The shot clock is here: Oregon joins the prep changeover
Schools have installed or purchased the clocks; learning to use them
A couple of years after their neighbors adopted the shot clock for prep basketball, Oregon has added the 35-second countdown to their high school games this season.
The Oregon State Schools Activities Association adopted the shot clock last year for 2023-24 after the National board governing prep sports (NFHS) went from an outright ban of the clocks to allowing for use of the device for the high school game. Oregon joined a group of about ten high schools adding the clock to their games.
Most coaches in the Central Valley Conference are enthusiastic about limiting the length of team possessions to 35 seconds. At the boys level, most of those coaches believe the game is already fast enough to make the shot clock just a formality.
West Salem boys coach Travis Myers says his team’s attacking-style of play in typical situations means it shouldn’t be something they worry about. But if an opponent looks to slow the Titans down, that might involve coaching adjustments for the clock.
“We are very patient against zone defenses so that would be something we maybe scheme against.”
In fact, Myers’ expectations are that more teams will install zone defenses—or use schemes to “pack” defenses against teams that attack off the dribble. That might slow up a few teams dribbling out of the back court, but will be a “net-result” of zero in terms of overall game tempo.
Myers had said a year ago that he thought the shot clock would be good for high school basketball in the state of Oregon, and he stands by that. During summer league games from a few months ago, the coach says both teams were impacted by the shot clock perhaps a half dozen times total during the contests they played.
At the girls level, there is some concern about less-talented/skilled teams getting beaten by larger margins over the course of a season.
South Salem girls coach Adrian Lewis says teams still learning to play in some locations will have a tough time getting to run their actual offense, as opponents speed up the game by pressing or running a zone defense. And according to Lewis, that isn’t all.
“I also think this (the shot clock) will also create bigger gaps between the top, average and bad teams (because) teams can no longer stall on offense anymore to slow the other team down or to keep the game close.”
Both boys and girls team coaches agree that the end of games will look different because of the shot clock—combined with changes to team foul limits for bonus shooting of free throws.
The old fouling rules had players shooting one free throw plus a bonus after seven team fouls in a half, and then went to two free throws (double bonus) after ten team fouls in the half.
Under the new rules, bonus free throws are instituted every quarter, after five team fouls. At that point, players will shoot immediately two free throws. The “one and one” has been discarded. The whole bonus process resets after the quarter is over.
End of game situations will also look different, because teams cannot “let the air of the ball” with a stall covering one or more minutes of game time. The shot clock takes care of that.
Sprague boys coach Jordan Graneto sums up the changes nicely.
“With the adoption of a shot clock,” he says, “The end of the game can be more like the rest of the game.”
“You do not have to do something completely different in order to have a chance to win until the very end of the game.”
In a very cursory check on how the shot clock is working, there have been the expected problems of inadvertent resets of the shot clock, delays as operators look for the correct buttons to push, and other operator/hardware issues one might expect as the shot clock operators get the hang of the job.
Enjoy getting used to the shot clock as part of Oregon’s prep basketball scene. Depending on the school, you may not see it used at the sub-varsity level—yet. But know the game will be speeding up some, and so will the learning curve for young players of the game.
GILMAN ON SPORTS NOTE: The writer/editor/publisher has been doing mostly research and development work for the website and stories while taking a small break. Look for boys and girls basketball previews of the Central Valley Conference in coming days, along with some other stories that have been in the mix for a while. -Mark
OSAA added this rule is 40 years too late. Washington schools have had a 40 and later 35 second clock since the early-80s. It works at all levels. No more slow down, 4 corner, boring games.