Not Your Grandpa’s Ballgame: The Evolving Rules And Styles Of Basketball

Basketball is hardly the same game it was when it first started out. Today, you might even notice that the teams play with strategies far removed from those in the 1990s. Even then, the game played during the golden age of the legends of basketball would, in turn, be alien to the kind of basketball first proposed by Dr. James Naismith.

The 13 rules of 'boxball'

Basketball was supposed to be played using an adapted box, which had been replaced by modified peach basket. The original ball was also an adapted soccer ball. Much like today, the object of the game was to dribble and shoot the ball into place. The hole in the basket was added later after Dr. N got sick of having to retrieve the ball repeatedly.

Image source: hooptactics.com

Way back in the formative years of the sport, there were only 13 rules. Compare that to the more than 100 rules we have today. One of the most obvious changes in the rules was in the number of players on the court at one time, which didn’t have much of a limit. Today, there are only five players allowed on the court per team.

Picking up the pace

High schools and colleges gradually adopted the sport as it grew more popular. However, this spelled the arrival of many of the changes that led to the game we have today. This was owing to the growing incidence of injury. Even with the changes, it was still an incredibly slow game; the teams had no limits to how long they can hold on to the ball before attempting to shoot, plus games were low-scoring.

Image source: livestrong.com

This all changed with the arrival of the shot clock in 1954, which brought speed to the game by giving teams only 24 seconds to score. This also forced a change in strategy for basketball, which now became the fast-paced game that fans enjoy today.

I'm John Bradberry, college student and all around sports fan, Charlotte, NC, born and raised. Catch more thoughts, views, and trivia on basketball and other sports on my blog.

Jordan before the NBA: A glance into a legend's collegiate career

Michael Jordan is one of the most decorated players in the NBA, having made an impressive record in his heyday. He was the childhood hero of many a young fan, yours truly included, and remains admired long after his retirement from the league. You have to admit that his track in the 1990s was incredibly impressive even today.

But many laypeople would be quite surprised that Jordan was far from the only excellent player produced by UNC, or for that matter does he rank the highest among all its alumni (though, let's face it, he did make the top 10; we're talking about Jordan here).

Image source: imageevent.com

At least two players performed statistically better than him in the entire history of the university. Phil Ford, who later became a gold-winning Olympian, held an impressive record of statistics as a UNC alumnus, and the Lakers' Big Game James (a contemporaneous co-alumnus of His Airness) surpassed him statistically back in college. In fact, it was under James Worthy's captainship of the Heels that Jordan would make the historic shot in '82 that would then characterize his future stellar career in professional basketball. This would parallel his best moments later in his career where his best performance was but a complement to precision teamwork.

Image source: pinterest.com

So, the young Jordan didn't achieve an all time superlative at UNC. Indeed, he never seemed to shy away from his occasional failures when speaking about his successes. And don't think I'm dissing my idol here. Even though he was far from an overnight success, he was still a force to be reckoned with back in college, and it shows. He was named Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Rookie of the Year for 1982 and led the ACC in scoring in both his sophomore and Junior seasons, where he was named college player of the year for both by The Sporting News.

It just goes to show, you don't become the Greatest of All Time overnight.

Hey, John Bradberry, Charlotte-bred, true blue NC college sports fan here. If you like college sports, you might want to drop by my other blog.