Basketball: Quarters vs Halves

[cyfanatic]

I have watched basketball all my life...but as a fan. I have never really looked at strategies or rules or whatever, just watched as a fan. One question I have had in the past few years is in regards why some leagues use quarters while the college men use halves. What is the reasoning behind the use of quarters or halves? Is there a simple explanation/advantage/benefit as to why NCAA MBB continues to use 2 periods when no other level of basketball does so? Just curious...

 

[CYdTracked]

I would not be against MBB moving to 4 quarters like WBB did. They play quarters in HS and the professional levels so I've never quite understood why they have kept the 20 minute halves for this long to. I'd also like to see the jump ball be an actual head to head jump ball like they do in the pros too instead of this every other possession think but I am sure they have a reason behind that still too.

 

[Cyinthenorth]

I'm thinking it is a media deal with the halves. Built in TOs at under 16, 12, 8, 4, etc. Don't really know though.

 

[MushroomPinball]

I'd be fine with moving to quarters, so long as they keep the number of TV timeouts the same. I do not want more commercials.

 

[DrizzyCyclone]

I'd be fine with moving to quarters, so long as they keep the number of TV timeouts the same. I do not want more commercials.

In women’s college basketball, the media timeouts are the 5 minute mark and the end of quarters, so there’s less media timeouts. Hope they would do the same for the men if they moved to quarters.

 

[mywayorcyway]

I personally prefer halves but it seems I am in the minority. I have two primary reasons, and both relate to free throws.

For one, I prefer a 20 minute half with 10 fouls for the double bonus. There's no reset - if you foul a little, you're not penalized, if you foul a lot, you're eating it the entire end of the game.

The bigger reason is the 1 and 1. I feel the single/double bonus is a part of the strategy, and a 1 and 1 can be a huge boost to a defense that hasn't been fouling frequently throughout the game. 1 and 1s are fun.

I also prefer the timeouts as they are now, though I'll be honest and say I don't know if timeouts are delivered per quarter or per half (I don't watch much women's or NBA ball).

 

[cyclones500]

I think the two-halves concept comes from Naismith's original 13 rules (at that time, two 15-minute halves). College kept it maybe purely out of tradition ... other levels used quarters instead (although maybe other levels used halves at some point, too).

 

[MushroomPinball]

In women’s college basketball, the media timeouts are the 5 minute mark and the end of quarters, so there’s less media timeouts. Hope they would do the same for the men if they moved to quarters.

I would go for that, but I don't think ESPN or CBS/Turner Sports would.

 

[Cyinthenorth]

I think the two-halves concept comes from Naismith's original 13 rules (at that time, two 15-minute halves). College kept it maybe purely out of tradition ... other levels used quarters instead (although maybe other levels used halves at some point, too).

I attended a small private high school in NE Iowa and occasionally we'd play other private schools in Minnesota. Whenever we played in their gyms we would play 16 minute halves as opposed to the standard 8 min quarters in Iowa. Not sure, but believe it was because MN high school basketball rules dictate two 16 min halves as opposed to 4 8 min quarters at the time. That could have changed since then though. Mid 00's.

Edit: Had to look this up. Apparently it is 18 min halves, not 16, and they still play by those rules. They also have a 35 second shot clock which I had forgotten about.

 

[1UNI2ISU]

I attended a small private high school in NE Iowa and occasionally we'd play other private schools in Minnesota. Whenever we played in their gyms we would play 16 minute halves as opposed to the standard 8 min quarters in Iowa. Not sure, but believe it was because MN high school basketball rules dictate two 16 min halves as opposed to 4 8 min quarters at the time. That could have changed since then though. Mid 00's.

Edit: Had to look this up. Apparently it is 18 min halves, not 16, and they still play by those rules. They also have a 35 second shot clock which I had forgotten about.

Minnesota is still in halves. 18 minutes now though.

 

[houjix]

The NIT experimented with quarters a few years back, iirc.

 

[theshadow]

In women’s college basketball, the media timeouts are the 5 minute mark and the end of quarters, so there’s less media timeouts. Hope they would do the same for the men if they moved to quarters.

WBB TV compensated by making the TOs longer. What used to be 9 media TO @ 2:00 each (18:00) is now 7 @ 2:30 each (17:30).

If the same happened in MBB, you'd be looking at ~3:15 per TO -- which is similar to FB.

 

[mywayorcyway]

And please please please do not go to a 24 second shot clock!

 

[cycloner29]

Sorry, eyes just caught "quarters and halves" and thought of beef right away. Carry on.

 

[Gunnerclone]

I like halves better. The game ebbs and flows in a different way and can swing more violently than a quartered game.

