Fordham Basketball: Reaction to NCAA Potentially Shortening the Shot Clock

In an ESPN poll released last week, a majority of Division I men's college basketball coaches said they were in favor of shortening the shot clock.

According to Jeff Goodman's report on ESPN.com, of the 460 coaches polled, 59 percent favor changing the shot clock from 35 seconds to 30 seconds, 30 percent want it to remain at 35 seconds and 10 percent said it should go to 24 seconds.

Fordham head coach Tom Pecora has mentioned in the past how the NCAA could one day switch to a 30-second shot clock. On Sunday, moments after the Rams beat Saint Joseph's at the Rose Hill Gym, he talked with Bleacher Report about what the impact would be.

"It will affect certain programs more than others," Pecora said. "Teams that run offense where you're down and then try to score late in the clock—that's their philosophy. Now you're going to have about 22 seconds to score.

"I think you're going to see a lot more of people running hard entries into scoring. Shot selection is going to be an issue for some guys. The problem is they're not pros, they're college kids, so they don't make those difficult shots."

Jay Wright, the head coach at Villanova who is a close friend of Pecora's, told ESPN that he was in favor of taking it one step further.

"I think we should all have a 24-second shot," Wright said in the article. "Consistent. It's NBA and international. We should all learn to play the game the same way. The game is still the game. Everything you do to the game, everyone's adjusted."

While Pecora supports change, he said college basketball might not be ready for a 24-second shot clock just yet. He said moving it to 30 seconds would be a big enough change for now. 

"People who are involved with USA Basketball want to go to 24 because it will help us when we go out and we perform internationally," Pecora said. "They're trying to make it the same across the board. We could be there eventually, but I think this is good progress. If we just jump to 24 there might be mayhem."

Having said that, if the shot clock does indeed get shortened to 30 seconds, going to 24 seconds might be the next step.

"I think it might evolve into that in time," Pecora said.

"When you go to 24, you're not going to see upsets like you used to. The other thing, too, it's going to be much more difficult to hold the lead. You can't put the ball and the game on ice with a 24-second clock. It's going to change the game."

The lack of offense in college basketball is frequently cited as the primary reason for shortening the shot clock. Pecora, however, sees things differently. 

"I think lack of scoring is dictated by the defense and the way you're allowed to defend," he said. "It's just so physical defensively now. It's not the game that was played 20, 30 years ago where it was a beautiful, seamless, flowing offensive game. Now it's a bump and grind. You have to do it. Everybody does it. Everybody coaches it that way. It's become physical.

"The other thing is the court size hasn't changed and the bodies have, especially on the highest level. Try to put four guys in that lane. They can't be next to each other without banging into each other."

Asked what effects a shorter shot clock would have on his current team (Fordham is 8-16 overall and 3-10 in the Atlantic 10), Pecora said it comes down to experience.

"I think it would hurt a young team, it would help a veteran team," he said. "We're young. Like anything, especially if it became an immediate change, it would be good to have a veteran team that's accustomed to playing a little bit quicker."

Any change would need approval from both the Men's Basketball Rules Committee and the Playing Rules Oversight Panel, ESPN reported in the article.

Also of note, the NCAA announced earlier this month that it will experiment with a 30-second shot clock at this year's National Invitation Tournament.

"It will probably change a lot of things people do over summer workouts and what you do in the fall," Pecora said about any potential change. "I think it will be interesting to see how it plays out in year one."

Unless otherwise noted, quotations in this article were obtained firsthand.

Charles Costello covers the Fordham Rams for Bleacher Report. A full archive of his articles can be found here. Follow him on Twitter: @CFCostello