Indiana high school basketball players won't have to up the tempo anytime soon.
The Indiana High School Athletic Association board of directors voted against a proposal to implement a 35-second shot clock on Monday. According to the ISHAA, only one person voted in favor of adding a shot clock to boys and girls varsity games for the 2028-29 school year, despite 68 percent of surveyed Indiana coaches supporting the measure.
The result disappointed many onlookers, including a former local basketball star. Rapheal Davis, who played at Purdue after attending La Lumiere High School in LaPorte County, condemned the decision on social media.
Davis suggested that the lack of a shot clock is hurting the development of Indiana's young basketball players.
"Indiana High School basketball chooses to stay behind the game," Davis wrote. "This is likely a reason why half of the only Nike program in the state is from outside Indiana. Remember one of their scouts saying, 'These kids just aren't good enough anymore."
Commissioner explains shot-clock decision
IHSAA commissioner Paul Neidig discussed the board's decision during a Monday interview on Indiana's WISH-TV.
"Tradition certainly carries a lot here in Indiana," Neidig said. "Maybe more than other states."
Neidig argued that the absence of a shot clock hasn't posed a noticeable problem to fix.
"When we looked at the stats, I think one of the things our board considered was the number of possessions that actually extend beyond 35 seconds in a game," he said. "And when you average only two (possessions) in a game that extend beyond 35 seconds, you say, 'Do we really have an issue in Indiana?'"
However, Neidig and the board didn't want to eliminate that option if a coach considered it the optimal strategy. While anonymous coaches surveyed favored a shot clock, just 24.4 percent of Indiana high school administrators supported it.
"We believe we have some of the best coaches in the country," Neidig continued. "They have a high level of skills; their student-athletes are skilled. And if they need to win a game by possession control and give their kids an opportunity to work the ball to get to the best shot, do we really want to be in the business of taking that tool away from the great coaches that we have?"
