Jay Bilas almost didn’t recognize the sport unfolding in front of him.
Sitting courtside as an ESPN analyst for Duke’s recent matchup against Florida State, Bilas watched as the teams combined for five missed 3-pointers, two off-the-mark free throws, five turnovers and a botched layup — all by the first stoppage in action.
“Over four minutes of play, Florida State leads Duke 2-0,” Bilas wrote on Twitter. “Never seen a media timeout with a score quite like this one. Maybe in baseball.”
The ugly sequence was a microcosm of scenes that have unfolded across the country this season.
Scoring in college basketball has fallen to historic lows. Through last week, teams were averaging 67.7 points per game, which is a 3.3-point dip from the same time last season. Scoring commonly drops late in the season as games increase in importance, which means this could be the lowest-scoring season since 1952, when teams averaged 63.3 points.
Either way, this season will join 2013 as two of the three lowest-scoring seasons in the past 65 years.
Cover-your-eyes lowlights? Consider:
• UCLA scoring seven first-half points against Kentucky, the lowest point total in a half in the Bruins’ illustrious history.
• Georgia Tech scoring 28 points in a loss to Virginia.
• Colorado scoring nine second-half points in a 56-33 loss to Wyoming. And the Buffaloes’ current five-game stretch of shooting below 37 percent is their longest such stint in more than half a century.
Discarded postgame box score sheets on gym floors across the country could tell similar stories. What’s going on?
“It’s a great question and a difficult question to answer,” UCLA coach Steve Alford said.
That’s because the answer may have as many moving parts as the game itself. Some blame inconsistent officiating, which has allowed the game to become overly physical. Others cite coaches who don’t give their players the freedom to shoot. Others say basketball at the youth level has for too long disregarded the game’s most important fundamental: the art of shooting.
As Colorado coach Tad Boyle said: “Better shooting, quite frankly, would help. If you have a team that has multiple threats from the perimeter, it’s an anomaly. That’s why I think scoring is generally down.”
Added Alford: “Shooting on a whole has become a lost art. The guy who can truly make shots, there aren’t many of those guys out there anymore.”
Lack of good coaching at youth level
Field-goal, free-throw and 3-point percentages have all seen a slow but steady erosion over the past decade. Overall, field-goal percentage in NCAA Division I this season (.435) is down nearly a full percent from last year at this time.
Some coaches trace the problem to the youth culture in basketball, one heavy on exposure but light on skill training.
“I’ve seen so many poorly coached kids that are just developing bad habits during the summer,” Colorado State coach Larry Eustachy said.
Players on club teams often spend their entire summers at tournaments and showcases playing dozens of games per month. In many programs, there’s virtually no practicing basic skills.
“From an AAU standpoint, the emphasis has shifted from development to exposure,” said Kyle Schwan, a former college assistant who now runs a basketball skills academy in Arizona.
Denver coach Joe Scott said the player who shoots hundreds of shots by himself in an empty gym is becoming increasingly rare.
“You just worked on your own all the time,” Scott said of his youth basketball experience. “There wasn’t a coach in the gym. You were doing it because you loved to do it, and you thought it was important to improve your game, not because a coach was in the gym coaching you. … You’ve got to turn yourself into a player.”
Bad habits become ingrained without proper coaching, Eustachy said.
“If you have a dad that thinks he’s a coach and he puts an AAU team together, then you’re going to get worse,” Eustachy said.
Colorado State’s top guard, Daniel Bejarano, fondly recalls his own club-ball experience. His team, based in Phoenix, played in tournaments that pitted him against the likes of current NBA players Austin Rivers and Brandon Knight.
“It was good competition all around,” Bejarano said. “We didn’t just stick to (tournaments) where we knew were going to win. We wanted to challenge ourselves.”
Bejarano, though, knows not every player has had an equally rewarding club experience. Such as teammate John Gillon.
“I feel like I didn’t really learn a lot,” said Gillon, a Rams guard who grew up in Houston. “I had a really good coach in high school, but not necessarily my AAU coaches. I would just go out and play.”
Ultimately up to the players
Regardless of his club experiences, Bejarano agrees that players have to take the responsibility to improve their games.
“There are only so many practices you are going to have,” he said. “Even here in college, when you get done with practice, it’s your choice to get back into the gym at 10 or 12 at night. The coaches are going to have their practices, but other than that, what are you doing?”
Eustachy would like to see USA Basketball, the governing body of the sport in the United States, take on a larger role in helping develop players and creating outlets for them to play under quality, certified coaches. That would be a similar blueprint used by countries in Europe, where a federation certifies coaches who work with kids on skill development from a young age.
“For our federation to organize it and name the coaches would be a good start,” Eustachy said.
Of course, improved skill development is not the only way to begin boosting scoring. Last season, an emphasis by officials to call fouls to prevent defenders from being overly physical with ball handlers and cutters led to an uptick in scoring. But coaches said that emphasis has all but disappeared this season, giving an advantage back to defenses.
“Officials need to be educated about what we’re trying to accomplish,” Eustachy said. “You’d like to see a low-fouling game, where guys are able to display their talents. But unfortunately, there is no consistency.”
Schwan, the skills instructor who played for legendary coach Don Meyer at Northern State, in South Dakota, believes colleges coaches must take responsibility as well. Coaches need to loosen the reins and give players the freedom to use their talents, he said.
“Coaches are more responsible than players for pace of play,” Schwan said, adding, “You have to let kids play and use their skills.”
Nick Kosmider: 303-954-1516, nkosmider@denverpost.com or
What they’re saying
A sharp drop in scoring in college basketball this season has led to a national dialogue about how to improve the flow of the game. A look at ideas those around the sport have for increasing scoring:
Tad Boyle, Colorado head coach
“I think part of it, as coaches, we need to spend more time on skill development, developing shooters and developing offenses that are going to allow them to have some success in that offense.”
Kyle Schwan, former college assistant coach and current director of Arizona Power Basketball Academy
“Coaches are more responsible than players for pace of play. … You have to let kids play and use their skills.”
Sean Miller, Arizona head coach
“I think an age requirement, where (players) have to be in college up until a certain point, would probably help. (It would help) their game in the NBA — I know it would help our game. … Or leave directly (to the NBA) out of high school, then if you don’t, you’re in college for two years.”
Daniel Bejarano, Colorado State guard
“I know the NCAA is trying change the one-and-done rule, which will make it more exciting.”
Steve Alford, UCLA head coach
“Last year, there was a big emphasis on officiating to clean up some of the holding and hand-checking, both in the interior and (on the perimeter). … This year, I think things have gone back to the way things were being officiated two, three, four years ago.”
