How new high school basketball foul rules are affecting TSSAA basketball season in Nashville
Lipscomb Academy boys basketball guard Nash Stark stepped to the free-throw line and sank two critical shots Tuesday.
They were critical makes in the final minute of the Mustangs’ 54-50 victory over Ensworth.
Last season, he would not have been shooting those free throws. The foul on Stark was the fifth committed by Ensworth in the quarter, thus initiating the bonus under a new National Federation of State High School Association rule that was adopted by the TSSAA. Last season, teams didn't reach the bonus until seven fouls in a quarter.
It’s one of several stipulations in the new rule. One-and-one free throw shots have also been eliminated and team fouls now reset after each quarter.
“There’s something to be said for (the change),” Lipscomb Academy coach Kevin Starks said. “Let’s say someone fouls eight times in the first quarter and two at the beginning of the second. Last year they’d be shooting two shots the rest of the half. This year they don’t.”
The NBA and women’s college basketball use the same rule.
Teams previously reached the one-and-one bonus after opponents committed seven fouls in one half, and would receive two foul shots in the double bonus when 10 fouls were committed each half.
Starks’ wife, Becky, coaches the Lipscomb Academy girls. They made 10-of-12 free throws in a 58-47 win over Ensworth.
“When you’re the team that’s up in the end, there's a definite advantage if you get two shots at the line every time, right?” Becky Starks said. “It feels better to me to get a clean slate each quarter. I like the (foul) reset.
“In the big scheme of things, I don’t know that it makes a big difference.”
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Sentimental basketball fans might miss the pressure-packed one-and-one free throw situations that have been a high school staple. A missed shot on the front end was a blown opportunity to claw back into a game.
“I like the one-and-one,” Montgomery Bell Academy coach Kevin Anglin said. “You’ve got to go up to the line and knock something down or possibly come up empty.
“In theory, it makes it harder if you’re playing from behind. I don’t think we’ve seen that yet in our season, but we certainly could.”
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There were initial questions about whether the rule would affect pace of games or how they were officiated. The NFHS, which passed the rule last spring, said its rules committee studied data that showed higher injury rates on rebounding situations and saw this as a chance to limit rough play. Its hope was that resetting fouls would make games flow better.
Nolensville boys coach Drew Giuduce spent the past two seasons coaching at Brookwood High School in Georgia, a state that had been piloting the rule.
"I was a big fan of it," Giuduce said. "I sent out a big email last year around this time asking anyone (in Tennessee) if they were interested in (the change). I was really happy to see it go through. It eliminates the second-quarter and fourth-quarter free-throw shooting contest that no one is there to watch. You're there to watch them play basketball. It creates a better flow and you get to play so many more possessions."
Reach sports writer Tyler Palmateer at tpalmateer@tennessean.com and on the X platform, formerly Twitter, @tpalmateer83.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: TSSAA basketball: Nashville area coaches react to new foul rule
