High school roundball will have a slightly different
look in 2023-24, but it won’t include a shot clock

While we may be several months away from the start of the 2023-24 high school basketball season, there was a lot of news regarding that sport coming out of the Kentucky High School Athletic Association recently.
The first is good news, in my opinion, especially for small high school programs that struggle every year with fundraising and budget balancing already.
Following a survey issued by the KHSAA, it was announced at its meeting last week that there would not be an implementation of a shot clock in high school basketball in Kentucky.
With some 75 percent of member schools responding to its survey, the KHSAA reported that the results were 115-97 against adding a shot clock for boys’ basketball, and 117-88 against for girls’ basketball.
Commissioner Tackett noted while reporting those survey results, that “Most coaches’ opinion of the shot clock at the high school level appears to vary on their team that year,” Tackett said. “With the right composition, they like it. With the wrong composition, they don’t. So it goes back and forth.”
Last year, the National Federation of State High School Association’s announced that it would allow individual states to decide if a 35 second shot clock would be added to the game.
Adding a shot clock to the game on the high school level would mean finding a place at the Official Table for another person to sit, as well as in many cases having to find the funds to pay that shot clock operator.
Currently the three officials at the Clinton County table, Official Timer, Official Scorer and Public Address Announcer (yours truly), are all there on a volunteer basis, but finding volunteers to dedicate their time is often a challenge here, and I’m sure at a host of other like-sized high schools.
It was estimated during the report that schools would face a $3,000-$4,000 cost if the shot clock rule were implemented in Kentucky, which would include the clock equipment itself, as well as paying someone to operate it.
Sure, when a player steps up to the collegiate level, he or she will be faced with having to learn to play against a shot-clock, but most high school players see their careers end at that level.  Making the adjustment to a shot clock for the small percentage that do make the college level is just a part of stepping up their game.
In other high school basketball news, the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) Basketball Rules Committee at its annual meeting April 24-26 in Indianapolis, approved a change in the rule for free throws when a team reaches the bonus.
Teams will shoot two free throws for common fouls when it reaches the bonus level, and additionally, teams will reach the bonus when their opponent commits five fouls in each quarter and team fouls will now reset at the end of each quarter.
The change followed a study that showed a higher injury rate on rebounding situations, with the change hopefully reducing those injuries that would take place in the “one and one” bonus free throw shooting scenarios.
That makes sense, and if it’s better for the players, then everyone should like it.