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Girls basketball coaches react to addition of shot clock

06/23/2017, 9:15am CDT
By Norbert Durst

Here are some reactions from high school basketball coaches across the state to the vote Thursday by the WIAA Board of Control to add a 35-second shot clock to varsity games for the 2019-20 season.

Tim Chase, Beaver Dam

"I think the shot clock overall is a good thing for high school basketball. A little surprised that they would not start with 45 seconds first."   

"There have been too many games over the years where a team will hold the ball for two minutes or more. I have been to games where a team will win the opening tip and the other team would not touch the ball for a long time. People want to see action and this will promote this. For the fans definitely better."

"With the change to 18 minute halves not sure if it was needed as much because there was more time, but still a good change."  

"For a lot of teams they adopt things they have seen at a college level clinic. Many college coaches develop their strategies based on the shot clock.  For that reason I think it will help some teams. I do feel some teams will panic and start to throw up bad shots which could make some games quite ugly. Teams that rely on zones or a  good pack-line man to man will have an advantage now. The reason is now they know how long they have to play defense for. They can shade more to stop the other teams top players which means other kids will have to take shots. It will be interesting to see if scoring goes up or down. People will say up but I am not positive in all cases."  

"This rule is most excitable for the fans first. Second for the players because more kids are going to get a chance to take that shot at the end of the 35 seconds. More possessions more opportunities. Coaches will have to adjust accordingly. The great thing about it is they can learn so much watching the college game on how they can adjust to this rule change."  

"Great to see Wisconsin being progressive."   

Todd Hansen, Pewaukee 

"I don't think we have many possessions throughout the course of the game where we don't shoot within 35 seconds, so I don't think it's too big of a deal. Obviously, we will have to teach the girls what we want to do when the shot clock gets down to 5 seconds but overall I'm fine with it. I think it helps teams that are good defensively as they will force teams into many bad shots. I'm not a huge fan of it but not against it either. Hopefully overall it will be a success." 

Marques Flowers, Madison Memorial 

"Love it, worried about the money, overall believe it will raise level of play for our kids. Decision making has to improve. Basketball is about making decisions, and quickly, it's the 'jazz' of the game. Slow pace stunts ability to do that." 

Jeff Charney, Pulaski

"Don't like it! Going to have to spend too much practice time on sets in order to get a decent shot when it is running down. Need that practice time for fundamentals and other things. We very rarely run 35 seconds of offense though anyways, so maybe no impact." 

Gary Kuehl, North Fond du Lac 

"I coached in all star games that used it and I don't remember more than one or two times when it went off. Not a good investment. Games as going to be a lot longer in length and that is going to be the next complaint." 

Michael Goodman, Brookfield East 

"Love it. In today's game, will not make a difference in 8 percent of game with quicker tempos. Impacts teams that hold the ball with three minutes to play." 

Eric Spielman, Sheboygan North 

"I expect the use of ball screens to increase dramatically as teams look to create scoring opportunities late in the shot clock."

Tom McCarty, Mosinee 

"Love it, will take adjustment but long term will improve game.  I feel Good defense will rewarded with shot clock and game will have more flow." 

Nathan Russell, Shullsburg 

"Love it. Going to put premium on shot making. Everyone will zone press initially however." 

Mike Froehlke, Wrightstown 

"I think this will be good for the high school girls game. It will create different opportunities to change the pace of the game. Overall, it may make it tougher for teams with less talent to compete. Under normal circumstances, a shot clock won't matter, however it would limit stalling or running clock in the fourth quarter." 

Matt Stuve, Germantown 

"Love it, but wish it would've been 30 seconds." 

Patrick Boughton, Regis

"I think it was inevitable, I did think we would have seen it at the D1 level first for a few years, but I think it was coming eventually. We will see larger scoring margins." 

"As the head coach of Regis, I think it fits our style of play. People will have to adjust and put air back into the ball." 

Sara Rohde, Notre Dame

"It's great. I think the shot clock will keep the tempo of games steady and more engaging for everyone in general. It will force kids to be more skilled and it will reward good defensive teams." 

Mark Busalacchi, Waukesha West 

"I think it will be great especially for the end of games. The first 95 percent of the game I don't really think it is an issue, but in the last three minutes depending on how much you are up or down, forces you do just one thing and that is foul, if you are down, or stall if you are up. If you are up 5 with 2 minutes left or less you automatically stall and wait to get fouled and hope to make throws. If you are down 5 or less with 2 or less left you have one option, foul, and hope the other team misses."  

"With the shot clock, it adds so many variables to the end of games. With the shot clock if you are up a possession or two late in games, you still have to execute for a shot, adding so many coaching options, like what sets you can run late in games, or actions for certain players late to close the game. If you are down, you can play to get a stop or two to win a game, or foul, allowing for a much easier way to come back in the last 2 minutes than before. Close games will have to be earned much more often now and I think we will see more exciting finishes rather than just fouls and free throws late in games." 

Gordon Nikolic, Wauwatosa West 

"Increases flow. Games will decided by aggressive play. Enjoyable for all participants. About time. See ya boring basketball." 

Michelle Peplinski, Eau Claire North

"Shot clock can promote efficiency for scoring on offense and reward teams that work hard to use defense to increase their number of offensive possessions."

If you're a high school girls coach and would like to share your opinion on the shot clock, email Norbert Durst

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