November 27, 2023 • 20 mins
Host Jada Mirabelle is joined by Gregg Simon (CIAC Associate Executive Director), Dave Schulz (FCIAC Commissioner and CIAC Boys Basketball Tournament Director), and Dan Scavone (CIAC Assistant Director and Directors CIAC Officials Association) to discuss rules changes for the upcoming season, and how the formula works to determine divisional placements for boys basketball.
Rule changes for the 2023-2024 season include the addition of a 35-second shot clock and the elimination of the one-and-one foul shooting scenario.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to CIC's Glory Days Podcast.
This podcast gives an in-depthlook into the inner workings of
the Connecticut Interest ClassicAthletic Conference and the
purpose behind high schoolsports.
Through interviews with coaches, players, administrators and
other guests, the CIC immersesyou into the Glory Days of high
school sports.
So now it's time to enjoy thenext episode of the Glory Days
podcast.
Hello and welcome to the CICGlory Days podcast.
(00:22):
I'm your host, jada Maribel.
Today we are joined with GregSimon, the CIC Associate
Executive Director, dave Schultz, the FCAC Commissioner and CIC
Boys Basketball TournamentDirector, and Dan Scavone,
assistant Director of the CIC.
On this episode, greg, dave,dan and I will discuss how the
Boys Basketball Committeedetermines divisional placements
for teams and several key rulechanges that will be implemented
(00:43):
in this upcoming season.
So, greg and Dave, we are abouta week and a half away from the
start of practice for BoysBasketball in Connecticut.
Recently, the committeereleased the approved divisions
for Boys and Girls Basketball.
Every year, there seems to be adiscussion about the placement
of one or two teams within thedivisions.
So, greg, what is the processused to determine Boys
Basketball divisions?
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Well, the process we use is a formula that's created
to make sure that we're placingteams properly in divisions.
We have 181 basketball playingschools on the boys side and I
think it's interesting thatreporters seem to always pick
out the two or three and theythink, ah, we have a great
batting average.
If that's the case, you know wedo okay.
(01:23):
So we take a look at athree-year look back to add up
and create a point total foreach school in the state of
Connecticut and then those pointtotals are assigned to approved
divisions.
You know the committee createsthe size of each division
blindly and then when theschools are placed in those
divisions, you know, by thenumber of teams that should be
(01:46):
in each division.
So basically, the formula isbased upon different elements.
So really, in all of our sports,enrollment is the most
important element.
We take 66% two-thirds of thesize of the school and we take
that as our first set of points.
After that we take the amountof power points they've accrued
over a three-year time periodand we multiply that power
(02:07):
points by the league, the leaguemultiplier, which is either a
three, a two or a one, dependingon what league you play in.
The thinking behind that isthat a league like the CCC or
the FCAC or the SEC, thoseleagues wins are a little bit
more value than they are many ofour small school leagues.
(02:28):
So we wanna make sure that thevalue of those wins is the way
we wanna be able to seed it.
So after that's done we add inthe success in tournament for
those schools that are schoolsof choice and once we do that we
take that entire total.
We rank the schools 100 through181, and then we put those
(02:51):
teams into the pre-designeddivisions.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
So, before this formula was implemented, how did
it work with Boys Basketball?
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Well, I can kinda chime in on that.
I started coaching in 1978, soI've been around a while doing
Boys Basketball.
And back in the pre-days and upuntil the mid-2000 teens it was
based on size and it was justsize.
So some of your schools ofchoice in the smaller divisions,
because of their size of theirschool, were just dominating
(03:20):
those divisions and the smallernon-schools of choice were a
little frustrated with neverbeing able to advance in the
tournament.
So that kinda was the impetusof getting us into a formula
which would try to balance andput schools, based on how they
are, where they belong.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
So it seems that every year now there's a
question about the placement ofmaybe one or two teams.
So can you tell us about theoption to move up to division
one and what happens when teamsopt to do that?
Speaker 3 (03:46):
Yes, any team can opt to move up to division one from
any division, but they can onlyopt to move to division one
Once.
The number of teams that haveopted to go up to division one
Greg talked about the presetnumber of 16 teams in division
one Once they opt up.
We wanna keep that number at 16.
So if three teams opt to go up,then we go from the 16th back
(04:06):
towards the first of anon-school of choice, offering
them the opportunity to moveback down to division two to
keep that number at 16.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
And this year it seems that there's more than 16
teams that have opted to playdivision one.
