in bringing shot clocks to every gym in the state. It won’t be cheap.
Initial costs based on national reports are estimated at between $2000 AND $5000 minimum to mount a shot clock above the backboard or near the scoreboard—or as part of the main scoreboard itself. In addition, training and funding will be needed for an actual shot clock operator at each school. That staffing component may be the toughest to deal with, to minimize numerous clock resets that could ultimately slowdown the games.
Even with approval Sunday, there is a lot of work remaining to make shot clocks a part of Oregon prep hoops. But the change is coming.
If you are one of those fans who enjoy a good old-fashioned game of four corners offense as part of Dr. Naismith’s beloved game, be forewarned. Time is literally running out on that version of basketball in Oregon high schools.