Indiana, where high school basketball is a tradition. The place where basketball is in the purest form, where it has a magical feeling in the air and it feels like how high school basketball should feel.

According to a 2018 Dallas Morning News article, eight states use a shot clock in high school basketball. There is no need for a shot clock in high school basketball. High school basketball without a shot clock is part of what makes it great, it allows for a nice tempo and flow to the game.

Basketball is fine without a shot clock, even if that means a team can have the ball for a little while. Pace of play is not an issue and does not need to be addressed in high school basketball. Who really cares if a team has possession for over a minute straight? If a shot clock were added to high school basketball, it would ruin the pureness and flow that the game has without being rushed to have to take a shot and keep taking shots with having a limited time to move the ball around.

Keeping the ball for long periods of time and moving it around is a strategy and an important part of the game for offenses. Offenses are designed around being able to have the ability to dominate in time of possession. With the way it is now, teams can get better shot attempts because they are not rushed. With a shot clock you would only have 35 or 40 seconds to take a shot, and this would affect the way offenses work. That results in higher risk shot attempts and would likely affect how many points teams score in a game, as well as the team’s shooting percentage.

Teams can take higher quality and more meaningful shots without a shot clock in high school basketball. In college basketball and in the NBA teams take lower quality shots due to time pressure. So, please IHSAA do not even consider adding a shot clock to high school basketball any time soon, it will ruin the game.