So how is the committee gonnahandle 17 teams being in
division one and what does itsay about the design of the
divisions that more teams wannabe in division one?
Speaker 3 (04:28):
Well, it's nice to see that some teams look to try
to go up and be the mostcompetitive division they can be
in.
This year we did have threeteams choose to go up and then,
as we went through starting with16, moving towards one of
non-school of choice teams, onlytwo opted to go down, so we
ended up with 17.
(04:48):
So it would offer anopportunity to have a play-in
game, like you would if you had32 teams in a Division II
tournament, or 33 teams.
You'd have to have a play-ingame of 33, play 32 to get it to
a 32-team division.
So it kind of offs the same wayof now we're going to have 17
versus 16 to get to a 16-teamdivision.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
So, greg, the argument often comes from
schools of choice that theformula is unfair.
So what are the arguments thatyou have heard from some schools
, and how can a school or thecommittee address those concerns
?
Speaker 2 (05:20):
I think the committee is very open to taking a look
at the formula and seeing what'sworking and what's not working.
We've tried to see it both ways.
We understand for all of thoseyears there was so much
contention that small schools,especially in the S&M Division,
didn't have opportunities to winstate tournaments, that schools
of choice, who naturally areable to draw from student
(05:43):
athletes outside of theirdistrict, had an unfair
advantage.
Thus we understand there aresome concerns, especially among
our agris schools who areputting to that group of schools
, among charter magnet schoolsthat they don't belong there,
and among our technical schoolsthey don't belong there.
But again, it's very hard todifferentiate when you're a
(06:04):
school of choice.
If you have the ability to drawkids from outside, that one kid
or two kids that you draw,maybe you're starting center or
maybe you're starting goalie inother sports.
So it's very hard to get inbetween the weeds and say, oh,
this one's a school of choicebut this one's not a school of
choice.
So it's very difficult andobviously you'll always hear put
(06:26):
the Catholic schools and allthere in their own division.
And again we laugh up herebecause I believe there's 12
boys Catholic schools left thathave boys 12.
Some of them are tiny schools,like Immaculate and St Bernard's
, and some of them are hugeschools, like Xavier and
Fairfield Prep.
It would make no sense to playthem in their own division.
And how do you play them intheir own division when you're
(06:50):
not playing other schools ofchoice in their own divisions?
So we get the contention outthere.
We get the argument both ways,but we really believe that when
the formula is used, it's a veryfair way to address the
concerns of many of our memberschools.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
So, besides that suggestion of putting the
Catholic schools all in theirown league, has there been any
other proposed changes to thisformula from schools?
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Well, again, we made a promise when we were going out
talking to the differentleagues about the formula way
back in 2017.
When we were talking to them,we said that after three years
we would take a good heartevaluation of the formula, see
what was working, what wasn'tworking, you know, and we had
great success the first twoyears of the formula.
Wonderful tournaments atMohican Sun Really saw a lot of
(07:37):
teams making the finals thathadn't made it before and it was
great.
But unfortunately COVID camealong and for two consecutive
years we didn't have atournament.
Thus we didn't have anytournament data to add to the
formula and we were kind ofstuck.
So we were using a lot of olderinformation.
But after the third year of thetournament we did meet and we
sat down and we talked aboutwhat changes we could make and
(07:59):
at that point a subcommitteemade some recommendations to the
full committee, but the fullcommittee said they really
didn't want to do any of thosechanges at this point because
they wanted three solid years ofdata to be able to make changes
.
So we'll have a greattournament this year and then
the subcommittee will meet againover the summer and we'll make
some recommendations back onthings like the league
(08:20):
multipliers Very hard to getright.
Leagues change and things happenand when you have schools that
aren't very successful inbasketball and they have that
large league multiplier, itmoves them up divisions.
We have a lot of thinking to do, but it's not like we don't
want to try to make it the bestit possibly can be.
It's really important thatpeople out there looking at it
(08:41):
understand the intent of theformula was never to create a
super division.
It was never meant for that.
Nobody ever talked about thatup here.
The idea was to push schools ofchoice into the larger
divisions, thus giving thenon-schools of choice a better
opportunity to play longer inthe tournament and to play for
championships.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
So, now that we have the division set and practices
will begin next week to buff theregular season just around the
corner.
So, dan, when games tip off,this year we'll have a shot
clock for the first time inConnecticut, and we also have a
change in the rules for playerswho will shoot two foul shots
rather than one, and one after17 fouls and the addition of a
new rule that a player mustleave the floor for one tick of
the clock after receiving atechnical foul.
