In March, the National Invitation Tournament experimented with a 30-second shot clock.
In June, the NCAA instituted the abridged version, ending the 22-year 35-second era.
On Thursday, just about every Big Ten Conference men's basketball coach was asked what, exactly, this would mean for his respective team.
Hard to say, Maryland's Mark Turgeon explained.
"Teams can still do a lot to try to slow you down," he said. "Are we still going to be able to get a good shot off? It was hard to get a good shot off with 35 seconds."
Of all the rule changes enacted — a ban on coaches calling timeouts during live-ball situations; the end of the five-second-closely-guarded count; the sanctioning of pregame and halftime dunking — the most consequential might be the renewed emphasis on allowing greater freedom of movement for players without the ball.
If it's called consistently, Turgeon said, "scoring's going to go up."
Coaches have handled the 30-second shot clock differently. Penn State coach Patrick Chambers said he started to make the transition with his team in July. Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan installed the team's press and press break earlier than normal, "just in case," he said. Turgeon, meanwhile, will have officials in for a scrimmage next week.
"I think, for the most part, the game will feel the same," he said.
