3 mos 68 much of a saneness of f play: BLE » fl
; 3 fron the elimination?

RE TEE OA A ESE ; ea f its
~ Such has not been our experience. In ganes played one-half with
and Oonewhalf without the tipxoff, the only reaction experienced has been
the consciousness of the lull or letedown caused by the tipeoff when
useds The reaction in this regard has been purely one of impatience at

the unnecessary break in the pontinulty of the ‘play.

Further, as earlier pointod ‘OUt, the. elinination has led to a tene
‘dency to force the other tean in the back court fron tine to tine, thus
necessitating | a total change | of nethod by the offenses ©

Le Wild a toan behind in the sgore’ at the end -
|. by tho change?

    

‘No such reaction b's been vodieda on behalf of any of eteg nuherous

teams, conference and non-conference, who have been playing without the
tips As earlier indicated, the tendency at the end of a losing gane is
to force the opponents in their back court, with a particular eye to ine

1,

tercepting passes. In other words, both teams are on offense. And,

while under either systén the percentage is is always against the team that

is behind, the chances of the "forcing" team are by no means as hopeless
as they may seem to appear. As randon examples, we may cite two ganes
in the Southern Divisione In one the home team was four points behind.
with ten seconds to go. In that tine they scored twice and forced: the
gane into over tine, a thing they could not have done with the tip~off,
In the other the visiting teat was three points behind with fifteen sete

'.onds tO goOe They were fouled, shot-the free throw, intercepted wie: wane

in under their basket and scored, again forcing an overtine. °"

In other words; a:gamble is a~gamble, under either situation; accord-
ingly, based upon experience under both types of play, it is our opinion
that the team that is behind is-certainly no worse: off under the new method
than under the old. Indeed, it is probably better off, for by forcing
the play in the back court it is opening up the game, which is the last
thing in the world the other team wants to do. ‘And once the game is open-

ed Us any thing can happen, as ee oe. by the we ‘instances ‘given ADOVE «

Se Will: the change make the game toot ae: so as

to cause an undue strain upon the players?

—~-

ane Mention has earlier been made of thé. continuity. of play and the added
playing time made possible under the elimination, As far as making the
game too fast is concerned, it may be pointed out that the tempo of the
play is still regulated by the requirements of the system employed by the
two opponents. Hence, there is no change in this respect from the situae
tiomunder the tipeoff. It is true, however, that whatever the tempo, the
actual playing time is increased. bes this detrimental to the players?

5 The evidence afforded by three years' experience. without: the tip-off
is to the contrary So far as the centers are concerned, they are oute

-. spoken in their relief at being freed from the fatigue caused by. the jump»
- And the other. players are equally outspoken. in their belief that, freed

from the crashing and spills incidental to the jump, they are. ‘able to play
better basketball. No fatigue complaints attributable to the change in
style have been received, nor has any staleness resulted therefrom.

wee! B ~ :
~ lee ¥s