Speed of the game

[FireballPhil]

As other have stated, I got bored watching a very hard to watch game, so at about 13 minutes left in the second half I decided to get on my treadmill and exercise. In an effort to lose weight and try and stay somewhat healthy, I try to jog a couple of miles every day. Now keep in mind I am almost 49 years old and not the speedster I once was, but the Marine in me always makes me push myself to better every day. That being said, I watched the rest of the half while on the treadmill, but guess what? The game wasn't over when I got done with my warm up, my couple miles, and my cool down periods! So why is the game taking so long? At first I thought maybe it was the 30 second clock, but it was this slow at 35 seconds. Maybe the 5 seconds didn't make any discernible difference? I suspect it really didn't. After all you have 10 seconds to take the ball past half court, then they dribble around for the next 10 seconds, then try to get a shot. And it's just not us, it is most teams. Is there ever a chance to get a 24 second clock?

Also the 3 pt shot is to easy for most players today. It also puts our kids at a disadvantage during international play, because that line is back farther. Why don't we get the line pushed back? The disadvantage to this is zone teams are seriously going to be overextended and be even worse on D. This is kind of what we are seeing this year already with our team's D...it is easier to pack in a zone because you cover less space, but good shooters simply shoot over it, and that is happening with regularity.

So in absence of shorting the shot clock, what else can be done to speed up the game?

 

[Col. Bleep]

As other have stated, I got bored watching a very hard to watch game, so at about 13 minutes left in the second half I decided to get on my treadmill and exercise. In an effort to lose weight and try and stay somewhat healthy, I try to jog a couple of miles every day. Now keep in mind I am almost 49 years old and not the speedster I once was, but the Marine in me always makes me push myself to better every day. That being said, I watched the rest of the half while on the treadmill, but guess what? The game wasn't over when I got done with my warm up, my couple miles, and my cool down periods! So why is the game taking so long? At first I thought maybe it was the 30 second clock, but it was this slow at 35 seconds. Maybe the 5 seconds didn't make any discernible difference? I suspect it really didn't. After all you have 10 seconds to take the ball past half court, then they dribble around for the next 10 seconds, then try to get a shot. And it's just not us, it is most teams. Is there ever a chance to get a 24 second clock?

Also the 3 pt shot is to easy for most players today. It also puts our kids at a disadvantage during international play, because that line is back farther. Why don't we get the line pushed back? The disadvantage to this is zone teams are seriously going to be overextended and be even worse on D. This is kind of what we are seeing this year already with our team's D...it is easier to pack in a zone because you cover less space, but good shooters simply shoot over it, and that is happening with regularity.

So in absence of shorting the shot clock, what else can be done to speed up the game?

DVR the game and then watch in fast forward.
There's nothing much to miss.

Even better...extend the workout to go until the final buzzer.
You'll have a great workout...the most strain by far will be on your eyes trying to watch these atrocities.

Seriously...I'm not sure the shot clock matters.
It's all about TV timeouts and play reviews, etc.
Games are meant to run for 2 hours for TV.

And the clock seems to have had a negative impact on scoring.
In Boeheim's first season, without a shot clock, the Orange averaged almost 87 points a game.
Today...that's about two games worth of points.

1976-77 Syracuse Orange Roster and Stats | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com

 

[SWC75]

Just some background numbers:

You can estimate possessions per game pretty accurately with this formula: Filed Goals attempted - Offensive Rebounds + Turnovers plus 47.5% of the free throws attempted. The SU athletics website has those numbers for every season from 1982-83 onward. This site has numbers for years before that: Syracuse Orange Basketball Season Records but offensive rebounds and turnovers were not recorded. The good thing about that is that those two stats tended to be about equal. So you can shorten the formula to FGA + 47.5% of FTA and get what is still a pretty good idea of the possessions per game. Using those numbers, I came up with this list of the average total possessions, (and thus the pace of the game) for each season since our legendary 1965-66 season, when we set a national record, (since broken) of 99.0 points per game:

1965-66 186
1966-67 169
1967-68 165
1968-69 164
1969-70 171
1970-71 157
1971-72 168
1972-73 157
1973-74 156
1974-75 157
1975-76 156
1976-77 169
1977-78 166
1978-79 156
1979-80 150
1980-81 134
1981-82 141
1982-83 163
1983-84 154
1984-85 145
1985-86 149
1986-87 145
1987-88 147
1988-89 153
1989-90 145
1990-91 152
1991-92 140
1992-93 150
1993-94 153
1994-95 153
1995-96 144
1996-97 146
1997-98 141
1998-99 142
1999-00 137
2000-01 140
2001-02 142
2002-03 145
2003-04 139
2004-05 135
2005-06 142
2006-07 144
2007-08 146
2008-09 147
2009-10 142
2010-11 133
2011-12 130
2012-13 132
2013-14 122
2014-15 133
2015-16 130
2016-17 139 (through 14 games)

So the pace has not been the problem so far this eyar. It's actually returned to historical norms, (but may decline as we go through the conference season).

 

[bevosu]

I remember reading a theory on the forum that a shortened shot clock was going to make our zone even tougher to score on.

The theory went...with our stifling zone the opposition would be hard pressed to get a decent shot...and desperation shots would be on the rise.

Guess not.

 

[FireballPhil]

I remember reading a theory on the forum that a shortened shot clock was going to make our zone even tougher to score on.

The theory went...with our stifling zone the opposition would be hard pressed to get a decent shot...and desperation shots would be on the rise.

Guess not.

I still think that is due to the fact that teams still don't get in a hurry. 30 seconds is to long. The shorter shot clock may improve scoring for some teams as they are just going to run the floor, but slow down others as they don't have the time to set up like they used to. That being said, everyone adjusts to the game, and in a season or two the flow returns to normal. I do believe as stated above that advertising ruins the game and stretches it out but without it the schools don't get lucrative tv contracts.

 

[Cowtown]

I think that's an easy one. Players with good offensive skills don't stick around for more than one season anymore. It's a problem across the entire college basketball map.