Big Changes Coming To Montana High School Basketball Next Season

The National Federation of State High School Associations made some big changes to High School basketball yesterday.

Beginning next year, high school basketball teams will shoot two free throws for fouls when in the ‘bonus’. The one-and-one is now eliminated, and the foul limits have been changed as well. Up to this point, a team’s seventh foul in a half of basketball put the opponent in the one-and-one, and a tenth foul put the other team into the ‘double bonus’.

Under the new rules, a team will reach the ‘bonus’ when their opponent commits five fouls in each quarter, and team fouls will be reset at the end of each quarter. When a team reaches 5 fouls in a quarter, their opponent will shoot two free throws.

This rule was put into place for NCAA Women in June of 2015, and was quickly followed by the NAIA.

I asked Butte High Girls Coach Bryan Arntson for his initial feelings about the rule change.

“I actually love it. I’ve been saying for years that they need to change. From both a referee and a coaching standpoint, I think that it allows the kids to adapt to how the game is being refed and adjust. It also helps with the flow of the game. A lot of games have teams shooting free throws for over a quarter of each half.”

“It does change end-of-game scenarios without the one-and-one, but overall I think it’s a great change.” -Bryan Arntson.

Butte High Boy’s coach Matt Luedtke wasn’t fully sold, yet. “I don’t know how I feel, the shot clock I love, and I love the one-and-one. But then I think about it, and we can be more aggressive on defense at times, with the fouls resetting it could be pretty cool.”

The fouls resetting is going to be a big change, if a team gets in foul trouble in the first quarter they can adjust in the second quarter without their opponent parked at the foul line the entire quarter. I think it will also help the officials set the ‘tone’ of a game, especially rivalry games.

So another big change coming to High School Basketball in the state of Montana next year, maybe for the following year we can talk about the charge arc.

The full article from the NFHS can be found HERE.

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