High School Hoops Mercy Rule A Miss
October 19, 2021 at 11:15 p.m.
By Roger Grossman-
We were blessed with a lot of guards in the program at the time, and I would not have played much if I had been full-time on the varsity.
It was the right place for me to be, and I benefited from that assignment. We had a very good JV season and scored over 60 points three times in the time before the three-point shot was implemented.
I played in only a couple of varsity games that season, including three minutes at the end of a blowout loss to Glenn in the sectional. I scored four points that night at Plymouth, and I will never forget running past legendary broadcasters Rick Derf and Corky Lingle to check into the game, realizing that they were about to say my name on the radio.
The two other games I remember getting into earlier that season were games in which we were expected to win and Coach Phil Weybright pulled me aside before the JV game to tip me off that he was really hoping to get me in the game if the score allowed him to.
I cannot lie—it was a huge boost to my morale. It didn’t really change the way I approached the JV game, but it sure did make the varsity warmup a lot more exiting.
The IHSAA announced last week that its executive committee had unanimously approved a “mercy rule” for high school basketball.
If you aren’t familiar, the concept of the “Mercy Rule” is to set a predetermined scoring differential in which the game either ends or the game is artificially sped up because the outcome is clear.
Baseball has had a mercy rule for as long as I can remember. If one team is ahead by 10 runs or more after five full innings, the game is over.
Football just added this a few years back, and it’s 35 points after halftime. Soccer has it now too, with a running clock after one team gets a five goal lead and the game is over with 20 minutes left if the deficit is nine or more.
Soccer plays with a running clock anyway, so it’s not as big of a deal.
Basketball new mercy rule will be 35 points after halftime. Once that margin is reached, the game clock will continue to run unabated with the exception of time outs, injuries, the end of the third quarter and for any free throws that will be taken.
Baseball’s rule has been in place for a long time and has proven to work well. Football’s rule has been in place now for three full seasons and it’s been effective.
For basketball, I am just not sure we need one. As a matter of fact, I think it will have a negative impact overall.
The running clock will shave a few minutes off the total time of the game. Shortening the game will keep the final score from getting any wider than it already is.
And I am all about not prolonging the inevitable. I am all about preserving the dignity of the team on the wrong end of a wide score, although getting “mercy ruled” carries with its own shame.
But what it will do is shorten the amount of time some younger and less-experienced players will get at the end of games. That time, like it was for me back in a day long gone by, is so important to the development and disposition of players down at the end of a team’s bench—the winning team’s and the losing team’s.
That time at the end of games is the reward for having to be the “scout team” for the main players during practice. It’s the “why” for those players. Everyone wants to play, and games where the outcome is not in doubt opens the door for those players.
This mercy rule slams that door on those players’ fingers.
I am especially worried about how this will affect girls’ basketball programs. Numbers are down in girls’ basketball anyway. How many schools only had enough girls to field a varsity team last season? Two in our area that I remember. How many will not this year?
A reduction in available playing time is only going to make the choice to not play basketball an easier one for young ladies and their families.
And no one wants that. The IHSAA doesn’t intend for that to happen, nor do schools. There’s no malice intended here. However, I see basketball’s mercy rule hurt the game just the same.
But it’s here for at least this coming season, and I am willing to give it a chance.
We were blessed with a lot of guards in the program at the time, and I would not have played much if I had been full-time on the varsity.
It was the right place for me to be, and I benefited from that assignment. We had a very good JV season and scored over 60 points three times in the time before the three-point shot was implemented.
I played in only a couple of varsity games that season, including three minutes at the end of a blowout loss to Glenn in the sectional. I scored four points that night at Plymouth, and I will never forget running past legendary broadcasters Rick Derf and Corky Lingle to check into the game, realizing that they were about to say my name on the radio.
The two other games I remember getting into earlier that season were games in which we were expected to win and Coach Phil Weybright pulled me aside before the JV game to tip me off that he was really hoping to get me in the game if the score allowed him to.
I cannot lie—it was a huge boost to my morale. It didn’t really change the way I approached the JV game, but it sure did make the varsity warmup a lot more exiting.
The IHSAA announced last week that its executive committee had unanimously approved a “mercy rule” for high school basketball.
If you aren’t familiar, the concept of the “Mercy Rule” is to set a predetermined scoring differential in which the game either ends or the game is artificially sped up because the outcome is clear.
Baseball has had a mercy rule for as long as I can remember. If one team is ahead by 10 runs or more after five full innings, the game is over.
Football just added this a few years back, and it’s 35 points after halftime. Soccer has it now too, with a running clock after one team gets a five goal lead and the game is over with 20 minutes left if the deficit is nine or more.
Soccer plays with a running clock anyway, so it’s not as big of a deal.
Basketball new mercy rule will be 35 points after halftime. Once that margin is reached, the game clock will continue to run unabated with the exception of time outs, injuries, the end of the third quarter and for any free throws that will be taken.
Baseball’s rule has been in place for a long time and has proven to work well. Football’s rule has been in place now for three full seasons and it’s been effective.
For basketball, I am just not sure we need one. As a matter of fact, I think it will have a negative impact overall.
The running clock will shave a few minutes off the total time of the game. Shortening the game will keep the final score from getting any wider than it already is.
And I am all about not prolonging the inevitable. I am all about preserving the dignity of the team on the wrong end of a wide score, although getting “mercy ruled” carries with its own shame.
But what it will do is shorten the amount of time some younger and less-experienced players will get at the end of games. That time, like it was for me back in a day long gone by, is so important to the development and disposition of players down at the end of a team’s bench—the winning team’s and the losing team’s.
That time at the end of games is the reward for having to be the “scout team” for the main players during practice. It’s the “why” for those players. Everyone wants to play, and games where the outcome is not in doubt opens the door for those players.
This mercy rule slams that door on those players’ fingers.
I am especially worried about how this will affect girls’ basketball programs. Numbers are down in girls’ basketball anyway. How many schools only had enough girls to field a varsity team last season? Two in our area that I remember. How many will not this year?
A reduction in available playing time is only going to make the choice to not play basketball an easier one for young ladies and their families.
And no one wants that. The IHSAA doesn’t intend for that to happen, nor do schools. There’s no malice intended here. However, I see basketball’s mercy rule hurt the game just the same.
But it’s here for at least this coming season, and I am willing to give it a chance.
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