Posted on: Friday, June 13, 2003

Shot clock for girls hoops up for vote

By Wes Nakama
Advertiser Staff Writer

KA'ANAPALI, Maui — A recommendation for a shot clock in high school girls basketball passed by a 15-14 vote at the Hawai'i Interscholastic Athletic Directors Association conference yesterday, but the proposal must now go to a general assembly vote of the 82 member schools represented at the Sheraton Maui this morning.

Wednesday night, a recommendation for a Division II football tournament passed by the same tally, but that one is likely to win today's general assembly vote because the opposition mostly came from one league — the 22-member O'ahu Interscholastic Association. The shot clock debate is split more equally among the state's five leagues, so it's anyone's guess as to how today's vote will turn out.

"It's going to be close, but we just wanted to get it out of committee and onto the (general assembly) floor," said Mel Imai, the OIA's girls basketball coordinator who submitted the proposal. "The feeling is (shot clocks) will be here eventually, so we wanna try to see if we can do it now."

Although shot clocks are standard in college and professional basketball, only seven states currently mandate them for high schools. The national federation also does not promote shot clocks as a guideline.

But the issue was raised at the OIA girls basketball postseason evaluation meeting (it was not raised at the league's boys meeting), and it became a public debate after Punahou tried to dribble away the final minutes of its 56-52 victory over Kahuku in the state championship game four weeks ago. After the recommendation was passed yesterday, another vote was taken to see if the committee would agree on 45 seconds as the shot clock time. That vote ended up 17-4 in favor, with eight abstentions.

Three Interscholastic League of Honolulu athletic directors — Iolani's Carl Schroers and Judy Hiramoto and Pac-Five's John Hom — raised concerns about the shot clock.

Schroers said it would give an advantage to a team with more talent, because a coach will no longer have a delay offense as an option. Hiramoto pointed out that some girls programs may view a shot clock as a negative thing that is imposed on them but not the boys, which could lead to gender-equity complaints.

And Hom said a shot clock might force younger teams into taking bad shots and might hamper a coach who wants to teach players to work patiently for a good attempt at the basket.

"Some of us in the ILH don't feel that a shot clock would be good for developing players," Hom said. "In our league, at the intermediate level, we have some teams that have a hard time just bringing the ball up past halfcourt."

Combining teams not allowed

The same committee that approved the shot clock also voted down a proposal to allow "combined teams" to participate in state tournaments. A recommendation to allow students from public charter schools, Anuenue (a Hawaiian immersion school), a McKinley-based "E-School" (on-line education) and the Hawai'i Center for the Deaf and the Blind to play for their area schools in state tournaments passed by a 29-0 vote.

But Pac-Five, a conglomeration of up to 20 small private schools that uses different combinations of players to form its teams, does not fall under that category. A separate proposal to allow teams like Pac-Five to compete in state tournaments lost by a 15-9 vote, although a "minority report" was requested so that it still will go up for a vote at the general assembly this morning.

"We're hoping it gets consideration on the floor," Hom said. "(Opponents') main concern was that with Anuenue and the school for the deaf, it's definitive and clear exactly where the players are coming from. But with Pac-Five, it can fluctuate — it can be (players from) three schools one year, or six schools another year. The unknown factor, that's their concern."

Hom added that athletic opportunities are federally mandated for the public-school charter/immersion/deaf and blind students under so-called "no child gets left behind" laws. Pac-Five athletes, as members of private institutions, are not guaranteed the same right.

Hom said "we asked for equity" regarding Pac-Five, but most committee members did not see it that way.

"If it was the same (few) schools all the time, I think we could live with that," said Imai, the athletic director at Kailua High School. "But they have 20 schools and can make all kinds of different combinations any time, so that's different."

The issue drew much attention this past year after the Pac-Five boys soccer team finished second in the ILH but was not eligible to accept the league's second berth in the state tournament.