[crosscountry55]

I don't think the shot clock is the ultimate answer. RI, right next door, has a shot clock, and I would dare say the quality of basketball is more worser than it is in CT. At least that was my observation in 2010 when I was there for a while.

I think making the game better in the northeast, mind you without need for a single rule change, is a matter of better officiating as a whole. Notice CT is a place where IAABO board shenanigans rule the roost and 2-person crews are the varsity norm. Same thing in RI. And no offense, BillyMac (present company accepted; I know that you at least care by the sheer fact that you're here all the time participating in the getting better process), but I saw a lot of old and slow guys in RI, because Board 84 is more interested in letting them keep working than developing new officials. So the game suffers. We set the tempo and the bounds, and coaches and players adapt.

On a separate note, for the purists out there who argue that NFHS basketball is not a proving ground for college basketball, I would counter that I'd rather an organization like NFHS, with an educational underpinning, serve that role than someone else like the AAU. At the very least, the game serves an educational purpose when the teamwork it promotes is fun. Simply winning doesn't always equate with fun. So if we change some rules to speed up the game and encourage more offense, I wouldn't be opposed at all. That would be fun for everyone, players and fans alike. Fun encourages teamwork, and teamwork feeds back to the educational mission to close the loop.