Change the Rules

Suggested High School Basketball Rule Changes

By Travis Bitar

In today's world, high school sports have become a huge deal and define schools' reputations all around the world. For students, being involved in a sport allows them to interact with new people and make new friends, along with teaching them lessons that will better them in life situations. Basketball is arguably the most popular winter sport, and there are debatable rules that need to be changed for the better. It's only right that the rules of basketball are fair to every team. To start, qualifying for states involves the new “Follow the Leader” rule. This means a team could be eliminated in the 2nd round of the district playoffs, yet still make the state playoffs. This rule puts 2nd round eliminated teams ahead of other teams that had a more successful season, leaving students' and towns' hearts broken. This is simply unfair and many teams haven’t had the opportunity to make a name for their school. Along with that, high school basketball in Pennsylvania needs to have a shot clock! Not having a shot clock allows teams to hold onto the ball for long periods of time. This slows the tempo of the game down and some say it even takes out the fun of the game. Holding on to the ball for too long can make games less exciting and decrease the amount of fans in attendance. In the NBA the shot clock is 24 seconds; in college basketball the shot clock is 30 seconds; therefore in high school they should have a 36 second shot clock. High School sports are a huge part of society and unfair rules can be detrimental to the towns that put so much pride into their hometown teams. When winter time comes people of all different ages and ethnicities love to gather around and watch their sports team play. Let's keep high school basketball exciting and fair for everyone!