The two biggest changes in basketball since I have been coaching have been the three point arc and the three man referee crews. When they put the three point rule in, the Register-Mail did an article in which they asked coaches what they thought the impact would be on the game. Being on top of things and very perceptive, my comment was, "It won't have an impact in girls basketball. The only time it will come into play is when teams throw up a prayer at the end of quarters, now if the prayer is answered, it wlll be worth 3 points instead of 2."
I quickly found out I was wrong. For girls basketball it has shown if you challenge players with something, they will work to achieve it. By just drawing the line, players immediately worked to develop the range and ability to shoot threes. It obviously turned into a good thing. It has changed the game significantly.
As for the three man crew, I don't think it has changed the game for the better. In some cases where you have three men who work together game after game, it is good. In the "old days", the top refs had a partner and they always worked games together. They knew what to expect from each other and they were consistent in how the two of them called a game. Today, few three man crews work together- they are more likely to be "all-star" crews, pairing up randomly. No matter how experienced they are, they are not as likely to always be on the same page.
You are much more likely to run into games in which if you get one official under the basket, he will not call anything. But at the other end of the floor, the ref there may call everything. If and when this happens, the game lacks a flow and a consistency.
I would argue when they had two man crews, officiating was an art. The two refs work to develop their style and method of calling a game. Now with three man crews, it is trying to be a science. It is much more formal in nature. As a result you run into situations like we ran into at a game in Redbird during the state tourney when a play 15 feet away obviously travelled. There was a ref standing right next to me. When I asked him about it, his reply, "Coach, not in my area."
So I would argue if you could get three man crews working together all the time it would be very good. But if they don't get to work together regularly it is a tougher thing to do.
I was not there in pre-1960 basketball, but in conversations with my dad, I would say that it seems like two of the bigger changes in basketball since its start were eliminating the jump ball after made baskets and in post World War II when school consolidations and thriving economy allowed schools to build new gyms.
The no jump after made baskets is a rule change that is easy to see impact. The games had more of a flow to them. And it eliminated one of the advantages of the big man. I am not sure how exciting it would be for us to have played Loyola in 1999 if after every basket Sarah Larson had to try to jump center with Olga. I am not sure how many possessions we would have gotten.
As for the gyms, I had never realized how many schools had gyms with non-traditional features or dimensions. My father's Fulton and Savanna teams regularly played schools like Moline or Rock Island. I assumed that it was when they were good they wanted the challenge of playing these bigger schools since it was one class basketball. My father said one of the big deals was that you wanted to get your teams a chance to play on regulation 84 foot courts. Many of the smaller schools had gyms that were too narrow or too short or had support posts actually on the floor.
Many older players may remember playing in gyms that had a three foot restraining line. When taking the ball out of bounds it was actually the out of bounds line. Once the ball was inbounded, the regular out of bounds line can into play. Or a court might have a ten second line you had to cross, but once crossed, the over and back line was a different line ten fee back. At Savanna, the high school gym in the 1940's and 1950's had a balcony on one side. There were posts to support the balcony. The posts were right on the edge of the court. But some gyms actually had the posts on the playing floor.
But the big deal would be if a team like Fulton played at Moline, they would have to adjust to the longer floor. Today, often teams try to do this if they think they are going to play on a college court in the state series. At one time the rule was that all supersectional games would be played on college courts because they were part of the state series (now they do this in girls basketball). We have always attempted to go to Knox College to practice when we were getting ready for the state tourney.
When we play played at Quincy in the 1970's and 1980's, we played at their high school (the boys play in another building). It was always a challenge to play at Quincy because the court was a college court (ten feet longer). The story I had heard was that Sherrill Hanks had the court built as a college court so that they could always go their to practice in prep for the state tourney. So Quincy had a regulation high school court to play games and practice on, but also had a college court available to practice on. Sometime in the late 1980's or 1990's, Quincy redid that court and now it is a high school court.
The following is the article from Tom Wilson in the Register-Mail....
GALESBURG —
Low-scoring basketball games in Galesburg High School history has piqued the interest of a multitude of fans. The lowest score recorded by a GHS team occurred in 1916 when Canton beat GHS 31-5. Galesburg’s best defensive effort of all time occurred in 1926 in a 33-2 defeat of Macomb.
In a March 1932 sectional game at Wharton Field House in Moline, Galesburg (prior to being named the Silver Streaks) defeated Sheffield 7-5 in overtime. GHS failed to score in the first quarter and made only a free throw in the second quarter to trail 3-1 at halftime. Galesburg made both a basket (its first of game) and a free throw in the third to pull within 5-3 going into the final quarter. It held Sheffield scoreless in the final stanza and forced overtime. Dick Arnold scored with less than two seconds remaining in overtime to give Galesburg a 7-5 victory.
Galesburg vaulted from the Sheffield victory to edge Freeport 13-11 before losing to Kewanee in the sectional championship 10-6.
During the regular season GHS beat Rock Island 21-6. Also during the regular season, Galesburg’s most points in a game came in a 29-11 victory over Kewanee. The highest score by an opponent was 23 by Moline.
Members of the 1931-32 team coached by Gerald Phillips were Roll Tucker, Gussie Dutton, Barney Crandell, Joe Burford, Dick Arnold and Don Robinson. Galesburg finished the season with a 19-6 record.