 

[qwerty]

I personally prefer halves but it seems I am in the minority. I have two primary reasons, and both relate to free throws.

For one, I prefer a 20 minute half with 10 fouls for the double bonus. There's no reset - if you foul a little, you're not penalized, if you foul a lot, you're eating it the entire end of the game.

The bigger reason is the 1 and 1. I feel the single/double bonus is a part of the strategy, and a 1 and 1 can be a huge boost to a defense that hasn't been fouling frequently throughout the game. 1 and 1s are fun.

I also prefer the timeouts as they are now, though I'll be honest and say I don't know if timeouts are delivered per quarter or per half (I don't watch much women's or NBA ball).

I agree on the 1 and 1 and foul counts but just set it up like high school. They play quarters but foul counts are per half with bonus at 7 fouls, double bonus at 10 fouls. WBB is four timeouts per game period. TV timeouts are under 5:00 deadball and quarter breaks. So, they have three per half instead of four. I prefer that.

 

[cyclones500]

I attended a small private high school in NE Iowa and occasionally we'd play other private schools in Minnesota. Whenever we played in their gyms we would play 16 minute halves as opposed to the standard 8 min quarters in Iowa. Not sure, but believe it was because MN high school basketball rules dictate two 16 min halves as opposed to 4 8 min quarters at the time. That could have changed since then though. Mid 00's.

Edit: Had to look this up. Apparently it is 18 min halves, not 16, and they still play by those rules. They also have a 35 second shot clock which I had forgotten about.

After finding the Naismith rule detail and posting, I caught reference online to MN (& WI, at least at one time) using halves in HS -- I thought all high schools have used quarters.

 

[LivntheCyLife]

I personally prefer halves but it seems I am in the minority. I have two primary reasons, and both relate to free throws.

For one, I prefer a 20 minute half with 10 fouls for the double bonus. There's no reset - if you foul a little, you're not penalized, if you foul a lot, you're eating it the entire end of the game.

The bigger reason is the 1 and 1. I feel the single/double bonus is a part of the strategy, and a 1 and 1 can be a huge boost to a defense that hasn't been fouling frequently throughout the game. 1 and 1s are fun.

I also prefer the timeouts as they are now, though I'll be honest and say I don't know if timeouts are delivered per quarter or per half (I don't watch much women's or NBA ball).

I personally would prefer to see quarters and the team fouls reset each quarter for a couple reasons:
1) I think you get a more consistently officiated games. I think refs are more afraid to call early fouls in the half system since it can stick around for a whole half. The number of fouls in a half dramatically affects the length of a game. Quarters evens some of that out.
2) The penalty at the end of the half may not be very big if the game is already out of reach by a team that was more aggressive early in the half. Better for the fouled team to get some of the benefit earlier.

Totally agree on 1 and 1 though. I enjoy that aspect of the game. I'd make at least the 4th and 5th team foul each quarter a 1 and 1, maybe even more.

 

[GrindingAway]

I personally prefer halves but it seems I am in the minority. I have two primary reasons, and both relate to free throws.

For one, I prefer a 20 minute half with 10 fouls for the double bonus. There's no reset - if you foul a little, you're not penalized, if you foul a lot, you're eating it the entire end of the game.

The bigger reason is the 1 and 1. I feel the single/double bonus is a part of the strategy, and a 1 and 1 can be a huge boost to a defense that hasn't been fouling frequently throughout the game. 1 and 1s are fun.

I also prefer the timeouts as they are now, though I'll be honest and say I don't know if timeouts are delivered per quarter or per half (I don't watch much women's or NBA ball).

I agree on free throws and team fouls, but that doesn't have to eliminate halves. Iowa high school for example uses quarters but fouls don't reset at the quarters.

Beyond that I don't know that there is a giant difference. In some ways the women's game is 5 minute eights and the men's game is 4 minutes 10ths. A lot of the difference between being a quarter vs a media timeout are kind of minutiae and wouldn't effect the viewing experience very significantly. (more/less 2 for 1 opportunities for us basketball nerds, more/less half court heaves, more possession arrow changes)

The part that effects the viewing experience is the number of breaks. I think most would agree that we have gotten to the point that there are way too many stoppages in play, When you stop play at a minimum of every 4 minutes, plus coaches have 4 timeouts, plus there's almost always some stoppages for review or injury or whatever it gets to be a bit much. I'd very much be in favor of trading fewer stoppages for stoppages that were slightly longer. Less time stopped overall would be nice but I understand the financial side.

 

[GrindingAway]

And please please please do not go to a 24 second shot clock!

So you hate fun?

Or are you arguing for less? I could maybe get talked into that.