Summer Hoops Notebook
June 22, 2015 04:00 PM | General
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Stipends and shot clocks were the big topic of conversation during this summer’s Big 12 men’s basketball coaches’ teleconference earlier today.
West Virginia coach Bob Huggins didn’t have a whole lot to say about stipends, but he did have strong feelings about the NCAA’s decision this season to reduce the shot clock to 30 seconds with the aim of speeding up the game.
“I thought we had a great game and I don’t know why we’re doing what we’re doing,” Huggins said. “You watch the NBA playoffs and it comes down to throwing the ball to the best player in the world and letting him play.
“You think about the guys that we all consider to be the great coaches of all-time and they ran great offense. They really controlled the game with their offense and I think the more and more we reduce the shot clock the more and more the best players are always going to win,” he explained. “You can’t let them run offense. They are going to come down and run a quick hitter into a ball screen or spread everybody and drive it.”
Huggins admits everyone is tired of “watching 40 free throws a game” but he believes that is precisely what could happen as a result of shortening the shot clock.
“That’s the nature of what it is when you have to spread people and drive it to the basket and try and get fouled, so I’m probably one of the guys who is not a big proponent of it,” said Huggins.
In the same breath, it would seem that pressing teams such as West Virginia would have an advantage with a 30-second shot clock because it cuts down on the amount of time for opposing teams to run offense, but Huggins said it’s actually the reverse because of the nature of his team’s press.
“We pressed to kind of speed people up,” he noted. “We needed to speed the game up and we needed to be able to score with numbers because we weren’t a very good half-court team. I don’t think it helps us at all if we do what we did a year ago.”
Huggins said he is puzzled with what he believes is an infatuation with the NBA game on the collegiate level.
“We continue to go in that direction and I think we have a better game,” he said. “We have a game that is a lot more pleasing to the eyes. I don’t understand why we continue to go in that direction because I thought our game was pretty good.
“There is something to be said for people who do a great job of guarding and playing in the half court, but if you go back to who we consider to be the great coaches of all-time, they controlled the game with their offense. They played great defense or whatever, but the truth of the matter is they controlled the game with their offense and they were great coaches because they probably didn’t have as good of players as other people did and they still won because they were able to control the game. Lowering the shot clock and the more rule changes we make in that regard, the best players are always going to win, and if you think that is what basketball is then (reducing the shot clock) is great for the game, but if you don’t think that’s what basketball really ought to be about then it’s not great for the game.”
Huggins believes reducing the shot clock is likely to mean teams with the best collection of players are going to have an even greater chance of winning games.
“The more possessions there are favors the better players,” he said.
As for the stipends West Virginia University is currently paying its student-athletes, Huggins hopes that amount will not put it at a recruiting disadvantage against other schools with greater payouts.
“Honestly, I haven’t really given it that much thought. Our guys seem to be happy with the new stipend they are getting,” he said.
The veteran coach also hopes new student-athlete stipend rules won’t significantly impact the way athletic departments across the country conduct business moving forward.
“I played here and I think I got $10 a month because there wasn’t a Sunday meal, so that comes about to about $2.50 a meal. I think we’ve made great strides and I know our guys are very content with the way it is,” Huggins concluded.
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