So in a previous podcastepisode we spoke about the shot
(09:25):
clock.
Can you tell us what officialsare doing with our schools to
prepare for this new ruleimplementation?
Speaker 4 (09:31):
Sure, we've collaborated with.
Timing is Everything, which isa private business and this
business has been out thereworking shot clocks and game
clocks in college levelbasketball in Connecticut since
1996.
So they've been around a while.
The owners of this company, aswell as the commissioner of the
company, felt it was theirobligation to help us with this
(09:54):
project and they volunteeredtheir staff to put on clinics
for our member schools and ourleagues and, in conjunction with
the commissioners of theleagues, we set up dates and
times and we providedopportunities for future shot
clock operators of our memberhigh schools to attend these.
And they've been veryinformative.
They've been hands on.
(10:15):
They actually put together asimulation of game situations so
our kids were able to play ahalf and the potential operators
are able to identify mistakesand identify what needed to
transpire rather than whatoccurred.
So they actually purposely mademistakes to help the learning
(10:35):
curve and I think it was veryeffective.
And we tried to have theseclinics at different parts of
the state so it would be ampleopportunities for everyone to
attend.
So we sort of did it by league.
We started with the Easternpart of the state and we moved
all the way to Litchfield.
Last Wednesday was our lastclinic, so we ran five of them
and we have one today.
(10:56):
There's one that Western HighSchool at 245 and that's going
to be, I'm sure, well attendedand we'll be ready from that
standpoint.
We also sent out two documents.
Our state rule interpreter,along with the local basketball
interpreters, put together alengthy document about the shot
(11:18):
clock guidelines and that's beensent out numerous times and we
took that version and actuallycondensed it and made a table
chart that were vast schools toactually laminate and put on
your scores tables.
It's short of a cheat sheet sowhen games occur, that shot
clock operator can review thatbefore the game.
(11:39):
They should be just likeofficials.
They should need to have apregame and officials will have
a pregame with that shot clockoperator to talk about the
dynamics of the protocol.
So that would be readilyavailable.
And then, lastly, the NationalFederation of High Schools put
out a very, very guided versionof a video that's been sent out
(12:03):
to our member schools as well.
So they've had ample learningresources, so I expect it to to
go off pretty well.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
Wow, those are all great things we're doing to help
get everyone adjusted to this.
Speaker 4 (12:15):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
So, Dave, how has the FCAC been preparing for the
implementation of the shot clock?
Speaker 3 (12:20):
I think we might have been the first lead to host a
shot clock clinic back inOctober at Norwalk High School
and we had over 50 people there.
So we invited every school tosend either their shot clock
operator, their regular clockoperator, an official who might
want to also do a shot clock onthe side and to try to teach
that.
I think the main thing is goingto be that little shot clock
(12:44):
cheat sheet that can belaminated and put right there
that someone can read, becauseinevitably you might have a
sickness and someone might haveto say, hey, can you fill in
today?
So we need to be able toprepare them and keep them going
.
I know that all our schools inthe FCAC thankfully have their
shot clocks mounted and ready togo, so that's a positive that
we're in line, ready to go.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Oh, that's great.
So, greg, what was the interestin implementing the one tick of
the clock sitout rule followinga technical file?
Speaker 2 (13:10):
Sure, we've seen that sometimes tempers flare during
our games and we had some highprofile altercations last year
during games and we started totalk a little bit about with the
Connecticut High School CoachAssociation what we might be
able to do.
So the Connecticut High SchoolCoach Association came up with a
proposal, kind of based on whata yellow card does in soccer.
(13:33):
It removes the student athletefrom the field in soccer for one
tick of the clock and they canre-enter the game once they've
settled down.
And you're not going to havethat quick whip around where if
a kid gets technical file thenext time down the court and if
he's not taken off the court heimmediately wants to retaliate
or she wants to retaliateagainst the player from the
other team.
(13:53):
So I think it's that ability tobe able to cool down, settle
down for a little bit and not tohave those quick double
technicals that happen quiteoften or lead to fights on the
court.
So we're just again, I thinkall of our committees are in a
constant look to see how we canimplement sportsmanship among
our student athletes and try tomake the game the best we can
(14:14):
for all of them.
And we appreciate theConnecticut High School Coach
Association taking the lead inthat and creating that.
Certainly Joe Kanzanella.
Oh, joe Kanzanella had a lot todo with that.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
So, dan, do you agree with Greg that this will help
officials in managing the game,or at least help players to calm
down so that they hopefullyavoid getting a quick second
technical?
