The Game Has Changed- 1959 to 2025

I graduated from high school in 1970, so watched basketball and played high school basketball in the 1960’s. I heard stories about basketball in the 1930’s and 1940’s, and knew it was a different game with the smaller lane, the lower scores, and for a period jumping center after each basket. 

For me, the 1960’s was “modern basketball.” There was no three point arc, but in my mind it was the same game. 

As I have been going back and doing research on teams from the 1950’s and 1960’s, I was struck as I read newspaper accounts of the “big games,” how many times the games were decided by fouls. It was not unusual to have one of the teams having their star sit out for major portions of the game and of fouling out. Yes, players today can get in foul trouble, but it just seemed a much more regular occurrence in the ‘50’s and ‘60’s that I read about. 

One needs to only look at the free throw line to understand how the game has changed. 

Numbers don’t lie. I just got done looking at Galesburg’s 1963 Elite 8 team. There were 24 box scores (remember when papers put those in). In those 24 games, Galesburg averaged shooting 31.6 free throws. And their opponents averaged 26.1 free throws per game. Galesburg shot over 25 free throws in 20 of the 24 games. The Streaks shot over 40 free throws in 3 games, and once attempted over 50 free throws. 

This past season, the eight boys teams in the Western Big Six Conference averaged shooting 10.9 free throws per game. The implementation of resetting fouls each quarter has reduced the number of foul shots.  I realize this is a limited sample that I am working with, but I have no doubt that the numbers reflect what the game was and what the game is today.

Other numbers to ponder from the IHSA Boys State Tourneys- The average free throw attempts at State by the 16 teams. 

1959- 26.1 free throw attempts

1968- 22.8

1976- 17.0 (AA), 17.4 (A)

1981- 16.2 (AA), 13.6 (A)

1998- 14.1 (AA), 14.1 (A)

2006- 13.9 (AA), 14.0 (A)

 

Some questions that deserve a deeper dive:

1- When did the game change? Has it been a gradual change of the 60 years, or were there certain eras where it changed dramatically?

2- Why has it changed so much? Was it a series of decisions by rules makers that have changed the game? Was it a gradual drip kind of change by referees on their own deciding how the game should be called?

3- How much has this change occurred as a result of how the NBA and college game has been played? Has high school adapted to be more like college basketball?

4- Has the game chanced in an attempt to be more pleasing to fans? Think about how many stoppage of play there were in a 1963 Galesburg game with the two teams shooting an average of 57.7 free throws per game. With a mix of 1 and 1’s and 2 shot fouls, it is safe to say that about every 45 seconds the teams were stopping to shoot a free throw. This could not have been exciting for the fans. 

5- Is the change for the better, or has an important aspect of the game been taken away?

I am amazed how much the game seems to have changed. I am more amazed that the change seems to have happened in a way that I didn’t notice. Whether it is the result of a series of purposeful decisions or a series of unintentional decisions, it has changed. 

I would love your comments on this topic.