GREEN BAY — In a 6-4 vote last week, the WIAA Board of Control rejected the possibility of shot counting during high school boys and girls basketball games.
NBC 26 spoke with the board chairman to find out why he voted the way he did, and also spoke with several Fox Valley coaches to get their thoughts.
Most coaches in Wisconsin are in favor of having such a coach.
JOHN MILLER / NBC 26
“They’ve been doing it internationally for years, so I think they’ve proven to the world that this is how basketball is played,” UW Oshkosh women’s basketball coach Brad Fischer said.
The word that came to mind when I spoke with coaches about the WIAA board vote last week was disappointment.
“I wasn’t shocked by what happened, but I’m disappointed because I think the shot clock will ultimately have a positive impact on our game,” said Chris Abaray, head coach of the West De Pere High School girls basketball team.
JOHN MILLER /NBC 26
“I’m disappointed it didn’t happen, but you know, I think we’ll still come back for it,” Neenah boys basketball coach Lee Rabas said.
I wanted to know why. What are the benefits of having a shot clock? Coaches claim that it makes them and their players better.
“35 seconds with a shot clock is different than having a random 35 seconds of possession because you have that time constraint, and it teaches kids how to play better situational basketball,” Abaray said. “It also teaches coaches to be a little more strategic about each of these items during game moments.”
For UW Oshkosh women’s basketball head coach Brad Fischer, who watches a lot of high school games outside of the recruiting trail, he and other coaches say the game is simply more enjoyable when there’s shot clock.
“I just think it makes it more fun for players,” Fischer said. “I think more players will have to take shots, shots that you may not have taken that are good because you had time to wait for great shots – now you may have to take them and I think it takes more people and thanks this will make the coaches better and force people to raise their level.”
JOHN MILLER / NBC 26
Currently, when there is no clock, when a team has a significant lead, they can simply wait out the rest of the game and stall.
“I think the state tournament has a lot of examples,” Fischer said. “(The Neenah Rockets Division 1 semifinal game) was great for the boys, but the amount of shots that went into the four overtimes and both guys playing the way they should, within the rules, I think with two good teams like this, you’d like to see a little more urgency.”
Rabas is behind the shot clock, but has lost before when an opponent has run out the clock. He vowed to never let that happen again until the shot clock is implemented.
“It’s just reality,” he said. “You know, the shot clock forces you to make plays in those situations, and I would love for the shot clock to be able to play in the game.”
JOHN MILLER / NBC 26
So why did the WIAA Board of Control reject this decision? Well, mainly because of money.
“If you’re a smaller, outlying school district looking at staff reductions, it’s hard to argue how you justify spending money on sports when you’re really just trying to save money on teachers or looking at operating budgets,” said WIAA board chairman Paul Pedersen.
Pedersen wouldn’t say how he voted, but he says having a shot clock is also about more than a one-time expense that you have to pay someone to run it.
“It’s like paying a scoreboard operator or an accountant,” Pedersen said. “This will be another paid person for every competition, whether it’s at the C-team level, the JV level or the varsity level.”
Trainers say they’re not buying the money, which should be a problem.
“I look at other sports where there are twice as many referees and table staff as basketball and there are no complaints about that, so I don’t understand why costs are being raised for this particular thing,” Abaray said.
Rabas was a coach at UW-Fox Valley and said that when he was there, they would train students on how to do the clock action and there was almost never a problem.
“There will come a point in the next four or five years where this will be possible in every state. I would rather we not be the last state to have it,” Rabas said.