Speaker 4 (14:33):
I do Very much, so I think you know officials
themselves are going to treatthis as an opportunity to
converse with the coach as well.
I think when the player isremoved from the game, the coach
will have a betterunderstanding of what transpired
, and I would imagine somecoaches will keep their players
(14:54):
out for longer than one ticket aclock and that will vary from
situation to situation, butcertainly in many cases the
player's emotions would notwarrant them to stay in the game
.
So I think this is a positivemove by our committees to
implement this.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
So can you tell us a little bit about the rule change
to eliminate one-on-one foulshots?
Is that a Connecticut rule oran NFHS rule change?
Speaker 4 (15:19):
That is a federation rule change.
So that is, and we are afederation state and so
basically it kind of follows thepremise of the women's college
game now.
So on the fifth common foul, soyour fifth team foul, your
opponent will shoot two shots.
(15:41):
So it basically eliminates theone-on-one.
Interestingly, the fouls willreset every quarter.
So after the first quarter itwill be reset to zero at started
, a third quarter reset to zeroand the start of the fourth
quarter reset to zero.
So the theory here is that therewas two objectives.
(16:01):
Number one, based on a lot ofthe research the Federation has
done with some physicality andinjuries on the one-in-one
sequence, their hope, and thiswill minimize and eliminate the
risk of injury there.
That was one philosophy.
The other rationale was, withresetting the fouls, to increase
(16:23):
the flow of the game.
So you're not in a long periodof time where you have more than
seven fouls in the previousrule and you'd be shooting foul
shots for a significant periodof time and it really disrupted
the flow of the game.
So I think the reset of thefouls and then going to the two
shots, I think that's going toaccomplish both of those
(16:46):
rationales.
It's definitely gonna lendcredence to it and I think
you're gonna see a game.
It's gonna be interesting tosee how that works out.
It's gonna be unless you watcha lot of women's college
basketball.
I think folks around herecertainly aren't used to that,
that nuance of the game, soit'll be interesting.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
Yeah, I look forward to seeing it this season with
all these new rules implemented,seeing how the game changes.
So now, every episode, we wrapup with the question of what is
the purpose of high schoolsports.
So, dan, we'll start with you.
What do you believe the purposeis behind high school sports?
Speaker 4 (17:21):
Well, we always talk about being education based and
I certainly think the onus, youknow, obviously, at the winning
at the varsity level, winningdoes play a role, but I think
with high school sports itshould be more to it.
So, in addition to teaching kidshow to win graciously and how
to lose graciously, I think partof it is to help young people
(17:44):
understand that they're part ofa team and that team component
is so important when in everydaylife you know they're gonna be
when they're in theirprofessions, they're gonna have
to work with other people andthey're gonna have to have ups
and downs and that's what sportsis about, ups and downs and
they're gonna have to take thosepractices that they've
implemented through theirathletic careers and bring them
to everyday life.
(18:05):
So I think it's more than justhow many championships they've
won.
You know, you really have tolook at did I even make it
through the season?
I'm a high school athlete.
I'm not sure if I wanted toparticipate in this sport, but I
did.
I put the time and I put thework effort in and I completed
one of my goals in life.
And I think that's the way youhave to look at high school
(18:26):
sports.
It's more than just theathleticism itself.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
Oh I can obviously echo everything that Dan said.
He kind of touched base oneverything.
But one of the things from mycoaching days I felt was really
beneficial for a student athleteto take from the end of the
season would be the fact howhard they wanted to work to
improve, to maximize theirability level.
Not everybody has the sameability level, so if they wanna
(18:54):
and which carries right overinto life maximize what you do
on the job, how you can dothings and how that benefits the
team together.
So I think that's really whatwe hope for.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
Greg.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Again with education based athletics.
I mean athletics become and Ithink people forget all the time
that we're not professional,the kids are not professional
athletes, college athletes.
It's an extension of theclassroom.
You're.
The same kind of things you'retrying to learn in the classroom
can be taught so well on theathletic field.
I think the relationships youdevelop with your teammates,
obviously, but also with yourcoaches, and having that
(19:29):
lifelong relationship coming offthat championship weekend that
we had yesterday and the daybefore, seeing the hugs among
coaches and players and theyears of knowing a lot of these
people and being a greatinfluence in their life, is just
really, really important.
And again, it's not the, asDanny said, it's not the wins
and losses.
(19:49):
All the time I always said it'sthe bus rides, it's the pasta
parties, it's the laughing afterpractice when things are all
done, things you remember themost.
