1985 Villanova-Georgetown Game - Rule Change

[billyjack]

So, my 2 young sons like watching college hoops with me. They pepper me with a lot of questions, like the 1-and-1 rule, the 5th timeout that doesn't carry over into the second half, and many others like jumpballs.

The other day i was reminded of a rule change that adjusted coaches' strategies at the end of games. There was a commonplace strategy that was eliminated once-and-for-all, i think, based on a heads-up play by David Wingate 30 years ago.

So, thru around 1985, if a team scored a field goal, the clock would keep running, even in the final seconds of the game. So what would happen is if the losing team had no timeouts, and scored a basket with fewer than 5 seconds, the game was effectively over. This is because the team in the lead would dillydally in picking up the ball, then would have the 5-second inbound period available to keep the game clock running.

For example (and this is before the 3-pt shot was in effect)... say PC was beating Boston College 80-77, and BC is out of timeouts... with 15 seconds to play, say the Eagles' Martin Clark fouled Friar Rickey Tucker for a 1-and-1... now, say Tucker misses the first shot... BC rebounds, and John Bagley sprints down the court and hits a layup with 9 seconds to play, making the score 80-79. After the ball falls thru the hoop, it bounces and rolls out toward the free throw line.

As the clock continues to run, 9... 8...7... the Friars' center Otis Thorpe kinda strolls over and picks up the ball, maybe even Bagley or Jay Murphy of BC sprints over to the ball and shoves it in Thorpe's gut... 6... 5... 4... frenetic action as BC sets up their inbounds defense, and as Thorpe strolls across the baseline like he has absolutely no interest in hurrying up... finally the ref starts counting his 5 seconds, but with only 3 seconds left on the game clock, Thorpe just stands there and lets the game end, not needing to throw it in. BC would scream about Thorpe not hurrying up, but Thorpe used the common, sensible strategy that was accepted in college hoops.

Ok, so in the 1985 National Final, this scenario was playing itself out. Georgetown scored their last bucket with under 5 seconds and no timeouts left. Villanova, Georgetown, and really anyone paying attention realized the game was effectively over. But the Hoyas were well coached and Big East teams were pretty sharp. So as Harold Pressley or whomever walked slowly over towards the ball, David Wingate (I think it was him) sprinted to the ball and batted it around 20 rows deep into the crowd.

With 2 seconds still remaining, and no ball available for Pressley to pick up, the ref blew the whistle and stopped play until the ball could be retrieved. And even better for Georgetown was that the clock wouldn't start until the ball was touched in play. As it turned out, the ball was inbounded by VU (to Dwayne McClain?), and the clock ran out as he sat on the floor (no travel?)...

Anyway, soon after, not sure exactly when, college hoops adopted the rule where the clock stops on made baskets with under a minute to play. And if i remember correctly, it was based on this final heady play in the 85 Final.

[stever20]

So, my 2 young sons like watching college hoops with me. They pepper me with a lot of questions, like the 1-and-1 rule, the 5th timeout that doesn't carry over into the second half, and many others like jumpballs.

The other day i was reminded of a rule change that adjusted coaches' strategies at the end of games. There was a commonplace strategy that was eliminated once-and-for-all, i think, based on a heads-up play by David Wingate 30 years ago.

So, thru around 1985, if a team scored a field goal, the clock would keep running, even in the final seconds of the game. So what would happen is if the losing team had no timeouts, and scored a basket with fewer than 5 seconds, the game was effectively over. This is because the team in the lead would dillydally in picking up the ball, then would have the 5-second inbound period available to keep the game clock running.

For example (and this is before the 3-pt shot was in effect)... say PC was beating Boston College 80-77, and BC is out of timeouts... with 15 seconds to play, say the Eagles' Martin Clark fouled Friar Rickey Tucker for a 1-and-1... now, say Tucker misses the first shot... BC rebounds, and John Bagley sprints down the court and hits a layup with 9 seconds to play, making the score 80-79. After the ball falls thru the hoop, it bounces and rolls out toward the free throw line.

As the clock continues to run, 9... 8...7... the Friars' center Otis Thorpe kinda strolls over and picks up the ball, maybe even Bagley or Jay Murphy of BC sprints over to the ball and shoves it in Thorpe's gut... 6... 5... 4... frenetic action as BC sets up their inbounds defense, and as Thorpe strolls across the baseline like he has absolutely no interest in hurrying up... finally the ref starts counting his 5 seconds, but with only 3 seconds left on the game clock, Thorpe just stands there and lets the game end, not needing to throw it in. BC would scream about Thorpe not hurrying up, but Thorpe used the common, sensible strategy that was accepted in college hoops.

Ok, so in the 1985 National Final, this scenario was playing itself out. Georgetown scored their last bucket with under 5 seconds and no timeouts left. Villanova, Georgetown, and really anyone paying attention realized the game was effectively over. But the Hoyas were well coached and Big East teams were pretty sharp. So as Harold Pressley or whomever walked slowly over towards the ball, David Wingate (I think it was him) sprinted to the ball and batted it around 20 rows deep into the crowd.

