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Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Basketball: state high school tournament

The state high school boys basketball tournament gets underway today. Even with four classes going at it, this is the premier event of the tournament season.

Basketball is a sport in which the casual fan can follow the game easily – unlike football which often is a jumble of players too far away to see what’s really happening. Basketball has enough scoring to keep it interesting, unlike hockey. And despite how good girls are these days, boys games are still faster and usually more entertaining.

High school basketball has one other key ingredient – actually one element that isn’t part of it: the shot clock.

It takes a lot more skill to work the ball around for a couple minutes and finally break loose for an open lay-up when the defense falters, than it does to get off a shot within a prescribed amount of time. It often ends up being a lousy shot, and means that the defense only had to play defense for a relatively short amount of time.

You would think it’s better for young athletes to learn to play defense for extended stretches so they have better skills and are well-prepared to go on to a higher level of competition.

Unfortunately, the higher level has a shot clock, so you don’t have to play defense very long there.

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