And I think that's whateducation based athletics is all
about.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
Yes, those are all such great and meaningful
answers.
Thank you all for joining ustoday and we'll see you next
time on the Glory Days podcast.
Welcome to CIC's Glory Days Podcast.
This podcast gives an in-depthlook into the inner workings of
the Connecticut Interest ClassicAthletic Conference and the
purpose behind high schoolsports.
Through interviews with coaches, players, administrators and
other guests, the CIC immersesyou into the Glory Days of high
school sports.
So now it's time to enjoy thenext episode of the Glory Days
podcast.
Hello and welcome to the CICGlory Days podcast.
(00:22):
I'm your host, jada Maribel.
Today we are joined with GregSimon, the CIC Associate
Executive Director, dave Schultz, the FCAC Commissioner and CIC
Boys Basketball TournamentDirector, and Dan Scavone,
assistant Director of the CIC.
On this episode, greg, dave,dan and I will discuss how the
Boys Basketball Committeedetermines divisional placements
for teams and several key rulechanges that will be implemented
(00:43):
in this upcoming season.
So, greg and Dave, we are abouta week and a half away from the
start of practice for BoysBasketball in Connecticut.
Recently, the committeereleased the approved divisions
for Boys and Girls Basketball.
Every year, there seems to be adiscussion about the placement
of one or two teams within thedivisions.
So, greg, what is the processused to determine Boys
Basketball divisions?
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Well, the process we use is a formula that's created
to make sure that we're placingteams properly in divisions.
We have 181 basketball playingschools on the boys side and I
think it's interesting thatreporters seem to always pick
out the two or three and theythink, ah, we have a great
batting average.
If that's the case, you know wedo okay.
(01:23):
So we take a look at athree-year look back to add up
and create a point total foreach school in the state of
Connecticut and then those pointtotals are assigned to approved
divisions.
You know the committee createsthe size of each division
blindly and then when theschools are placed in those
divisions, you know, by thenumber of teams that should be
(01:46):
in each division.
So basically, the formula isbased upon different elements.
So really, in all of our sports,enrollment is the most
important element.
We take 66% two-thirds of thesize of the school and we take
that as our first set of points.
After that we take the amountof power points they've accrued
over a three-year time periodand we multiply that power
(02:07):
points by the league, the leaguemultiplier, which is either a
three, a two or a one, dependingon what league you play in.
The thinking behind that isthat a league like the CCC or
the FCAC or the SEC, thoseleagues wins are a little bit
more value than they are many ofour small school leagues.
(02:28):
So we wanna make sure that thevalue of those wins is the way
we wanna be able to seed it.
So after that's done we add inthe success in tournament for
those schools that are schoolsof choice and once we do that we
take that entire total.
We rank the schools 100 through181, and then we put those
(02:51):
teams into the pre-designeddivisions.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
So, before this formula was implemented, how did
it work with Boys Basketball?
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Well, I can kinda chime in on that.
I started coaching in 1978, soI've been around a while doing
Boys Basketball.
And back in the pre-days and upuntil the mid-2000 teens it was
based on size and it was justsize.
So some of your schools ofchoice in the smaller divisions,
because of their size of theirschool, were just dominating
(03:20):
those divisions and the smallernon-schools of choice were a
little frustrated with neverbeing able to advance in the
tournament.
So that kinda was the impetusof getting us into a formula
which would try to balance andput schools, based on how they
are, where they belong.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
So it seems that every year now there's a
question about the placement ofmaybe one or two teams.
So can you tell us about theoption to move up to division
one and what happens when teamsopt to do that?
Speaker 3 (03:46):
Yes, any team can opt to move up to division one from
any division, but they can onlyopt to move to division one
Once.
The number of teams that haveopted to go up to division one
Greg talked about the presetnumber of 16 teams in division
one Once they opt up.
We wanna keep that number at 16.
So if three teams opt to go up,then we go from the 16th back
(04:06):
towards the first of anon-school of choice, offering
them the opportunity to moveback down to division two to
keep that number at 16.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
And this year it seems that there's more than 16
teams that have opted to playdivision one.
So how is the committee gonnahandle 17 teams being in
division one and what does itsay about the design of the
divisions that more teams wannabe in division one?
Speaker 3 (04:28):
Well, it's nice to see that some teams look to try
to go up and be the mostcompetitive division they can be
in.