On Dec. 1, 1933, Galesburg defeated Elmwood 38-16. Elmwood failed to score in the first quarter and registered only a free throw in the second. Elmwood scored its first field goal just before the end of the third quarter and got really hot in the final quarter, outscoring a bunch of GHS reserves 13-9. Gutshall scored 11 of Elmwood’s 16 points.
On March 6, 1936, Galesburg had to come from behind in the final quarter to defeat Knoxville 17-11 in a regional semifinal game. GHS trailed 8-7 at halftime and Knoxville remained ahead by one point at the end of the third. Fred Apsey led GHS in scoring with nine points, and Peterson, Conkright, Charles, Nichols and Stockton scored one field goal apiece for Knoxville. Knoxville played Galesburg tough despite not having their regular center, Paul Brokaw, and coach Wendell Stamps in attendance as they were diagnosed with mumps earlier in the day.
On New Year’s Eve 1951, Galesburg won the consolation championship of the Sterling Holiday Tournament by edging Dixon 48-45. The Register-Mail reported that diminutive Silver Streaks guard Pete Thierry was a “will-o-the-wisp” as he continually stole the ball from the Dukes and then darted through them for several of his 10 baskets. Thierry was a unanimous choice of the attending sports writers for the all-tourney team after scoring 51 points via 21 field goals and nine free throws in three tourney games. Galesburg fell behind late in the game, but a 40-foot set shot from Thierry’s running mate at guard, Phil Johnston, put the Streaks in the driver’s seat.
Stranded in Oneida
On January 20, 1956, Mr. & Mrs. Roy Delawder journeyed to Oneida to watch their Knoxville Blue Bullets tangle with the ROVA Tigers. They thoroughly enjoyed watching their favorites edge ROVA 72-68 and vault into first place in the Little Six conference. It was even sweeter because ROVA had beaten Knoxville 52-50 earlier in the season.
The Delawder’s happiness turned sour when they approached their car outside the ROVA gym. When they were cheering on the Blue Bullets on to victory some thieves stole the right front wheel off their planned transportation back home.
It could have been worse since the culprits also attempted to also take the left front tire off, but they apparently got frightened and took off with their job half done.
In a March 1932 sectional game at Wharton Field House in Moline, Galesburg (prior to being named the Silver Streaks) defeated Sheffield 7-5 in overtime. GHS failed to score in the first quarter and made only a free throw in the second quarter to trail 3-1 at halftime. Galesburg made both a basket (its first of game) and a free throw in the third to pull within 5-3 going into the final quarter. It held Sheffield scoreless in the final stanza and forced overtime. Dick Arnold scored with less than two seconds remaining in overtime to give Galesburg a 7-5 victory.
Galesburg vaulted from the Sheffield victory to edge Freeport 13-11 before losing to Kewanee in the sectional championship 10-6.
During the regular season GHS beat Rock Island 21-6. Also during the regular season, Galesburg’s most points in a game came in a 29-11 victory over Kewanee. The highest score by an opponent was 23 by Moline.
Members of the 1931-32 team coached by Gerald Phillips were Roll Tucker, Gussie Dutton, Barney Crandell, Joe Burford, Dick Arnold and Don Robinson. Galesburg finished the season with a 19-6 record.
On Dec. 1, 1933, Galesburg defeated Elmwood 38-16. Elmwood failed to score in the first quarter and registered only a free throw in the second. Elmwood scored its first field goal just before the end of the third quarter and got really hot in the final quarter, outscoring a bunch of GHS reserves 13-9. Gutshall scored 11 of Elmwood’s 16 points.
On March 6, 1936, Galesburg had to come from behind in the final quarter to defeat Knoxville 17-11 in a regional semifinal game. GHS trailed 8-7 at halftime and Knoxville remained ahead by one point at the end of the third. Fred Apsey led GHS in scoring with nine points, and Peterson, Conkright, Charles, Nichols and Stockton scored one field goal apiece for Knoxville. Knoxville played Galesburg tough despite not having their regular center, Paul Brokaw, and coach Wendell Stamps in attendance as they were diagnosed with mumps earlier in the day.
On New Year’s Eve 1951, Galesburg won the consolation championship of the Sterling Holiday Tournament by edging Dixon 48-45. The Register-Mail reported that diminutive Silver Streaks guard Pete Thierry was a “will-o-the-wisp” as he continually stole the ball from the Dukes and then darted through them for several of his 10 baskets. Thierry was a unanimous choice of the attending sports writers for the all-tourney team after scoring 51 points via 21 field goals and nine free throws in three tourney games. Galesburg fell behind late in the game, but a 40-foot set shot from Thierry’s running mate at guard, Phil Johnston, put the Streaks in the driver’s seat.
Stranded in Oneida
On January 20, 1956, Mr. & Mrs. Roy Delawder journeyed to Oneida to watch their Knoxville Blue Bullets tangle with the ROVA Tigers. They thoroughly enjoyed watching their favorites edge ROVA 72-68 and vault into first place in the Little Six conference. It was even sweeter because ROVA had beaten Knoxville 52-50 earlier in the season.
The Delawder’s happiness turned sour when they approached their car outside the ROVA gym. When they were cheering on the Blue Bullets on to victory some thieves stole the right front wheel off their planned transportation back home.
It could have been worse since the culprits also attempted to also take the left front tire off, but they apparently got frightened and took off with their job half done.
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