Come next winter, gone will be the days of Connecticut high school basketball teams chewing several minutes of game clock to hold onto the lead. The need to intentionally foul will not kick in until later in games, if at all. Scores as ridiculously low as the baffling 4-2, baseball-like, final between a pair of Oklahoma schools this past February will be basically impossible to match as long as the rims aren’t moved something like 30 feet off the ground.

This is because the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference’s Basketball Committee — earlier this school year — approved a 35 second shot clock for basketball beginning in the 2023-24 season.

“I think it’s going to make the overall high school game for girls and boys much better,” Newtown High School Athletic Director Matt Memoli said. “You’ve got to play all four quarters. I’m looking forward to it.”

So, too, is Jeremy O’Connell, head coach of the NHS girls. Sure, O’Connell — not unlike many if not all coaches — has taken advantage of the lack of a shot clock to institute a passing, stall-ball style of play to protect leads, but on the whole he is excited about the pickup in pace of play being in effect.

“I can’t wait — we can’t wait. Granted, we had some possessions where we took time off the clock,” O’Connell said. “You can’t run a couple minutes off the clock anymore. We love that it’s going to up the pace. People can’t hold the ball all game. There’s a lot of things we’re going to need to change because of that.”

Throughout this past winter, O'Connell's team regularly played low-scoring games, including holding opponents in the 20s during half of the 20 regular-season tilts — a product of both Newtown's defensive-minded style and there not being much a rush to shoot the ball. The latter will change next winter so we might expect less final scores in the low-30s and 40s.

O’Connell noted that the institution of a shot clock will have its biggest impact at the ends of games when teams focus on holding onto leads.

One coach who is not crazy about the shot clock is Tim Tallcouch, who retired following this past season — having nothing to do with the anticipated implementation of the shot clock — and, thus, will not have to make changes to his coaching style.

“As a veteran coach I would not like the shot clock. I don’t think I beat Crosby at Crosby and I don’t think I beat Immaculate at Immaculate,” Tallcouch said of his Newtown team’s upset road victories in the state playoffs at Crosby in Waterbury and at Immaculate of Danbury in the conference tourney in recent years.

“I just think you’re rewarding teams that are good anyway,” Tallcouch added.

Tallcoach is a fan of Cinderella stories on the basketball court and no shot clock allowed his underdog squad to eat up about six minutes of game time during a trio of long possessions and fit into that glass slipper with a win at Immaculate in the 2022 South-West Conference Tournament.

“That’s the way you’re going to beat teams you’re not supposed to beat,” Tallcouch added.

Shot Clock Equipment And More

Adding shot clocks to gymnasiums means an additional seat at the scorer’s table. In addition to the official scorer, visiting team scorer, and game clock operator, there will be a shot clock operator. Memoli said he is hoping to find somebody knowledgeable about the game of basketball, such as a retired official or coach, to man the clock. This person will have his or her share of responsibility and needs to be closely in tune with everything happening on the court.

“You have to pay very close attention to when a team has possession, loses possession, when to stop and start it,” Memoli said.

The clocks will be affixed to the sides of each basket, on the back and front gymnasium walls. Total cost is $5,469 and includes two OES shot clocks and receivers, screens to protect the clocks from the ball, installation, and a wireless receiver.

The shot clocks will be installed during the summer as part of an NHS gym floor renovation. Installed in 2009 when the new gym building went up, the court is overdue to be sanded and re-lined, with a fresh Nighthawk logo put on the court, said Memoli, adding that the typical lifespan for a high school gym floor is eight to ten years. The court overhaul is in the school budget, and donations will cover the expense of a video board that will go above the scoreboard on the gym entry wall.

Sports Editor Andy Hutchison can be reached at andyh@thebee.com.