Coaches Confidential: What changes would you like to see MSHSAA and area basketball make?
At the end of the 2023-24 high school basketball season, the News-Leader reached out to many coaches in the area with several questions to answer with anonymity. We will run a few of these stories throughout the week.
Today's question: What changes would you like to see MSHSAA and southwest Missouri area basketball make?
Here are the responses by head basketball coaches throughout the area.
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Personally, I would like to see the shot clock and I have no beef with MSHSAA they do a great job for us and catch a lot of heat. If I had to say it would be to make the final four the four best teams if possible instead of trying to represent geographic regions.
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Private and public schools should be separate. The "championship factor" does NOT benefit Class 6, at all. When you have one team that is beating teams so bad that one team decides to just forfeit the first round of districts then it's a problem. When the same team wins year after year after year (x7) then it's a problem.
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Neutral sites for postseason play after districts. I experienced this firsthand at Lee's Summit. Their tablebook messed up big time on a call and didn't have the right amount of fouls for a kid who should have fouled out. Since it was "his book" we had to go with what he had. It should be at a neutral site run by a neutral score table.
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We desperately need a shot clock in the state of Missouri.
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Until it is finally approved, I will harp each year on the addition of the shot clock. The debate is usually centered around making the game more exciting versus less skilled teams being able to slow it down and make games more competitive. Although I appreciate this aspect of the debate, my main focus is on skill development. A shot clock would require teams to develop more competent players with the ball
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State quarterfinals need to be at a neutral site. Shot clock needs to be added.
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Definitely the shot clock. It's the only thing that should matter to local coaches. Currently, every surrounding state touching Missouri will have a shot clock starting next season.
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Need the shot clock incorporated into larger classes since the smaller classes do not want it. Almost every state around us has it and we are falling behind the game. Also, state championships need to be in Springfield to get it back to three days instead of four.
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I believe that sectional and quarterfinal games should be moved back to neutral sites with bigger gyms that can hold all of the people who would like to watch. Leave the district tournaments alone and continue to assign those geographically. Once those are over I think you should seed out the remaining 16 teams and play the sectional and quarterfinal at one location on a Friday and Saturday. Then have your traditional Final Four at Columbia. I believe these games would be well attended. This would ensure your best games for the most part are the final weekend.
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I liked the two-free-throws rule. I don't see a shot clock coming in and I am not in favor of it. I would like MSHSAA to run their postseason more like a tournament, that way if the two best teams are in the same district they can possibly meet in the championship.
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Shot clock and MSHSAA postseason to change district alignments and re-seed so we stop having situations where three state-ranked teams in one district and another district clearly has less talent.
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Shot clock. Higher seed hosts district games. Neutral sites for sectionals and quarterfinals.
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Shot clock and put all five SPS programs in the Blue & Gold every year.
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We need a shot clock and neutral site games for playoffs.
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Give us the shot clock. I would like to see the season start a week later and end a week sooner. I like it when a high school final four is played before the major college conference tournaments.
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I would like to see the one-seed and the two-seed get to host the first two rounds of districts and the district championship would go to the one-seed location. This is especially relevant for Class 5 and Class 6. I hate the 4 p.m. district game and the 9:30 p.m. district game.
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The obvious answer here is the shot clock. It adds layers of strategy to the game and makes late-game playmaking extremely important. Secondly, I think having neutral sites for post-district games would be a nice change however I understand that there are a lot of logistical/financial issues at play there. High school athletics are unfortunately not profit-making ventures so being creative in how all of the postseason tournaments are put on will be important to putting the best "product" out there.
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I think we are ready for a shot clock. Many other states use it and I think it could make the game more fun.
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I would like to see a move to 10-minute quarters. I think with the new foul rules we are seeing a decrease in the amount of free throws. There were a lot of quarters this year where we did not get anywhere close to five fouls to get to the bonus and neither did our opponent. I think that will add more scoring to games but also increase the number of possessions to really let the five-foul count be impactful. I think this would also help coaches with some substitution issues and allow for more development.
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I would like to see an addition of four games. I think with how long our season already is, we could easily add two to four games. Twenty-six regular season games is a lot but not when you are looking at other states. I think this would fill up our tournaments and we would not have to cram so many conference games in at the end.
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The thing I’d like to see change is more of a society thing than just basketball. I’d like to see coaches, players and fans show respect to officials more. I’d like to see coaches, players and parents work together better to bring about unity and stop some of the division we see so prevalent today. I’d like to see competition bring out the best in people and not the worst.
Wyatt D. Wheeler is a reporter and columnist with the Springfield News-Leader. You can contact him at 417-371-6987, by email at wwheeler@news-leader.com or X at @WyattWheeler_NL.
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Springfield area high school basketball coaches confidential changes