This year we did have threeteams choose to go up and then,
as we went through starting with16, moving towards one of
non-school of choice teams, onlytwo opted to go down, so we
ended up with 17.
(04:48):
So it would offer anopportunity to have a play-in
game, like you would if you had32 teams in a Division II
tournament, or 33 teams.
You'd have to have a play-ingame of 33, play 32 to get it to
a 32-team division.
So it kind of offs the same wayof now we're going to have 17
versus 16 to get to a 16-teamdivision.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
So, greg, the argument often comes from
schools of choice that theformula is unfair.
So what are the arguments thatyou have heard from some schools
, and how can a school or thecommittee address those concerns
?
Speaker 2 (05:20):
I think the committee is very open to taking a look
at the formula and seeing what'sworking and what's not working.
We've tried to see it both ways.
We understand for all of thoseyears there was so much
contention that small schools,especially in the S&M Division,
didn't have opportunities to winstate tournaments, that schools
of choice, who naturally areable to draw from student
(05:43):
athletes outside of theirdistrict, had an unfair
advantage.
Thus we understand there aresome concerns, especially among
our agris schools who areputting to that group of schools
, among charter magnet schoolsthat they don't belong there,
and among our technical schoolsthey don't belong there.
But again, it's very hard todifferentiate when you're a
(06:04):
school of choice.
If you have the ability to drawkids from outside, that one kid
or two kids that you draw,maybe you're starting center or
maybe you're starting goalie inother sports.
So it's very hard to get inbetween the weeds and say, oh,
this one's a school of choicebut this one's not a school of
choice.
So it's very difficult andobviously you'll always hear put
(06:26):
the Catholic schools and allthere in their own division.
And again we laugh up herebecause I believe there's 12
boys Catholic schools left thathave boys 12.
Some of them are tiny schools,like Immaculate and St Bernard's
, and some of them are hugeschools, like Xavier and
Fairfield Prep.
It would make no sense to playthem in their own division.
And how do you play them intheir own division when you're
(06:50):
not playing other schools ofchoice in their own divisions?
So we get the contention outthere.
We get the argument both ways,but we really believe that when
the formula is used, it's a veryfair way to address the
concerns of many of our memberschools.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
So, besides that suggestion of putting the
Catholic schools all in theirown league, has there been any
other proposed changes to thisformula from schools?
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Well, again, we made a promise when we were going out
talking to the differentleagues about the formula way
back in 2017.
When we were talking to them,we said that after three years
we would take a good heartevaluation of the formula, see
what was working, what wasn'tworking, you know, and we had
great success the first twoyears of the formula.
Wonderful tournaments atMohican Sun Really saw a lot of
(07:37):
teams making the finals thathadn't made it before and it was
great.
But unfortunately COVID camealong and for two consecutive
years we didn't have atournament.
Thus we didn't have anytournament data to add to the
formula and we were kind ofstuck.
So we were using a lot of olderinformation.
But after the third year of thetournament we did meet and we
sat down and we talked aboutwhat changes we could make and
(07:59):
at that point a subcommitteemade some recommendations to the
full committee, but the fullcommittee said they really
didn't want to do any of thosechanges at this point because
they wanted three solid years ofdata to be able to make changes
.
So we'll have a greattournament this year and then
the subcommittee will meet againover the summer and we'll make
some recommendations back onthings like the league
(08:20):
multipliers Very hard to getright.
Leagues change and things happenand when you have schools that
aren't very successful inbasketball and they have that
large league multiplier, itmoves them up divisions.
We have a lot of thinking to do, but it's not like we don't
want to try to make it the bestit possibly can be.
It's really important thatpeople out there looking at it
(08:41):
understand the intent of theformula was never to create a
super division.
It was never meant for that.
Nobody ever talked about thatup here.
The idea was to push schools ofchoice into the larger
divisions, thus giving thenon-schools of choice a better
opportunity to play longer inthe tournament and to play for
championships.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
So, now that we have the division set and practices
will begin next week to buff theregular season just around the
corner.
So, dan, when games tip off,this year we'll have a shot
clock for the first time inConnecticut, and we also have a
change in the rules for playerswho will shoot two foul shots
rather than one, and one after17 fouls and the addition of a
new rule that a player mustleave the floor for one tick of
the clock after receiving atechnical foul.
So in a previous podcastepisode we spoke about the shot
(09:25):
clock.
Can you tell us what officialsare doing with our schools to
prepare for this new ruleimplementation?
Speaker 4 (09:31):
Sure, we've collaborated with.
