Geno Auriemma's request
 

Coach of UConn made a request to change the women's rules to lower the rim.

Do any of you think this is a good change or a horrible suggestion in the first place.

Peace

Yahoo! Sports: Geno Auriemma’s Proposal
 

Would Geno Auriemma/s proposal for lower rims in women's hoops lead to higher interest? | The Dagger: College Basketball Blog - Yahoo! Sports

*Merged my thread with Rut's since we made them at about the same time*

Completely impractical.

Most gyms, even at the smaller NCAA schools, would have to be refit to have rims that could be lowered. Only the biggest schools/venues probably have adjustable systems of the quality required by NCAA standards.

Then, by extension, you'd want to change the HS height to match so that players at the HS level would play on the same level as they would in college. And THAT is not going to happen.

In addition to all of the facilities issues, it would only help a few top teams that get the biggest/tallest players. I think it would hurt Women's basketball overall as it would create a bigger divide between the top teams and the rest.


The 10' rim works fine for even thousands of men's college players who don't typically dunk. It isn't particularly harder for a 5'6" guard to shoot a jumpshot into a 10' rim that it would be into a 9' rim or compared to a 6'0" guard doing the same.

No More Nights Off
 

Great. After this bleeds down to the Fed, we'll need to watch for BI and GT for girls' games. :eek:

QUESTION: Have any of you ever called a BI or GT in any high school girls' game? It would be interesting to hear about if you have. At least to me.

OK, let us take away the cost factor. I know that would be an issue and probably the main reason it would not happen anytime soon.

What if they could do this tomorrow? Would this be something you would be for and if so why? If not why?

Peace

I'm not sure I'd care. I get to the gym and call the game. So what?

In the HS GV games I've done no one comes close to the rim. BI and GT are not an issue and I don't anticipate lowering the basket would change that.

Would they shoot better? I have no idea.

Will it change the talent and athleticism on the floor. Nope.

Hitting from the red tees still hasn't improved the "watchability" of womens golf.

I'm with grunewar, I don't think I'd notice. It might make UConn games marginally more exciting, for three to five plays per game, but that wouldn't be worth such a drastic move.

dont watch women's basketball, probably never will other than the new lingerie league, so no it doesnt matter to me what height they put the rim at.

I think he wants attention. Can you imagine the filtering down to HS and the expense of having two different heights needed for rims? They already have a smaller basketball. They could always add a 6th player.

Good idea, they could then split the court in two so the poor girls wouldn't get so tired.

For one, I don't think Geno Auriemma is concerned about the costs for high school. Second, JRut said assume that cost/logistics isn't an issue.

And hitting from the senior tees hasn't helped my golf game any. I just miss hit the ball with a different club. My power fade (or the 2 fairway slice) still rears its ugly head. :

Fire Up The Flux Capacitor ...
 

Back to the future? Didn't high school girls in a Midwest state fight to do away with this many years ago?

I think the subject is getting all the mocking it deserves.

I'm sure you know this, but pro women play from ~6,400 to 6,700 yards which are either white or blue tees.

It wasn't that many years ago in Iowa and it was within the past 15 years that Iowa girls started the game with a coin toss instead of a jump ball *embarrassed*

-Josh

Hopefully Mark T. DeNucci, Sr. Won't Read This Post ...
 

Sign me up. I'll bring the coin. How about a 1973 Eisenhower dollar?

I use a 1976 (1776-1976) dollar as my flipping coin in football. Bought it for $5 in a Maui coin store 7 years ago.

In response to the difficulty question....


I play in and know of at least 2 gyms locally that use adjustable height backboards. They seem to be very common around here in elementary and middle school gyms. There is a manual hook thing wich gets inserted into a loop thing on the backboard and then the hook thing gets twisted and the entire hoop either rises or falls. It is like a giant screw and the backboard goes up or down. It is very simple. You turn the mechanism until it will not turn and then it is at the max and it is 10'. Very simple and it must not be cost prohibitive because the towns I am talking about are very cheap with their gyms fixtures. This method is by hand it takes just a few minutes to raise or lower the hoop/backboard.

