Mark Smith commentary: 5 changes H.S. basketball needs

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Our state’s national claim to fame, other than the 500, Peyton Manning and John Dillinger, starts its 2012 run next week when the first of our two state high school basketball tournamets begins at schools big and small. From Whiting to Wapahani, from East Central to East Chicago.

But that doesn’t mean the game is perfect.

Oh, sure, basketball is still better than football, which has a Mickey Mouse overtime format and a season that starts in the middle of the summer.

And sure, prep basketball is better than baseball and softball, which won’t even play the regulation nine inning games.

But there are at least five things that cripple “Indiana’s game.” Change the rules to clean these five up and high school basketball would be so great it would turn Mitch Daniels Democratic. Let’s look at the needed changes again.

1. You must be standing up to call time out.

You can’t be flying out of bounds. You can’t be lying on the floor. You can’t be wresting with one of those juveniles on the other team. You must be standing up for the referee to give you a time out. It seems obvious.

2. After 12 team fouls each half, you get 3 shots.

After 10 fouls against the other side, each half, your team now gets two foul shots. But teams keep fouling to try to get a last chance to win.

After 12 fouls, give the fouled team three shots. You should win by playing the game. Basketball is the only sport where repeated violations of the rules can help you rally and win.

3. Stop the clock after a made basket.

This isn’t soccer. In the NBA, the clock stops after every basket and starts when the ball is thrown in bounds. It’s nothing special.

But in high school, the clock runs while a team that has just been scored on gets the ball and tosses it back in play. Why?

I think timekeepers at the high school level are adept enough to stop the clock after a made basket and restart it a moment later. This change would keep a team from standing out of bounds and holding the ball to erase the final three or four seconds of a half or a game.

4. Faking being fouled should be a technical foul.

Drama class is down the hall. If a shooter falls down intentionally while attempting a shot, trying to fool the referee, that basket should be disallowed and that player charged with a technical foul.

I’m aware that some coaches may teach players to fake getting fouled but it’s obscene in the amateur game. In high school as in life, it takes severe penalties to make people stop cheating.

5. The 5-second violation has to go

The five-second call stands alone as the worst rule in all of high school sports. If you dribble the ball and keep it away from your opponent for five seconds without moving towards the basket, you are called for a violation and you lose posession of the ball. There’s no good reason why.

The irony is: Dribbling is the most important skill for all high school basketball players and dribbling excellence should be honored. It’s crazy to penalize a player for successfully dribbling the ball.