Original college shot clock
 

I remember when the original college shot clock was introduced in 1985 that it was 45 seconds and it was reset not when it hit the rim but when the shot was in mid-air instead of the conventional when the ball hit the rim. Watching a re-run of the Duke Louisville championship game in the 1986 Final Four recently reminded me of that.

My question is what the NCAA used as the standard as to what was the difference between a shot and a 'alley-oop' pass and isn't giving a shot clock operator who may not know much about basketball the responsibility to delineate that during a game on moments notice kind of silly?

Perhaps that's why they changed the rule?

I don't know, I wasn't alive.

I'm not sure this is a concern at the upper levels. It might be a concern at, for instance, the D-INFINITY level. ;)