Cha Cha Cha Changes

The Bucks are almost out of the playoffs, so I will soon have to turn my attention to the Brewers. I promise I'll start to post some baseball stuff, or at least comment on Brett's posts.
Until then I have one more post on NCAA basketball.

Bo Ryan had some interesting comments about the proposed NCAA rule changes to the shot clock and practice start. The full article is on Andy Katz's blog.

On starting practice early:

You will have 30 days between Oct. 4 and your first game, so they would be expanding the time to get your 30 workouts in so you can give guys more days off. You can spread it out a little bit better. (Wisconsin's Bo Ryan)

On shortening the shot clock to 30 seconds:

I'm OK with 30 seconds. [But] when they say go to 30, they'll think 'Oh man, the points will go up.' People are much more sophisticated on defense, bodies stronger. There is a lot more than the shot clock on why scoring is down. (Wisconsin's Bo Ryan)

The practice rules don't seem like a huge change. Practice would start 2-3 weeks early, but the amount of time coaches can spend with players would still be regulated. As Bo states, it would allow kids to have fewer back to back practices and give bodies more time to recover.

I imagine his response to the shot clock changes will surprise those who still believe UW to be a run the shot clock down and chuck it team. Bo is dead right that shortening the shot clock will increase possessions but may not necessarily significantly increase scoring. Contrary to what many may think, if anything I think the change may benefit UW. UW will still run the same offense and 5 less seconds won't force any big changes to their system. However teams that play good defense like UW could gain an even bigger advantage if teams don't have an extra 5 seconds to get a good shot.

The best quote in the article was from Steve Alford about the Cuse D:

I don't buy the argument that shooting will go up or scores. Seems college kids struggle enough knowing how to get good shots in 35 seconds. The shorter clock helps better defensive teams, though. Have fun going against the Syracuse zone with five less seconds. (UCLA's Steve Alford)