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Koob: Changes should start in seventh grade

05/28/2015, 5:45pm EDT
By Andrew Koob

Andrew Koob (@AndrewKoob)
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(Ed. Note: CoBL spoke to several local Division I coaches about the proposed rule changes in NCAA Division I basketball. The overview of the rule changes, with thoughts from many coaches, can be found here.)

Change is coming to college basketball, that much is certain.

On June 8, the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel will review a package of proposals accepted by the NCAA Rules Committee. The package includes, but is not exclusive to, a 30-second shot clock, no more live ball timeouts, and the extermination of the five-second “closely guarded” rule.

Yet, in the eyes of Penn basketball coach Steve Donahue, it’s not enough to cause a serious ripple in the basketball world.

Those same changes, according to Donahue, need to trickle down into the grassroots scene so that prospective athletes have time to adjust, making their transition from the previous level to the collegiate level smoother.

Part of the blame falls on the Amateur Athletic Union for having a disjointed set up. One of Donahue’s suggestions, a shot clock, would let players accommodate to a faster-paced game.

“I do think there’s room for change,” Donahue said. “I think change in college basketball has to start in the seventh grade. Our grassroots basketball is really poor, simple things like having a shot clock in every arena in seventh grade would really help the college game, so by the time the kids play six years of it and we get them, they’re much further along.”

With a potential six years of experience working with a shot clock, among other tweaks, players would much more easily conform to the college game, making the college game itself more enjoyable to watch from a fan’s perspective.

“I think that’s part of the issue, is that our grassroots basketball and our youth basketball is really poor and that has to be taught better, the shot clock being one of them,” Donahue said.

Donahue feels as though there can be more changes for youths that can better prepare them for the competition at the college level.

Playing in the same arena as the pros, in terms of court size, ball size and net size, has been a disadvantage for the younger generation.

By giving those players something that they can handle, the play itself will improve, along with the progression of their respective games.

“I think they shouldn’t be 10 feet until the kids come into seventh grade,” Donahue said. “Every other sport uses shorter fields, smaller nets, smaller balls. We send these kids out there in fifth grade--regulation balls, regulation baskets, regulation courts. That’s no way to do it...the play isn’t very good, kids don’t learn how to play.”

International sports, especially soccer, have a method that appeals to the former Cornell and Boston College coach.

With a guideline for how things should be in the lower levels of basketball, Donahue believes that it’s best to get the work in early when it comes to the development of athletes.

"A lot of countries, if you look at how they teach sport, particularly soccer, they do those things I spoke about," Donahue said. "We don’t do it for basketball-and we should. That would help the college game more than anything else. We just don’t have enough time to change the game in 20 hours/week by the time the kid’s 18 years old.

“Don’t get me wrong, I think there’s a lot of teaching that can be done to help the game, I think I try to do it, my staff does it, but if you want to make dramatic change, I think you start at a much lower age.”

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