ROCHESTER -- Pete Hinrichs had never before been in charge of setting and resetting basketball shot clocks, but he was ready to go Saturday at Mayo Civic Center.
The rest of
the Minnesota high school basketball world will be ready to go next season,
when 35-second shot clocks become mandatory for all girls and boys varsity
games. This season, many teams are playing with shot clocks when they have the
opportunity.
Hinrichs was
sitting at the scorer’s table at Mayo Civic Center Arena. He had been assigned
to operate the shot clocks for four games during the Hiawatha Valley League/Three
Rivers Conference Showdown, which matches girls and boys teams from one conference
against an opponent from the other.
“I’ve never
done this before,” said Pete, who lives in Zumbrota. He then referred to a
video on the MSHSL website that offers guidance on operating shot clocks. “I’ve
probably watched that video 10 times.”
Pete did a
great job. There were two shot clock violations in the four games he worked, and
once the officials stopped play to make sure the shot clocks had been reset
properly. Other than those types of very minor issues, this season’s shot clock
experience appears to be smooth.
When the
girls team from Lake City met Plainview-Elgin-Millville in the HVL/TRC
Showdown, it was the first shot clock game for Lake City.
“Today was our first day and we
haven't even practiced with it. So we just thought, ‘Hey, let's give it a ride,’
” said Tigers coach Drew Olinger.
“I've looked into it with our team
and we don't have any possessions that go for 35 seconds in reality, unless
it's at the end of the game and we're trying to stall or we're trying to take a
lot of time off the clock, so I wasn't going to bring it up. That was kind of
my philosophy, to let the game happen and I was going to tell them, ‘If the
horn goes off you’ve got to keep playing (until the whistle).’ Those are things
we’ve got to learn for next year, obviously. I think it'll change some types of
styles for some types of teams, but the big impact is going to be in end-of-game
situations.”
Indeed, the very rare instances of
teams holding the ball for minutes at a time will be in the past next season,
and shot clocks are most likely to come into play at the end of the half and
end of the game. It’s just the latest change to a game that has been evolving
for a long time.
Minnesota
high school basketball has used the three-point line since 1986-87; the game
went to two 18-minute halves rather than four eight-minute periods in the
2005-06 season; and four-foot
restricted arcs were placed under each basket, to help clarify block/charge
calls, in the 2018-19 season.
Shot clocks
don’t just impact teams, of course, because officials also will make the
adjustment.
Erik Okstad,
an official from Pine Island, also officiates women’s college basketball so he
has experience with shot clocks.
“I’ve had a handful of high school
games (with shot clocks) so far this year and it works out very well, in my
opinion,” he said. “It doesn't come into play very much but it comes into play
in the last few minutes of the game. When a team wants to stall, they’ve got to
make a decision and go to the hoop.”
On several occasions at the HVL/TRC
Showdown, coaches counted down the final few seconds on the shot clock to make
sure their players were aware. At the scorer’s table, a beep was heard every time
a shot touched the rim and the shot clocks were reset on a hand-held device.
Ryan Keller, an official from Rochester
who has worked basketball games for 20 years, has shot-clock experience from
doing junior college games.
“It seems like teams just run their
offense and they get used to it after a while, so I don't think it'll have too
much of an effect on us as referees,” he said. “It seems like the coaches are
trying to get their players to move the ball more, and their offense is going
to have to dictate how the game goes flows.”
Goodhue boys basketball coach Matt Halverson, whose team has played several
games with shot clocks this season, was the shot clock operator for one game at
the HVL/TRC Showdown.
“It took a little
bit of learning but I don’t think it will be a huge learning curve,” he said.
“We’re not
going into it blind next year. Every situation I’ve seen with it has been
positive. Just like the charge circle and 18-minute halves, you get used to it.”
--To see the
shot clock video, click here: https://nfhslearn.com/library/videos/basketball-rules-the-35-second-shot-clock
--MSHSL media specialist John Millea has been the leading voice of
Minnesota high school activities for decades. Follow him on Twitter @MSHSLjohn
and listen to "Preps Today with John Millea” wherever you get podcasts.
Contact John at jmillea@mshsl.org
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