by Scott Sacry
A curious trend is emerging in high school basketball in Montana. There seems to be more lopsided games this year and it’s commonplace to see teams winning by 30, 40, 50 points or more.
The following are high school basketball scores from the week of January 21-25. The Bigfork girls beat the Polson girls 66-26, the Hobson-Moore girls defeated Great Falls Central 61-13, the Lockwood boys beat Laurel 66-25, the Frenchtown girls beat Butte Central 51-15, the Dillon girls beat Hamilton 61-9, the Columbia Falls boys beat Libby 70-34, the Terry boys beat Wibaux 92-42, the Thompson Falls girls beat Troy 75-21, the Roberts boys beat Reed Point-Rapelje 75-36. The Florence girls beat Darby 82-22, earlier in the year Darby beat Victor 50-22, and before that Victor beat Alberton 49-21.
Lopsided scores are becoming more commonplace in Montana high school basketball this season. Photo by Scott Sacry.
What are we to make of this? Here are four possible culprits.
Normal ups and downs
First, there is a natural ebb and flow to how good a school’s teams are, especially in smaller schools with lower enrollments. Some years an especially athletic group of kids comes through and the teams are strong. Then in other years there’s not as many talented kids in sports and the teams aren’t as good.
More specialization
Second, there’s more specialization as kids tend to pick one sport and concentrate only on that. Back in my day (picture me sitting in a rocking chair waving my walking stick at you) kids who were interested in sports went out for multiple sports every year. So, for example, your star track athlete also was a good role player on the football and basketball team. Of course this still happens, but it’s less common. More likely, if someone is really good at basketball or volleyball or soccer, they will join traveling teams in the off season to increase their skills and recruiting visibility and skip the other sports.
Less participation
Third, there is less overall participation in high school sports. Sports are hard and time consuming and not everyone wants to take it on or has the skill or desire. Take girls basketball in the Bitterroot Valley: in the six valley high schools there are only eight total senior girls playing basketball this season. Also, along with specialization, kids are playing competitive sports earlier, and can get burned out by the time they get to high school.
The shot clock
Finally, when looking at why basketball scores are becoming more lopsided recently, we have to look at the shot clock. Starting with the 2022-2023 season, there has been a 35-second shot clock in Montana high school basketball. Gone are the days when a team could run their offense for minutes on end to slow down the game. The shot clock is a good thing and makes for a more entertaining game, but when a good team is playing a bad team the side effect is a lopsided score.
Let’s say you have a weak team going against a strong team. If that weak team can run their offense endlessly, effectively stalling, it keeps the better team from scoring. With the shot clock, that team has to shoot in 35 seconds, giving the strong team more possessions to score, thus Roberts beats Reed Point-Rapelje 75-36 with a shot clock, instead of maybe 42-29 without a shot clock.
Are the kids on the teams that are getting beat by 50 points going to decide it’s not worth it and stop going out for sports, leading to even less participation and more uneven matchups?
I’m not sure if this rises to a problem where something needs to be done. There are obviously bigger problems in the educational system. But high school sports, for those who participate, provide endless life lessons and teach important life skills. The erosion of this would make our schools less effective in training youth for life.
Whether this trend has something to do with the above reasons or not, something is going on, and for those of us who care about high school sports, it’s a trend to keep an eye on.
