Really? Nobody even has a comment on this idea?
I think a shorter shot-clock at the end of games would be a decent idea worth considering but I'm not sure it would make that big of a difference.
Frankly, I think that teams often start fouling too late. If you are down eight with 1:20 to go, it seems to me that a lot of times teams will play aggressive defense but not intentionally foul because they don't want to give up the easy points. I get that, but unless you force a turnover the best case scenario is to be down eight with about 0:50 to go and the ball. Even if you then make a three, you are still down two possessions with less than 0:50 to go and the other team has the ball. Ie, you are eventually going to have to foul somebody. I'd rather do it sooner than later because if you start earlier I think that you can be more selective in who you foul and you have more time to make it up.
Bottom line, if you are down eight with about 1:20 to go your chances aren't very good and shortening the shot clock to 24 seconds or even
@DevilFroggy 's 18 seconds wouldn't make them a whole lot better.
Maybe I just don't know enough about BB strategy so if someone can explain this, please do:
When a game is winding down I tend to do a mental calculation in my head as to whether or not the trailing team will need to foul. When it gets to the point that the leading team could simply accept the shot-clock violation each possession and the trailing team couldn't catch up even with a quick three each possession, then I KNOW that the trailing team will have to foul eventually. Knowing only what I know, if I were a coach, I'd start fouling right then. You already know you are going to have to so why wait?
My assumptions:
I figure 40 seconds per possession (30 for the leading team and 10 for the trailing team) and a maximum of a three point differential per possession (the leading team fails to score and the trailing team hits a three).
My math, when the other team has the ball:
If Deficit/3>seconds remaining/40, foul.
Example:
When down by eight:
Deficit / 3 = 3 (because you have to round up). Thus, if there were less than two minutes to go (40*3 = 120 seconds = 2 minutes) I think you should foul.
Caveat:
I wouldn't immediately foul on the in-bounds down eight with 2:00 to go. Instead, what I would do is go into a press defense, challenge the in-bounds, then try to trap the ball or force a turnover. I would also play VERY aggressive defense (because I see the risk of fouling as not a real risk since I have to anyway). Then I would look to foul a bad FT shooter if possible and if all of that failed I would foul. The thing is that "all of that" would have to be done in <10 seconds. Ie, I would prefer a turnover but if I didn't get that I would want to foul no later than 1:50.
