According to statistician Ken Pomeroy, the ACC was the slowest league in the country last year in terms of possessions per game. Not just out of power conferences -- of every Division I basketball league.
Slow basketball with fewer possessions has become commonplace in today's college basketball world, though, and less aesthetically pleasing, according to some.
So ACC commissioner John Swofford announced on Thursday as the league's annual meetings in Amelia Island, Fla. wound down that the league will use a shortened shot clock (30 seconds rather than 35) during its exhibition games this year.
"Our coaches and ADs both felt it would be an enhancement to the game in today's world," Swofford told ESPN.com's Andrea Adelson. "It adds more possessions and potentially would speed up the game."
According to Swofford, the ACC's head coaches submitted the proposal and the athletic directors were on board.
After the exhibition season, the ACC will report to the rules committee on how the change went. This seems to be the direction college basketball is headed, though. The 35-second clock has been in place since the 1993-94 season. That was the only major time change the shot clock has undergone in college basketball since it was implemented in 1985-86 (when it was 45 seconds).
The NBA has had a 24-second shot clock since the 1954-55 season.
This likely won't fix some of the bad offense that plagues college basketball -- some might argue that it will make it worse, as teams will now have less time to run through sets and get the best possible shot -- but it will at least make for more possessions.
Experimental processes like this by a major conference are often the first step towards an actual rule change, and if it goes well during the ACC's exhibition season, that might be the first step towards actually implementing a shorter shot clock in college basketball in the next few years.