Timing is Everything, which isa private business and this
business has been out thereworking shot clocks and game
clocks in college levelbasketball in Connecticut since
1996.
So they've been around a while.
The owners of this company, aswell as the commissioner of the
company, felt it was theirobligation to help us with this
(09:54):
project and they volunteeredtheir staff to put on clinics
for our member schools and ourleagues and, in conjunction with
the commissioners of theleagues, we set up dates and
times and we providedopportunities for future shot
clock operators of our memberhigh schools to attend these.
And they've been veryinformative.
They've been hands on.
(10:15):
They actually put together asimulation of game situations so
our kids were able to play ahalf and the potential operators
are able to identify mistakesand identify what needed to
transpire rather than whatoccurred.
So they actually purposely mademistakes to help the learning
(10:35):
curve and I think it was veryeffective.
And we tried to have theseclinics at different parts of
the state so it would be ampleopportunities for everyone to
attend.
So we sort of did it by league.
We started with the Easternpart of the state and we moved
all the way to Litchfield.
Last Wednesday was our lastclinic, so we ran five of them
and we have one today.
(10:56):
There's one that Western HighSchool at 245 and that's going
to be, I'm sure, well attendedand we'll be ready from that
standpoint.
We also sent out two documents.
Our state rule interpreter,along with the local basketball
interpreters, put together alengthy document about the shot
(11:18):
clock guidelines and that's beensent out numerous times and we
took that version and actuallycondensed it and made a table
chart that were vast schools toactually laminate and put on
your scores tables.
It's short of a cheat sheet sowhen games occur, that shot
clock operator can review thatbefore the game.
(11:39):
They should be just likeofficials.
They should need to have apregame and officials will have
a pregame with that shot clockoperator to talk about the
dynamics of the protocol.
So that would be readilyavailable.
And then, lastly, the NationalFederation of High Schools put
out a very, very guided versionof a video that's been sent out
(12:03):
to our member schools as well.
So they've had ample learningresources, so I expect it to to
go off pretty well.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
Wow, those are all great things we're doing to help
get everyone adjusted to this.
Speaker 4 (12:15):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
So, Dave, how has the FCAC been preparing for the
implementation of the shot clock?
Speaker 3 (12:20):
I think we might have been the first lead to host a
shot clock clinic back inOctober at Norwalk High School
and we had over 50 people there.
So we invited every school tosend either their shot clock
operator, their regular clockoperator, an official who might
want to also do a shot clock onthe side and to try to teach
that.
I think the main thing is goingto be that little shot clock
(12:44):
cheat sheet that can belaminated and put right there
that someone can read, becauseinevitably you might have a
sickness and someone might haveto say, hey, can you fill in
today?
So we need to be able toprepare them and keep them going
.
I know that all our schools inthe FCAC thankfully have their
shot clocks mounted and ready togo, so that's a positive that
we're in line, ready to go.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Oh, that's great.
So, greg, what was the interestin implementing the one tick of
the clock sitout rule followinga technical file?
Speaker 2 (13:10):
Sure, we've seen that sometimes tempers flare during
our games and we had some highprofile altercations last year
during games and we started totalk a little bit about with the
Connecticut High School CoachAssociation what we might be
able to do.
So the Connecticut High SchoolCoach Association came up with a
proposal, kind of based on whata yellow card does in soccer.
(13:33):
It removes the student athletefrom the field in soccer for one
tick of the clock and they canre-enter the game once they've
settled down.
And you're not going to havethat quick whip around where if
a kid gets technical file thenext time down the court and if
he's not taken off the court heimmediately wants to retaliate
or she wants to retaliateagainst the player from the
other team.
(13:53):
So I think it's that ability tobe able to cool down, settle
down for a little bit and not tohave those quick double
technicals that happen quiteoften or lead to fights on the
court.
So we're just again, I thinkall of our committees are in a
constant look to see how we canimplement sportsmanship among
our student athletes and try tomake the game the best we can
(14:14):
for all of them.
And we appreciate theConnecticut High School Coach
Association taking the lead inthat and creating that.
Certainly Joe Kanzanella.
Oh, joe Kanzanella had a lot todo with that.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
So, dan, do you agree with Greg that this will help
officials in managing the game,or at least help players to calm
down so that they hopefullyavoid getting a quick second
technical?
Speaker 4 (14:33):
I do Very much, so I think you know officials
themselves are going to treatthis as an opportunity to
converse with the coach as well.
