Goodbye one-and-ones: Prep basketball times are changing
New rules have changed the landscape for high schools
High school basketball nights are looking different.
A team looking to protect a narrow lead or run the clock used to go to a four-corners offense. And half the gym crowd might start chanting, “Boring!”
Meanwhile, a trailing team desperately trying to rally in the final seconds could foul a foe and put shooters on the free-throw line for a one-and-one shot.
That’s changing. A 35-second clock made its debut last season, as Iowa became one of 17 states to make the adaptation. This year, it’s a switch to two free throws, rather than one-and-one, after five fouls are committed in a quarter. The moves are in effect for both boys and girls.
Image courtesy Vecteezy.com. Used by permission.
Like many high school rule changes, the shot clock and free throw adaptations trickled down from the professional and college basketball games.
Officials prepared for the changes with in-person and online clinics, according to Gary Ross, the basketball administrator for the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union.
Coaches have altered their styles and strategies, too. And some of them, skeptical at first, have become believers in the changes, Ross told me.
Players have run through practices that have been designed to utilize the rules.
Fans, on the other hand, accustomed to years of the old rules, are the last to know. If you take a seat in the bleachers after not having attended an Iowa high school game for a few years, you’ll notice the changes.
“The biggest one, I think, is people will recognize the change in the free throws,” Ross said.
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