High school basketball season is right around the corner, and for the first time ever, all Georgia High School Association games will be played with a 35-second shot clock. The 2022-23 season is technically the final year of a three-year implementation cycle for the shot clock in GHSA varsity games.

During the 2020-21 season, the shot clock was optional for tournament and special showcase games and last year, it was optional for non-region contests. This season, the shot clock is mandatory for all.

Georgia is the ninth state to implement a shot clock, joining California, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota and Washington. Several others are considering a shot clock and states like Texas and Connecticut have already begun the process of phasing it in.

The first day of practices for GHSA teams was on Monday, October 24. When the first games tip off on November 11, it will officially mark the beginning of a new era for high school hoops in this state. What that new era will look like is anyone’s guess. What it will mean and who will benefit the most from it is yet to be seen, but the impact of a 35-second shot clock cannot be overstated.

Gone are the days of “slowing the pace.” That is no longer an option, and that means lesser-talented teams will be at an even bigger disadvantage when playing favored teams moving forward. Savannah High’s longtime head coach Tim Jordan has been known for using the “four-corners” offense in late game situations in the past. He isn’t the only one.

For a long time now, high school basketball teams have been able to keep possession for as long as they wished, and that (theoretically) has allowed them to stay in games versus better competition. When a game has fewer possessions, the scoring gap is usually narrower. Increasing the number of possessions by forcing a shot nearly twice a minute will radically alter that.

I don’t know if this is a good thing or not. While I do think that a shot clock has its advantages at the high school level, I don’t think it will be an immediate fix-all solution. The most common argument for the shot clock is that it helps prep players for the next level, for college basketball. Makes sense, but what many coaches and players and trainers miss is that most high school hoopers will never play college basketball.

The purpose of high school sports is not to prepare athletes for the next level. For many student athletes, the high school level of competition is their pinnacle. It is the climax, not the build up. Valuing college preparedness over the high school product is not, in my opinion, a worthwhile venture. Yet that seems to be the primary goal of the shot clock.

“We’re trying to prepare kids for college, and they use the shot clock in college,” said Bibb County Director of Athletics Kevin Grooms in a June interview with Macon’s WMAZ TV.

“The kids that are moving on to play at the next level, they’ll already have experience with playing under it,” said Southwest head coach Monquencio Hardnett.

Miss me with that. If it’s about the kids, then make it about all of the kids, not just the select elite. If the shot clock will improve the game, then I’m all for it. But if its sole purpose is to “prepare” kids for the “next level,” then it is severely misguided. And yet, misguided decisions can still sometimes lead to positive outcomes.

I think the positives will outweigh the negatives in the long run, but the early days may come with some struggles, logistically or otherwise. One way or another, we’ll find out how the shot clock impacts the prep hoops in this state soon enough.

SPORTS NOTES

The Savannah Ghost Pirates began their inaugural hockey season in the ECHL over the weekend. Savannah played in South Carolina versus the Greenville Swamp Rabbits on Saturday night, winning in overtime to earn the franchise’s first victory. They won again Sunday afternoon. The team starts its 72-game regular season schedule with five consecutive road games before the first ever home game (also against Greenville) on Saturday, November 5. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. at a sold-out Enmarket Arena.

It’s Georgia/Florida week in the college football world. UGA and UF will renew their annual rivalry in Jacksonville this Saturday (3:30 p.m. on CBS) at a “neutral site.” Of course, anyone with basic geographic knowledge knows that a game in the state of Florida can’t possibly be considered “neutral” when one of the participating teams is IN Florida. I love the game and its history, not to mention how great it is for both fan bases. But if this rivalry was held annually in Atlanta, for instance, I think UF fans would have a hard time accepting it as a neutral site game. Just a thought.

Follow Travis Jaudon on Twitter/Instagram @JaudonSports. Email him at travisLjaudon@gmail.com.

This article appears in Oct 26 – Nov 1, 2022.