Iowa did away with 6-on-6 girls basketball in the smaller schools after the 1993-1994 season (the last season was my freshman year of high school, which is why I remember that). The larger schools had been playing 5-on-5 for quite a while before that.

Pretty sure the coin toss went away at the same time, but I'm not 100% certain on that.

Anyway, I'm not sure that lowering the rim would help any; in fact, immediately after the change it would probably hurt the level of play. Think about it: You have players who have developed the muscle memory and timing and coordination to shoot/rebound/position on a 10' rim, and now suddenly they're having to adjust to a 9' or 9'3" rim?

Two points.

1. The cost to replace existing baskets would, by itself,be prohibitive for many schools for whom basketball does not generate positive revenue.

2. The elementary schools are not, most likely, using baskets that would be sturdy enough to even handle the abuse given to the rims at most big high schools.

Increasing the size of the rim (technical and cost considerations not withstanding) would seem to address Gino's stated problems and not mess up the muscle memory.

I'd have to double check, but I think you're one year off on the last season of 6-6 (the IGHAU website lists all their champions of the past). I know for a fact that the coin toss long outlived the 6-6 game.

To me, it sounds like he wants to see women dunking the ball ... not necessarily more or higher scoring. In either case, I don't think it would improve the quality of play.

It does when watching Natalie Gulbis

Let's clear up a few things:
1) Is the financial issue a big "roadblock" - Yes.
2) Lowering the basket height would ABSOLUTELY increase FG %.
3) Lower baskets actually reduce a teams' reliance on tall players....RAISING the basket would place a premium on player height.
4) It would take all of 2 weeks for players to adjust - they would be able to shoot more accurately and from a longer distance rather quickly.
5) Mock women's basketball all you want; their game is significantly closer to the ideal of Dr. James Naismith - fundamentals and skill.

Sure, but if people are bored to death watching it?

Naismith invented the game as a physical education activity, too, not necessarily something people would want to watch by the millions.

I will just throw this out there....

Several years ago, I was officiating in a few different Boys and Girls Clubs in my area. One club decided to use 9 foot rims for their youngest league, I think it was 8 and 9 year olds. Those games usually ended up with scores in the 40's for each team, depending on the players skill levels. At the other clubs where they kept the 10 foot rims for the same age group, it was rare to see a team score much above 20 points for a game, same length of game time.

Maybe some parallels????

"Hey Abbott!" ...
 

I'll flip you for it. Heads, I win. Tails, you lose.

Other than increasing dunks, which might nudge the overall percentage up a tad ... why do you think a lower basket would increase FG%? It might at the ages that actually have trouble throwing it that high... but not with high school or above.

I don't think there are any parallels here...on one hand, you are talking about young kids who physically can't chuck the ball that high. On the other, you are talking about 19-23/24 year old women who most certainly can.

The NCAA and Fed. have already made the ball smaller to accomodate the women players not having the same physical strength as the male players...to now also lower the rim is simply ridiculous, imo.

Not to speak for twocents, let me take a stab at it.

Many shots that would go through a 10' basket would also go through a 9' basket (high arcing shots I should think). Then low arcing shots which would not go through (or perhaps even hit) a 10' basket should go through a 9' basket.

If the number of low arcing shots gained is bigger than the number lost (and I don't see why it shouldn't be), it will take less accuracy to hit the basket and shooting percentage should go up.

If lowering the basket by a foot would allow those low arcing shots of which you speak to actually enter the basket, then those shots must currently be hitting somewhere near the bottom of the net...I am not buying that.

For those ages, it was probably common for several shots to not even make it 10' above the floor. That is due to a gross lack of skill and lack of strength. Women (usually) are much taller and stronger than 8 and 9 year old kids.