Basketball season starts tonight with the Junior High Lady Bearcats and Junior High Bearcats travelling to Mansfield.
As such they will be the first to play under the rule changes regarding fouls and free throws.
This year there will be no more one-and-one opportunities so anyone going to the free throw line will be doing so for two shots, unless of course there is a shooting foul on a three point shot attempt.
Shooting fouls will result in two free throws but the foul bonus will start on foul five in each quarter with the foul count resetting to zero to start the second and fourth quarters.
“They say it’s going to make the game go faster, but I don’t know,” said girls coach Katelyn Holub. “I don’t really think it will change the game that much.”
Holub said she has gone over the change with her teams multiple teams but still expects there to be somewhat of a learning curve.
Boys coach Ronnie Denton can see the rule come into play early on in the boys game.
“I think early on there will be a lot of free throws, coming out of football,” said Denton. “But it will be better because it resets every quarter. You can have a bad quarter. You can be more aggressive early in a quarter and as long as you don’t get to four fouls then you can kind of pull back.”
Denton also thinks the change might not be as noticeable in junior high.
“Junior high won’t be that much of an issue because it’s six minute quarters but in senior high it will play a big part,” he said.
While the team fouls reset to zero to start the quarter individual fouls will not and players will still be disqualified on a fifth foul during a game.
Tonight’s games start at 6 p.m.
Senior high teams will first experience the new rules at Havana against Western Yell on Tuesday, when both junior and senior high teams will be in action starting at 4:30 p.m.
There is a third night of basketball action this week as Hector comes to town for junior high and a senior high girls game on Thursday with play beginning at 4 p.m.
