I went to a ballgame the other night with the new 2 halves instead of the 4 quarters. I have been to many college games in which they of course use the 2 halves system for many years know, but with high school basketball, I am so used to the quarter breaks, it was just kind of weird. Most of these players are no where near the athletic condition of a college athlete, the dedication, or the ability of a college player, yet they are supposed to try to accomplish this daunting task. Yes, if you are the BIG schools, you can probably pull it off somewhat with a little more depth but they still are not collegized yet. Some may say that they have to start sometime and I say this may be, but as the situations go, they are still teammates with freshman, sophomore, and juniors, that are expected to keep up the pace with the stud, but even the stud has a big eye opening when they enter the land of the giants. Another aspect I think that is missing from not having quarter breaks, is the teaching aspect by the coaches to get the team disciplined in a clock situation, not usually crucial at every quarter, but does give them the practice of patience and calmness of when it does come down to the end of the game and it is close, then if tied, goes to OT and again they can draw somewhat on their clock experiences once again. These kids need to handle this and need to practice these fundamentals of basketball, which by the way, includes a little bit a ball handling to boot. They freak out enough when there is ten seconds left and often just shoot the ball from the half line with 5 seconds left and air ball it. Then they look at the coach with glassy eyes and say "somebody told me to shoot it!" I say let the coaches have 4 quarters back, teach them situations, and quit trying to push the kids into something they cannot handle without the proper repetition in a game situation. Doing it at practice will not do it because there are no screaming fans there to panic them! So this is my observation, maybe some of you agree or not, but hopefully this may have gotten the ball rolling...which also reminds me that this is also something that could be practiced with quarters--- rolling the ball as clock doesn't start until touched.
Don't butcher me, please just interact .....