If viewership continues to decline rapidly across all televised sports, as some analysts strongly believe, I don't believe any viewer-focused proposal will be a non-starter.
- Chillin
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What's more, the buzzer beater would be a thing of the past. Tyler Thornton's half-court heave to destroy Va Tech; Austin River's dagger in Zeller's face; Chris Duhon racing the length of the floor weaving his way through 13 Carolina defenders; Jeff Capel sending an epic game to overtime, and so on and so on...
Oh, and Grant Hill to Christian Laettner.
Yeah, I'll take timed games until the end of time.
I dig the concept. Responding to misc objections:
* You'd still have plenty of buzzer-beating finales, thanks to the shot clock.
* Stats measured on a possession basis (the most valuable ones, IMO) would remain valid.
* I don't see why underdogs would be any less likely to pull off an upset. It may require a different kind of underdog, however: more emphasis on turnovers (causing them when behind, preventing them when ahead), less emphasis on heroic shots and FTs.
Ah, young grasshopper, you know nothing about this STALLBALL of which you speak. Once upon a time, there was no such thing as a shot clock. One coach, perhaps too clever for his own good, even tried to play an entire HALF just holding the ball. No, I am not making this up, it's even on youtube, so it MUST be true: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRVmc6dO0g8
You'll have to find the cuddliest Crusty in your neighborhood, bring him a six, no, make that twelve pack of fine craft beer, crawl up onto his lap, and let him tell you how EXCITING that game was, as well as other stories and legends not found on youtube. (Alas, I'm not Crusty enough - I wasn't there either).
Now, as to this "proposal", I have never heard of anything more stupid in all my born days. This "foul fest" is not an "epidemic" any more. We fixed this "problem" with the shot clock and automatic 2 shots on the 10th foul and beyond.
Only two simple steps are needed to prevent a so-called "foul fest":
1. Make your free throws.
2. Get out of my yard.
All I know is this "Elam Ending" "idea" might be the single dumbest idea ever come up with. Talk about ruining the game. It is an off the charts "junk up, ruin the game" idea. For one, the situation is not as bad as it's being portrayed. It only gets bad when a team is too far behind to realistically catch up, and they keep fouling anyway. That is on the coaches. Coaches should call off the fouling when it gets like that.
I personally find it exciting when a team chokes on their FT's and the other team comes from behind to win. I think they experimented with a new rule in the NIT this year where the fouls reset at the 10 minute mark of each half. So in both halves of the half, you don't shoot until the 5th foul and it is 2 shots, not 1 and 1 thereafter. Not sure if they are planning to go to that rule or not.
There are many different ways to address this without a complete junk up of the game via the suggested manner imo.
Duke beat Maryland in the gone in 60 second game because Drew Nicholas could not hit his free throws. I am sure that game creeped into Maryland's minds when they were up against us in the Final Four and let it slip away. What a game. I saw that game live at Cole Field House.
Sean Dockery vs vt
How about this...? A judgement call on the part of the ref, of course. When the ref (and everyone in the stadium) knows the fouls are intentional, then either the foul count as two fouls (thus expediting the exit of a player from the game), and/or the player shooting the free throws gets three charity shots if fouled outside the three-point line.
You could make it three free throws no matter where the foul occurs. That would be much better than two shots and the ball, which had been suggested multiple times in this thread.
I think the Elam suggestion is pretty stupid, but if I were to go with it, I, too, would do it for the entire game, not just the end. The number 7 is completely made up, anyway, right? I mean, why not eight, or six, or nine?
To do it for the entire game, I'd make another change. I'd get rid of the shot clock entirely. Get rid of the game clock, too. Get rid of the ten-second halfcourt clock, as well. Play to sixty. Halftime when one team reaches thirty.
The only thing timed would be the time-outs. If you're going to entirely change the game, go ahead and entirely change the game.
I didn't do the math, but isn't half of a half remarkably similar to a quarter?
Let's break the game down into eighths. 5 minutes each. 8 fouls per eighth puts a team in quadruple bonus. Four free throws per foul. Reset the team foul counter at the end of each eighth. Give each player 8 fouls. Don't call it basketball. Call it crazy eight balls.