Missing the ‘1 and 1;’ new free throw rule takes the pressure away

You go to the free throw line with your team down by one point and the game on the line.

You feel the pressure.

If you make the first free throw, you’ll get a second shot for the win.

Make it and you’re a hero.

You miss it, you lose.

It’s make it or go home.

“We can talk to the kids that, ‘Hey, if we only have one foul in the third quarter, go out there and hack. Be physical and see what happens.”

—  Mike Filippini, Hall coach

The “1-and-bonus” has always been one of the most exciting, intense plays of basketball and certainly the most suspenseful shot since the game was invented.

It was a shot I always looked forward to back in the day and one any “shooter” thrived to take. Some had ice in their veins, while many have simply cracked under pressure.

I think of how Ohio’s Brad Bickett and Lance Harris, Hall’s Shawn Jeppson and Kailey Klein and Bureau Valley’s Parker Neuhalfen would welcome the opportunity, knowing they were going to knock down the first free throw as well as the bonus.

The “1-and-1″ sadly has been taken away from the game this year thanks to a new mandate by the National Federation of High School Sports.

New this season, high school teams shoot two free throws for common fouls when in the “bonus.” This change to Rule 4-8-1 eliminates the 1-and-1 scenario and sets new foul limits each quarter for awarding the bonus free throw.

There is now a limit of five fouls in each quarter before the bonus is put in play with the fouls resetting each quarter.

Traditionally, teams were awarded the 1-and-1 bonus when their opponents committed seven fouls in a half and two free throws at 10 fouls each half.

Longtime official Ken Wilcoxen of Princeton, who has worked five state basketball tournaments (3 girls, 2 boys) over the course of his 46-year career, along with four football state finals, likes the new rule, believing it speeds up the game.

“It is nice to go back to zero fouls when you start each quarter. I think it has cleaned it up some, but we are definitely are not seeing so many free throws at the end of each half,” he said.

Hall coach Mike Filippini is a big fan of the new rule and sees it as a way for his team to play more aggressively on defense in certain situations.

“We can talk to the kids that, ‘Hey, if we only have one foul in the third quarter, go out there and hack. Be physical and see what happens,” he said. “I like it. I hope it stays. I’m sure it will.”

It was not loss on Filippini that his approach to the new rule is just the opposite to what it was intended to do - clean the game up.

“And I’m saying to hack. But that’s the strategy. If you commit three fouls and puts you at four, maybe you get two steals out of it,” he said.

LaMoille coach Chance Blumhorst also likes the new rule.

“The game seems faster,” he said. “Now we shoot nearly the same low percent than last year. I do not miss 1-and-1s at all.”

St. Bede boys coach Brian Hanson misses the 1-and-1s, but notes the new strategy in play.

“The biggest difference is trying to be more aggressive to the rim if the other team fouls a few times early in a quarter. You can get a lot of attempts that way,” he said.

Princeton boys coach Jason Smith thinks it definitely changes strategy, but misses the excitement of the 1-and-1s.

“You can use it to your advantage a little bit strategy wise at the end of quarters if you don’t have enough fouls to give,” he said. “Do I like it? No, as a whole I don’t like it, because I don’t think it puts any pressure on the kids that shoot it and you can’t use it as a turnover. If you miss the front end of a 1-and-1, it’s just as good as a turnover. I think that’s where it really lopsides the strategy part of it.”

Bureau Valley boys coach Jason Marquis and Princeton girls coach Tiffany Gonigam said earlier in the season they’ve not seen a significant impact on the game.

“I do miss the 1-and-1′s in practice, which allows you to increase the pressure a bit in scrimmages on making free throws,” Marquis said.

“I don’t know if it’s really affected the game one way or another. I kind of like it,” Gonigam said. “It hasn’t been something that I’ve looked at that it’s hurting or slowing down the game by any means. I do think we tend to foul less at times, because we know they’re automatically getting two shots. I think it’s been good for the game.”

How about the players? Have they noticed much of a change?

Princeton junior Noah LaPorte, who leads all area scorers at 21.5 ppg, said it’s taken a bit to get used to.

“I don’t mind it, but I feel by making your free throws you should be rewarded with another one, not just two automatically. But overall, it’s not that bad,” he said. “It may have sped up the game and cleaned it up some, depending on who you talk to, but I miss the “1 and 1s.”

Kevin Hieronymus has been the BCR Sports Editor since 1986. Contact him at khieronymus@bcrnews.com