Posted by What if, instead of playing college basketball for 40 minutes and declaring a winner, winning consisted of reaching a certain score before the opposing team. Playground rules. For instance, first team to 80 or 100 would win.
It would completely change the game of basketball. You wouldn’t have the stupid and time-consuming intentional fouls at the end of the game. It would speed up the game (you might even be able to get rid of the shot clock). Defense would still be important – each team would want to keep the other below the point total. But offense would still be the key determining factor of who won.
You could also vary the number of points needed to win. Non conference games could be first to 60. Conference games first to 80. And the NCAA tournament could be first to 100.
The fan experience would be improved. The end of the game wouldn’t take absurdly long anymore. The clock would be much less important. Those delays where the refs determine if 0.1 seconds need to be added to the clock would be eliminated as well.
Will the NCAA ever implement such a system? Probably not. Ad sales would be much more difficult to gauge because the length of the game would be unknown. And why mess with a good thing?