I think when the player isremoved from the game, the coach
will have a betterunderstanding of what transpired
, and I would imagine somecoaches will keep their players
(14:54):
out for longer than one ticket aclock and that will vary from
situation to situation, butcertainly in many cases the
player's emotions would notwarrant them to stay in the game
.
So I think this is a positivemove by our committees to
implement this.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
So can you tell us a little bit about the rule change
to eliminate one-on-one foulshots?
Is that a Connecticut rule oran NFHS rule change?
Speaker 4 (15:19):
That is a federation rule change.
So that is, and we are afederation state and so
basically it kind of follows thepremise of the women's college
game now.
So on the fifth common foul, soyour fifth team foul, your
opponent will shoot two shots.
(15:41):
So it basically eliminates theone-on-one.
Interestingly, the fouls willreset every quarter.
So after the first quarter itwill be reset to zero at started
, a third quarter reset to zeroand the start of the fourth
quarter reset to zero.
So the theory here is that therewas two objectives.
(16:01):
Number one, based on a lot ofthe research the Federation has
done with some physicality andinjuries on the one-in-one
sequence, their hope, and thiswill minimize and eliminate the
risk of injury there.
That was one philosophy.
The other rationale was, withresetting the fouls, to increase
(16:23):
the flow of the game.
So you're not in a long periodof time where you have more than
seven fouls in the previousrule and you'd be shooting foul
shots for a significant periodof time and it really disrupted
the flow of the game.
So I think the reset of thefouls and then going to the two
shots, I think that's going toaccomplish both of those
(16:46):
rationales.
It's definitely gonna lendcredence to it and I think
you're gonna see a game.
It's gonna be interesting tosee how that works out.
It's gonna be unless you watcha lot of women's college
basketball.
I think folks around herecertainly aren't used to that,
that nuance of the game, soit'll be interesting.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
Yeah, I look forward to seeing it this season with
all these new rules implemented,seeing how the game changes.
So now, every episode, we wrapup with the question of what is
the purpose of high schoolsports.
So, dan, we'll start with you.
What do you believe the purposeis behind high school sports?
Speaker 4 (17:21):
Well, we always talk about being education based and
I certainly think the onus, youknow, obviously, at the winning
at the varsity level, winningdoes play a role, but I think
with high school sports itshould be more to it.
So, in addition to teaching kidshow to win graciously and how
to lose graciously, I think partof it is to help young people
(17:44):
understand that they're part ofa team and that team component
is so important when in everydaylife you know they're gonna be
when they're in theirprofessions, they're gonna have
to work with other people andthey're gonna have to have ups
and downs and that's what sportsis about, ups and downs and
they're gonna have to take thosepractices that they've
implemented through theirathletic careers and bring them
to everyday life.
(18:05):
So I think it's more than justhow many championships they've
won.
You know, you really have tolook at did I even make it
through the season?
I'm a high school athlete.
I'm not sure if I wanted toparticipate in this sport, but I
did.
I put the time and I put thework effort in and I completed
one of my goals in life.
And I think that's the way youhave to look at high school
(18:26):
sports.
It's more than just theathleticism itself.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
Oh I can obviously echo everything that Dan said.
He kind of touched base oneverything.
But one of the things from mycoaching days I felt was really
beneficial for a student athleteto take from the end of the
season would be the fact howhard they wanted to work to
improve, to maximize theirability level.
Not everybody has the sameability level, so if they wanna
(18:54):
and which carries right overinto life maximize what you do
on the job, how you can dothings and how that benefits the
team together.
So I think that's really whatwe hope for.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
Greg.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Again with education based athletics.
I mean athletics become and Ithink people forget all the time
that we're not professional,the kids are not professional
athletes, college athletes.
It's an extension of theclassroom.
You're.
The same kind of things you'retrying to learn in the classroom
can be taught so well on theathletic field.
I think the relationships youdevelop with your teammates,
obviously, but also with yourcoaches, and having that
(19:29):
lifelong relationship coming offthat championship weekend that
we had yesterday and the daybefore, seeing the hugs among
coaches and players and theyears of knowing a lot of these
people and being a greatinfluence in their life, is just
really, really important.
And again, it's not the, asDanny said, it's not the wins
and losses.
(19:49):
All the time I always said it'sthe bus rides, it's the pasta
parties, it's the laughing afterpractice when things are all
done, things you remember themost.
And I think that's whateducation based athletics is all
about.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
Yes, those are all such great and meaningful
answers.
Thank you all for joining ustoday and we'll see you next
time on the Glory Days podcast.
Popular Podcasts
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.