Monday, February 16, 2009

College Hoops Flyer

So I'd be interested in knowing if you guys know who Vic Bubas is. Basically, he was Coach K before there was Coach K. He made Duke a national power, and the preeminent ACC program of the 1960's (the late 50's and 70's were dominated by UNC).

He's now in his 80s (I actually thought he was dead--sorry Vic--until I saw this story), and has some ideas about how to make the college game better. I have to say I'm in complete agreement with every one of his suggestions. What do you guys think?

"I'd like to see a wider lane like the pros," Bubas said during a talk at the Raleigh Sports Club this past Wednesday. "The college game is too much like a wrestling match under the boards. The game needs more finesse and less power."

Other suggestions:

* A 30-second shot clock instead of the 35-second time limit men use.

"If women can get off a shot in 30 seconds, so can the men," he said. "30 seconds is plenty long."

* A designated area under the basket like the NBA has to aid officials in making the charge-block call.

"We need to help the officials,'' he said. "That call is a tough one to make."

* Expand the 3-point line from 20 feet, 9 inches.

* Adopt a rule -- like baseball -- that requires a player who enters college to play three years before becoming eligible for the NBA Draft.

And a pretty funny story:

Much has changed since the 1960s, especially the arenas. Back then there were some cracker-box gyms, like at Clemson before the Tigers moved into LittleJohn Coliseum.

Bubas recalled giving instructions during a time-out there, looking up and seeing a Clemson student's head in his Duke huddle.

"He said: 'Hey coach, that ain't gonna work!'"

"Get outta here!" Bubas bellowed.

1 comment:

Fredo said...

The only one I'm not sold on is expanding the 3 point line. I think that may have the effect of discouraging the outside shot and encouraging less spacing and more contact, which seems the opposite of what he's looking for.