Each season shapes and reshapes every sport. In many instances, the effects are short-term in nature. In some instances, the effects reach well into the future and cast a long shadow over the rest of the industry. In just about every instance beyond the immediacy of who wins and loses, it’s hard to know if a given season owns a 10- or 20-year level of impact.
Just exactly how did the 2014-2015 college basketball season change the sport? Did the season change the industry in ways that will still be felt 20 years from now?
Our roundtable tackles short-term questions and long-term ideas in an always-fascinating theater of activity.
Do note that while each panelist offers five answers, he will explain one of them in slightly greater detail.
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JOSEPH NARDONE
1) Coaching changes. It is insane, but many big names left for greener pastures, not to mention that some household ones (Ben Howland, Rick Barnes) found new homes.
The season — its successes and failures — made a huge impact on the coaching carousel in a way I don’t think college basketball has witnessed in some time. Whether or not the coaches end up being good hires doesn’t seem all that relevant right now. The size and stature of the names moving from school to school, or in some cases not coaching at all, is huge.
2) It didn’t directly change anything, but the 2015 season was the last — that we know of — with the 35-second shot-clock.
3) A respect and appreciation for the AAC grew more than I think people imagined. It was already getting there thanks to UConn, but now it feels closer to being a major power conference than a mid-major.
4) The opposite holds true for the Big East. Being a longtime homer for the league, it is worrisome that it doesn’t have as many truly good teams as it did in the past. Perception is everything.
5) Rules changes: College basketball is forever tinkering with its rules. However, most of the time the officials abandon them on their own. While still not perfect, the referees are now forced heading into the 2015-’16 season to uphold the rules as written. That’s not a direct correlation to the 2015 season, but we’ll take it.
RYAN PALENCER
1) Some mid-major coaches took the plunge to larger schools.
2) One-and-dones continued to reign supreme.
3) The target on Kansas has gotten even larger.
4) Avery Johnson makes his coaching return to his alma mater at Alabama.
5) Non-conference schedules — how strong they were — continued to play a key role in NCAA tournament selection.
I’ll talk about the coaching angle (item No. 1):
With Shaka Smart heading to Texas and Steve Prohm taking the plunge to Iowa State, the distance that was once closed (or at least narrowed) by mid-major programs in relationship to the top conferences is now widening again. For at least a few years, the coaches staying pat at the mid-major schools allowed for enough stability for them to build into powers. Now, only time will tell if that pattern stays in place at those schools… not to mention the coaches themselves. Everyone will be monitoring Gregg Marshall after this season at Wichita State.
I have to duck in a word about one-and-dones: With Duke winning the national title, and Kentucky being a serious contender, it was proof again that building a team for one season with ultra-talented players may be the way to go in college basketball.
MATT ZEMEK
1) The shortening of the shot clock
2) The exposure of goaltending rules as deficient
This is the item I wish to say more about:
The goaltending call at the end of the UCLA-SMU game was not an incorrect call. It was the proper rulebook call. Yet, it did insult everyone’s intelligence.
Everyone could see that the ball at least had a chance of hitting the front of the rim and, perhaps, spinning into the basket. Sure, it was a percentage chance one would place at or below five percent, but that’s more than a zero-percent chance. Goaltending rules state that a shot must have absolutely no chance of going into the basket if a defender is to swat or pluck the ball in its downward trajectory.
Clearly, this rule needs to be revised, much as basket interference rules also cry out for revision.
Goaltending should apply to shots which have not just any chance, but a reasonable chance, of going in. That’s common sense. Basket interference should also be severely reduced in scope, such that players can go buffet-style on the glass and immediately dunk or tip balls that are within the cylinder. This makes basketball more a game of free-flowing movement, instead of inviting rugby scrums under the basket while players wait for the ball to clear the cylinder.
The 2014-2015 season showed why these rules need to change. Hopefully, acutal change isn’t too far off.
3) Programs can change methods and succeed (Duke going to the one-and-done model and winning it all).
4) Coaches managed to shed some baggage. (Mark Few and Mike Brey made the Elite Eight for the first time after a decade and a half of not getting there.)
5) Late-season losses can be blessings — more people need to realize this. (Gonzaga’s loss to BYU put the Zags in the South, with a much more favorable bracket compared to a West 2-seed.)