With 2 seconds still remaining, and no ball available for Pressley to pick up, the ref blew the whistle and stopped play until the ball could be retrieved. And even better for Georgetown was that the clock wouldn't start until the ball was touched in play. As it turned out, the ball was inbounded by VU (to Dwayne McClain?), and the clock ran out as he sat on the floor (no travel?)...

Anyway, soon after, not sure exactly when, college hoops adopted the rule where the clock stops on made baskets with under a minute to play. And if i remember correctly, it was based on this final heady play in the 85 Final.

I did some looking- thinking you were 100% spot on it happening soon thereafter. However, much to my surprise, it wasn't until the '93-'94 season that the rule got changed. Same year the shot clock went from 45 to 35 seconds...
http://www.orangehoops.org/NCAA/NCAA%20 ... hanges.htm
(I know it's a Syracuse website, but still a great history of rules changes thru the years).

[Bill Marsh]

Thanks for the memories. Great post!

[billyjack]

Thanks for the memories. Great post!

Thanks Bill, for reading my long-winded post!
And thanks stever, for checking out the date the rule changed... yeah, surprised that it took so long to change...!

[stever20]

it's amazing looking at the site how young some of the rules are...
1981-82 alternate possession arrow starts, eliminating jump-balls
1985-86 45 second shot clock
1985-86 intentional foul rule introduced
1986-87 3 point shot
1990-91 double bonus/ 3 ft for a fouled missed 3 pt shot

even
2008-09 eliminating 1st space nearest the basket on FT's.

and one that was before my time that I could just picure how it was before-
1973-74 Officials can now penalize players away from the ball for fouls for acts such as holding, grabbing, illegal screens. (can you imagine Big East '80s basketball w/o that rule in play?)

[Bill Marsh]

Thanks for the memories. Great post!

Thanks Bill, for reading my long-winded post!
And thanks stever, for checking out the date the rule changed... yeah, surprised that it took so long to change...!

I don't care when the rule change occurred, I just enjoyed reading your post. You're a great story teller. You must have had your kids on the edge of their seats. You sure had me.

[billyjack]

Thanks for the memories. Great post!

Thanks Bill, for reading my long-winded post!
And thanks stever, for checking out the date the rule changed... yeah, surprised that it took so long to change...!

I don't care when the rule change occurred, I just enjoyed reading your post. You're a great story teller. You must have had your kids on the edge of their seats. You sure had me.

Ha, thanks Bill...!
Probably not a good idea to encourage me to write more, because you guys might not be able to shut me up...!

[billyjack]

it's amazing looking at the site how young some of the rules are...
1981-82 alternate possession arrow starts, eliminating jump-balls
1985-86 45 second shot clock
1985-86 intentional foul rule introduced
1986-87 3 point shot
1990-91 double bonus/ 3 ft for a fouled missed 3 pt shot

even
2008-09 eliminating 1st space nearest the basket on FT's.

and one that was before my time that I could just picure how it was before-
1973-74 Officials can now penalize players away from the ball for fouls for acts such as holding, grabbing, illegal screens. (can you imagine Big East '80s basketball w/o that rule in play?)

Cool list.
Amazing that the double bonus didn't arrive til '91.
I actually think there should be a triple bonus at the 15th foul.

[stever20]

it's amazing looking at the site how young some of the rules are...
1981-82 alternate possession arrow starts, eliminating jump-balls
1985-86 45 second shot clock
1985-86 intentional foul rule introduced
1986-87 3 point shot
1990-91 double bonus/ 3 ft for a fouled missed 3 pt shot

even
2008-09 eliminating 1st space nearest the basket on FT's.

and one that was before my time that I could just picure how it was before-
1973-74 Officials can now penalize players away from the ball for fouls for acts such as holding, grabbing, illegal screens. (can you imagine Big East '80s basketball w/o that rule in play?)

Cool list.
Amazing that the double bonus didn't arrive til '91.
I actually think there should be a triple bonus at the 15th foul.

I think you would be surprised at how little that would come into play...

Last night's game with Ohio St/Louisville was the classic late game fouling situation with Ohio St(they had 4 fouls last 30 seconds). The last foul would have been the 15th foul. A lot of close games don't get that many fouls:(numbers team for the entire game)
Illinois/Miami- 20 and 16 fouls for the entire game
Syracuse/Michigan- 15 and 14 fouls for the entire game
Texas Arlington/Texas(10 pt game) 23 and 10 fouls for the entire game
NC State/Purdue 19 and 17 fouls for the entire game
Pittsburgh/Indiana 18 and 17 fouls for the entire game

Only 2 teams at or over 20 for the entire game in all of those close games(biggest margin 12 points).