1 of 1- Gwmayhem
- Buff & Blue Club
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The Elam Rule
Curious as to what others think of the Elam Rule which is in effect during The Basketball Tournament (with the $2 million winner-take-all format). Nick Elam is actually a Dayton grad and season ticket holder who is a professor at Ball State. Like many others, he observed how tedious the ends of so many basketball games were, between the team in the lead "taking the air out of the ball" and all of the intentional fouling to stop the clock. Based on his research, he found that roughly 50% of all basketball games wind down with the team that's behind consistently fouling to stop the clock and yet only 1.5% of the time did the team who commits these intentional fouls come back to win the game. In other words, basketball fans have often been subjected to annoying, time consuming endings of games in order for trailing teams to deploy a strategy which hardly ever works.
The Elam rule takes the clock out of the equation at the first dead ball that takes place with under 4 minutes left in the game. The two teams are then playing without a clock (though the shot clock still applies) until one team reaches the score of the leading team at that deadball situation plus 8. (So if Team A has a 70-62 lead at the time of this deadball, the two teams then end up playing first team to 78 points wins.)
There are some cons to this approach, particularly if you enjoy buzzer beaters (which fall by the wayside since there is no longer a game clock) or if you are a basketball purist in general. I don't think this approach necessarily helps or hurts the leading or trailing teams though one could make the case that it hurts strong free throw shooting teams. The rule's attempt is to simply not destroy the flow of a basketball game which seems to occur quite a bit once the late-game parade of fouls begin.
I am intrigued by the rule though I think teams should perhaps play a bit longer (perhaps adding 12 points to the leading team's score to play until). Last year's tournament saw an addition of 7 points and this year's edition bumped this to 8 points. Do you like the rule at 8 points, would you modify the rule at all, or are you completely opposed to it?
- Steve
- Super Fan
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Re: The Elam Rule
I actually really like the Elam ending, and think it does a great deal to reduce end-game tedium which, especially at the college level, feels brutally common.
While yes, it does remove the possibility of a buzzer beater, it replaces that with the possibility of sudden death, a 'next basket wins' situation, which is a different experience but still extremely exciting. It also has the opportunity to create very exciting come from behind wins after the Elam ending has triggered. Largest deficit overcome after the Elam ending has been triggered would be a very fun record to keep track of.
I think this it is a great rule variant that I think would be fun to see adopted in more venues, especially tournaments, where there are both stadium time constraints, and a desire to standardize on-court time and eliminate overtime. It feels like it would be a good fit for international play and the olympics, Summer and G league, and possibly even non-conference tournaments for D1.
Just my 2 cents! I admit, I am not a purist by any measure and don't have a problem with a rule change that does, to an extent, change the fabric of the sport, but i am sympathetic to those who might feel that way.
- Sons of Liberty
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Re: The Elam Rule
I think Mo Creek hit a sudden death/game winner basket a couple of days ago in the TBT. And while it might not have been as dramatic as a buzzer beater, I believe it did add some drama to the game. It's an interesting concept. It might be a good idea. I'd be open to it.
- Free Quebec
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Re: The Elam Rule
Only problem would be that if you are down, say, 12, with 5:15 to play, some coaches might start fouling then to try to cut into the deficit before the Elam ending kicks in. That would defeat the purpose.
- Thomas
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Re: The Elam Rule
Thanks for the explanation of this rule. I thought it was just a wacky idea(like the 4-point shot currently used in the Big 3 or MTV's Rock N Jock years ago) that someone came up with to add excitement, I didn't know that a statistician type came up with it as a way to prevent the excessive fouling you see by the trailing team in the final minute.
It is an interesting concept, but I like games to just play out until the final buzzer. Most times the losing coach knows when to 'throw in the towel' anyway, I don't think late game fouling is that much of a problem. FQ makes a good point about the losing coach starting to foul with a little over 5 minutes left as a way to extend the game. I don't think anyone in the TBT would try this, but if a rule like this were implemented in a high school, college or pro league, coaches would definitely have a statistician type of coach on staff to figure out the exact point you should start fouling before the Elam rule kicks in.
- BC
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Re: The Elam Rule
This rule seems too complicated for my simple mind. Why not invoke the old 3 tries to make 2 rule. That should cut down on foul fests.
- chrisw
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- Registered: 7/23/2019
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Re: The Elam Rule
That's a no for me. If the long endings bother you, my suggestion is that you tweek the rules of fouls (which I find confusing most of the times anyway!). Intentional fouls generally lead to two shots and the ball, if I'm not wrong. The fouls at the end of the game are intentional. Obviously. Give them the shots and the ball, and the fouls will stop.
chris
Last edited by chrisw (8/01/2019 7:19 pm)