Changes I’d like to see

The game of basketball is one of my favorites for a lot of different reasons. But like all good things there are a few things that bother me and I would like to see a change or two. Now, these are things that bother me and maybe most other people could care less one way or the other.

One thing that I don’t like is when a player shoots a free throw it seems like the shooter needs to come off the line and slap hands with their teammates. Why? Why can’t those teammates say a few encouraging words and clap their hands?

Some of you are saying, “What’s the problem old man?” Simply this, when players practice shooting free throws do they come off the line and practice slapping hands? Most coaches used to always tell the player to remain on the foul line after a make and reset after a miss. Now most players pop off the free throw line and walk halfway down the key to slap hands.

I reffed a couple of fifth and sixth grade games and these kids are doing the same thing. And I’m sure if they were asked they’d have no idea why they are doing that. I’d like to see a coach tell their kids to quit slapping hands and concentrate on the task at hand, free throw shooting.

The next thing I would like to see is a 30 second shot clock for men’s high school and college basketball games. It’s only five seconds difference from what it is now but the women’s game has had it for over 40 years and it works well for them. I think it’s time to make the change.

Along with the change in the shot clock eliminate the five-second count for close guarding because referees are inconsistent in making the count. By eliminating the five second count they can concentrate on looking for actual traveling, fouls and three second in the key violations, which are more important as far as I’m concerned.

There is a rule where the ball needs to be inbounded within five seconds. At one time the ball needed to be touched by a player within those five seconds. Not anymore. The ball is inbounded and may not be touched until the player is close to half court. This needs to be changed back to the way it once was so that way defenses can be rewarded for good pressure and teams won’t get bailed out on a last second inbounds pass that takes another two seconds to run down. Please change it back to a flat five seconds.

I’ve seen too many coaches standing on the court as the game is being played not out of bounds but in the playing area. GET OFF THE COURT! I actually saw a referee walked around a coach who was standing on the court. In football it is a sideline warning followed by a 15 yard penalty for the second time it happens. It should be one warning and a Technical foul for the second time. If the coach needs to come onto the court it should only be done during a dead ball situation.

Another thing I’d like to see is for more coaches to sit down during the game. It is very difficult for the people at the scorer’s table to see who made a shot or if the ball hit the rim to determine if there should be a shot clock reset. Those little things are important during games. John Wooden won 10 NCAA championships at UCLA and he was seated throughout each one of them.

The college game has too many timeouts as far as I and many others are concerned. I’ve seen a lot of games where a coach calls a timeout prior to the long media timeout (TO). I think it should be changed so that if the timeout is called within a half minute prior to the media timeout that becomes the media TO. Those media TOs become momentum killers. I know it’s all about the money with the advertising and all but I’ve seen so many of the same commercials during the NCAA tournament and I really doubt that I’ll be purchasing any of those products anytime soon. I’m kind of funny about things like that.

There are a lot of other things that bother me about sporting events and these are slight modifications that you will most likely never see changed. But at least I feel better telling you how I feel.