The game of high school basketball has reached a crossroads. The sport is seeing way too many games that feature teams who hold the ball for a long period of time and make the game become slow and boring. The time has come for high school basketball to adopt a shot clock. The shot clock can be anywhere between 30 and 45 seconds but something has to done to speed the game up. There are fans everywhere that want to see action and not see someone hold the ball for 40 or 45 seconds. If a shot clock was adopted into the game, scoring would definitely go up and the level of excitement in the game will definitely go up.
Chicago high school basketball fans have seen many great teams come and go over the years. While some of those teams were good enough to never see a shot clock, the opponents they played would hold on to the ball just to avoid seeing a blowout happen. It is not an acceptable way to play when one team holds the ball for over a minute or even two minutes just trying to kill the clock. Those games end up being around 38-28. That is not enjoyable at all to watch or have to cover.
There will be a time where a shot clock shows up in high school basketball. It may not be this year or next year or it will happen in the future. When that day comes, everyone will be much happier for what the product becomes. It won't be an easy transition for sure but it is one that has to happen. The sport is failing right now with crowds not being nearly as high as they were just a decade ago. The time is now, let's see it happen.
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