High school basketball in this state will never look the same. On June 22, the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association’s Board of Control agreed to implement a 35-second shot clock for all varsity boys’ and girls’ games, beginning with the 2019-20 season. The narrow 6-4 vote makes Wisconsin only the ninth state — and the first in the upper Midwest — to allow a shot clock.
A desire to improve game flow and eliminate opportunities for teams to hold the ball (sometimes for several minutes) as time winds down were cited as key factors in the decision.
Regular readers of this column might recall that I advocated for a shot clock at the high school level a couple years ago, and my position has not changed. At a WIAA Division 2 regional semifinals playoff game in 2016, Antigo upset Rhinelander, 14-11, thanks to holding onto the ball for more than seven consecutive minutes. How is that fair to players, fans and even the coach who opted for the cheap win?
Stall tactics are nothing new in high school hoops, but shot clock opponents worry timed possessions will highlight the disparity between good teams and bad teams, as well as erode basketball fundamentals. You mean like dribbling and passing?
WIAA associate director Deb Hauser told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that 81 percent of respondents to a Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association survey were in favor of a shot clock. Delaying implementation until 2019 gives schools more time to update scoreboards or add stand-alone shot clocks, as well as find people to operate them.
According to the Journal Sentinel,
Hauser told board members that shot clocks typically cost between $2,000 and $2,400 — schools likely would need at least two, one for each end of the court — adding that the WBCA is trying “to find a corporate sponsor or a company that may give schools a deal statewide.”
Madison Memorial athletic director Jeremy Schlitz estimates that shot-clock operators will need to be paid $25 per game, according to the Wisconsin State Journal. That adds up quickly, with nearly two dozen boys’ and girls’ home games every season in the Big Eight Conference.
Also worth noting: By adding the shot clock, the WIAA is breaking rank with the National Federation of State High School Associations, which prohibits a shot clock. As a result, the WIAA is denied a say in future potential basketball rule changes at the national level. I think that’s a decent tradeoff.
