Shot Clock Coming to HS Basketball

BOONE – Three recommendations from the joint committees of the Iowa High School Athletic Association and Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union have been recently approved by both boards for boys and girl’s competition in basketball, bowling, and track and field.

The IHSAA’s Board of Control unanimously voted the measures through at their annual summer meetings from Aug. 5-7, which will affect the bowling postseason and track and field schedule in the 2021-22 school year, and basketball in 2022-23.

The IHSAA and IGHSAU will use the NFHS allowance for state adoption to introduce a 35-second shot clock for varsity basketball, required of participating member schools starting in the 2022-23 season. Use of the shot clock in sub-varsity competition will be allowed but not required. With a date set for statewide implementation, experimental exceptions will not be granted during the 2021-22 regular season.

To encourage standardization among states, 35 seconds was the timing provided by NFHS approval. Further shot clock information and rule implementation will be provided by IHSAA and IGHSAU as it becomes available ahead of the 2022-23 season.

Starting in the 2021-22 season, the state meet and state qualifying meets will both team and individual tournaments. Team events will feature baker games, then a bracketed format at the state meet. Individual tournaments will be three games, including a bracket for the top eight individuals at the state meet. Details on host sites, qualifiers, and games will be provided by the IHSAA and IGHSAU before the start of the 2021-22 season.

Bowling classifications for boys and girls have also been changed to move the largest 32 programs by enrollment to Class 3A, the next largest 32 programs to Class 2A, and the remaining teams to Class 1A.

Following recommendations from the joint track and field advisory committee, the start date for the 2022 season has been updated to allow for more practice time ahead of spring competition. The first practice date will now be Monday, Feb. 21, ahead of the previous date of Monday, Feb. 28. The first competition date will remain Monday, March 7.