I find the Elam Ending to be the very best idea for basketball to come down the pike in many, many years. The current way of having the final minutes of a basketball game be an endless parade to the foul line, caused by intentional fouls that aren’t whistled as intentional fouls, is absolute nonsense. It is incredibly irritating. The game is played a certain way for almost the entire game, then the final minutes are played totally different, and those final minutes are a drudgery to watch.

In the Elam ending, both teams play offense and defense all the way to the conclusion of the game. Plus there is no clock to run out. If the team that is behind can play excellent defense, they can catch up to the leading team.

I would love to see this idea tried in games where there is no national consequences to be concerned about. The NCAA and the NBA will certainly not experiment with it for season games that count. But why not for NCAA pre-season games, and G-League games where no national championship is on the line. I believe that both the teams and the fans will find the change very enjoyable.

So why play the early parts of the game?

Yeah it’s a serious question. It’s stupid (IMO). These is nothing wrong with the basic rules of the game.

+1 Stupid is nice word for it. I believe that this is basically a sign that we have nothing better to talk about in the off-season. Now, I'm off to start a thread on why women need to "man up" and use the same size ball as men in college basketball. . .

Stupid is what the NBA does by advancing the ball to half-court at the end of games. It turns the last minute of a game into an interminable slog. CBB tries every year to change the game into the NBA which is idiocy IMO. The NBA only works because of the ridiculous amount of talent. The NBA game doesn't work at the college level because the talent just isn't there. But I digress because that is a different issue entirely. The Elam Ending results in teams actually playing basketball for the entirety of the game which is hardly stupid. Every single game ends in a game winning shot. I seriously doubt we'll see the Elam Ending gain any footing in the foreseeable future but it sure is less stupid than watching free throw contests for the last 2 minutes of a game (30 minutes real time).

Are you aware that this advancing the ball to the other end of the court after a time out at the end of a game rule (which I agree I don’t like) is used in NCAA Women’s Basketball?

This wouldn't be exactly correct. In baseball, the ball is always a 9 inch circumference, even in T-Ball and little league. The make-up of the ball is different, but the size itself is the same from beginning to the majors.

I've thought about this and wondered if a hybrid idea is an option. Whoever scores 8 points first, or whoever is leading after 5 minutes...whichever comes first. Then you still have the potential for some exciting buzzer related finishes BUT it still eliminates the constantly foul strategy.

OUVan is right on when he says:
"The Elam Ending results in teams actually playing basketball for the entirety of the game which is hardly stupid. Every single game ends in a game winning shot."

This made me realize that every single game will now have one or more potential game-winning possessions. That is exciting - at every game.

Imagine the Convo when the Cats gets the ball and are in a potential game-winning possession. The fans in the Convo are all on their feet, cheering for the Cats to win the game. On the other hand, if the opponent has the ball on a potential game-winning possession, the Cats' fans are on their feet chanting Defense-Defense, rooting for the Cats to get a stop and have another chance to catch up to the opponent's lead.

This is 100 times better than the continuous parade to the foul line via intentional fouls that we see so often in the waning minutes of a game in today's world.

Great you found 2 examples in what 15 years? This reminds me of when so many baseball fans were upset when baseball eliminated actually throwing 4 pitches to intentionally walk someone because one time Pete Rose hit one and another time Miguel Cabrera did.

The exciting finishes would be MUCH more plentiful under this model.

One other point, which could be seen as either a positive or a negative, is teams would be less willing to put the bench in for the final moments of a blowout.

I can recall two times seeing a batter called out on strikes after being thrown intentional balls. One might have been a playoff or series game.

I just read that the NBA G League is adopting a form of the Elam Ending for its games this season. They will use it for overtime. Instead of a clock, the first team to reach 7 additional points will win the OT. That is great !!! No more boring back-and-forth with intentional fouls, at least during the OT period. Just straight basketball. I have always hated the 5 minute OT periods anyway, as I believe they are way too long just to settle a tie. The Elam Ending will bring more excitement to the OT. It also ends the idea of multiple overtimes in any game. Nice.