Jay Bilas fixes basketball

I like Jay Bilas.  I don't love him, but I like him.

I like him a lot more after yesterday.

In a two and a half minute tour de force of a video (I skipped the last 30 seconds), Bilas lays out three easy steps we can take to start fixing college basketball.  The headline only calls out the shot clock, but there is more.  Here's your summary:

1. Change the shot clock.  At 35 seconds, men's college basketball is the slowest game in the world.  The women use a 30-second clock, and the rest of the world uses a 24-second clock.  24 seconds is plenty of time to run a set and get a shot.  What happens today when a team can't get a good look out of their set?  With about 10 seconds left on the shot clock, the point guard pulls the ball out, stands around, and hoists a 3-pointer with 2 seconds left on the clock.  By changing the shot clock, you're not depriving a team of a chance at a good shot - you're just shaving off the time that is wasted before the desperation heave.
2. Go to quarters.  I don't actually agree with the specific change (halves are fine), but I do agree with its intent:  taking timeouts away from the coaches.  Be honest.  When a coach calls a timeout with 11:59 on the game clock, you cringe.  If the inbound pass is tipped back out of bounds after that stoppage, the game goes straight to a media timeout.  It's ridiculous.  My solution?  Three media timeouts per half (instead of the current 4), and one less full timeout for each coach.  It is typically 3 minutes from the moment a full timeout is called until the ball is back in play, so that alone cuts over 10 minutes from the longest games.  Even more important to me, the game feels far less choppy.  Basketball is a game of rhythm and runs.
3. Take the rules away from the coaches.  It's currently coaches sitting on the rules committee, and coaches are necessarily biased.  They will naturally look out for their interests over the interests of the game at large.  Where I really started pumping my fist is around the 2 minute mark when he starts talking about the block/charge call.  College basketball started down the "freedom of movement" road last year and then bailed, which is really unfortunate.  Watch an NBA game sometime and count how many times you see a defender try to draw a charge.  It almost never happens.  Why?  Because if they're in position, they're defending, and if they're out of position, they're fouling to prevent a layup or stepping out of the way to prevent a 3-point play.  Excessive charge calls discourage players from driving aggressively to the basket (bad for the game) and encourage defenders to try to draw a foul instead of challenging a shot (bad for the game).  It's time to get it fixed.

Jay Bilas is an important voice in college basketball, and when he talks, people listen.  In this case, let's hope those with the power to change things also have the will.

[ESPN]