UIL to consider adding shot clock to basketball

NACOGDOCHES, Texas (KTRE) - The UIL standing committee on athletics is set to hear several proposals on Tuesday with the most likely one to pass being a shot clock added to high school basketball games.

Other proposals on the public agenda are a proposal to prohibit freshmen athletes from participating in varsity competitions, a proposal to change soccer from a spring sport to a fall sport and a proposal to limit or eliminate scratching of officials by coaches.

If a proposal is passed then it will go to the Legislative Council for consideration. A shot clock has been proposed twice and no action taken. With more states adapting and adding a shot clock, Texas could be next.

SFA women’s basketball coach Mark Kellogg said that the shot clock will speed up games and from a recruiting stand point give coaches an idea of how a player would look in college.

“It doesn’t have to be a 30 second shot clock or 35 second clock,” Kellogg said. “It could be 45 seconds or a minute. We just need something that speeds the game up and helps us evaluate a kid. The transition from high school to college would be better.”

SFA men’s head coach Kyle Keller said the shot clock is not that big of an adjustment but is needed. He said the biggest adjustment is getting used to the college 3-point line. A shot clock added would just advance the high school game.

“You want to grow the game,” Keller said. “We went from a 45 second shot clock when I first started to 35 to 30 now with a 20 second reset on an offensive rebound. I thought that would be a kicker and you don’t think about it anymore. As great of coaches as we have in the state of Texas I don’t think it is going to affect them as much as you think.”

The full agenda can be seen here.