WIAA advisory council votes down shot clock, tournament expansion

The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association’s (WIAA) advisory council shot down multiple new basketball recommendations early this week, which were made by the WIAA Basketball Coaches Advisory Committee.

Some of the ideas shot down included a 35-second shot clock starting fully in the 2027-28 season, with an optional recommendation for the 2025-26 season. If passed by the committee, it would have gone to the Board of Control yesterday for final approval. If passed by the BOC, it would’ve then gone to the WIAA’s 2026 annual meeting. The optional proposal for the 2025-26 season would not need approval past the Board of Control. 

Another two proposals shot down were to increase the state tournament field from four teams in each of the five divisions to eight teams per division and to release the tournament bracket a week later than usual to allow for more regular-season games to count towards seeding. Currently, the brackets are released with a week left in the regular season.  

These proposals were just three of the many voted on by the advisory council. Others included jersey color, allowing home teams to wear their away jerseys up to three times at home, multiple proposals for seeding changes and adjusting game times for boys regional final and girls sectional final contests. Those were approved by both the advisory council and the board of control.

Shot clock  

The two shot clock proposals included fully implementing a 35-second shot clock starting with the 2027-28 season, for all regular season and tournament games, and an optional shot clock in non-conference games starting in the 2025-26 season, with mutual agreement from both teams playing. Both were voted against by the Advisory Council. Before the council voted, the idea of full implementation was favored 6-1 by the WIAA Basketball Coaches Committee and 7-6 by the Sports Advisory Committee, which is made up of athletic directors. 

Northland Pines varsity boys basketball coach Terry Klemett was behind the implementation of the shot clock into high school basketball despite it being voted down. 

“I was 100% behind the shot clock. The average teams shoot within 12-16 seconds of each possession,” stated Klemett. “Defensively, it would be a nice addition because if you are playing great defense, you will be rewarded because of the time against the possession. I think it also allows players and coaches to get better in their schemes on offense.”

Tournament expansion  

The WIAA state girls and boys basketball tournament currently hosts four teams that fight for a state championship in five divisions. The proposal that was voted down was to double the number of teams to eight per division at the state tournament. The proposal would have increased the number of days of the tournament and the number of venues needed for state tournament play. 

The Coaches Committee passed the proposal 7-0 earlier this spring, while the Sports Advisory Committee moved it along 7-6. However, the WIAA Executive Staff voted no to this proposal. 

Klemett was also on board with the expansion, saying the student athletes should experience the best in the sport. 

“I thought that was a great idea. It allows for more teams and student athletes a better chance at playing in the state tournament,” he stated. “This would allow these student athletes a better avenue to achieve that.”

Other proposals 

The Board of Control approved six basketball proposals by a 10-0 vote Wednesday after they were moved on by the advisory committee. Four of the six were related to basketball seedings. They included: 

Releasing unofficial electronic seeds week 30 (Jan. 30) and week 31 (Feb. 6); seeding will be based on a team’s own winning percentage and overall strength of schedule (opponent’s winning percentage, opponent’s opponent’s winning percentage, defeated opponent’s winning percentage, and defeated opponent’s opponent’s winning percentage); seeding procedures will review head to head contests for all consecutive seeds; when a statistical tie occurs among three or more teams, head to head will be reviewed; allowing home teams to wear away jerseys for no more than three home games, with mutual agreement between school administrators; and start times of boys regional final games will be played at 4 or 7 p.m., and girls sectional finals will be played at 1 p.m. (or 3 p.m. with WIAA approval).