Former NBA assistant decides to experiment _ with 11-foot hoops

By TIM BOOTH
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

SEATTLE -- Tyler Besecker started near the bench, a foot off the court.

The 6-foot-7, one-time Stanford reserve launched into a sprint toward the basket, leaping to touch the rim.

He missed.

Badly.

By a good 3 or 4 inches.

"It's kind of humiliating at first," Besecker said.

Besecker will be one of about 20 test subjects come Saturday afternoon, playing in an experimental basketball game using 11-foot baskets.

The mixologist changing the basic formula is Tom Newell, a one-time assistant in the NBA and son of former California coach and acclaimed big-man instructor Pete Newell. In Tom Newell's opinion, basketball is becoming too individually oriented with fewer of the fundamentals needed to succeed.

Moving the 3-point line, widening the lane and tweaking the clocks have all been experimented with or changed. The basket has always remained at 10-feet.

"All the experience I've had related to the game I've been able to understand what exactly we have seen as progress and my problem I have right now is I see the game evolving more individually than from the team standpoint," Newell said. "People have talked about it, but no one has ever done it, raising the basket ... and getting the data."

Newell started formulating the idea around the first of the year and found a cooperating partner in the University of Washington, where the game will be played. Earlier this week, the baskets at Washington's on-campus arena were moved and secured on top of 1-foot-high rectangular wooden boxes.

The game will have a number of different rules. No dunking is allowed, although many of the players would struggle to get the ball over the rim. There will be a 30-second shot clock. Teams will play man-to-man defense in the first half and zone defense in the second half to contrast how effective offense's are against the two defenses.

Newell's hope is the taller basket will promote more passing and teamwork, and lessen the reliance on 3-pointers and dunks.

The event will be interactive with fans being able to provide feedback through an interactive remote response system produced by a Seattle-area company.

Former UCLA coach Jim Harrick, now coaching Bakersfield in the NBA Developmental League, and Paul Woolpert, coach of the Yakama Sun Kings in the CBA, will coach the two teams.

"We've got to bring the game back to a level of execution and fundamentals," Newell said. "I'm not trying to change convention. I'm just asking the question, 'why not?'"

Most of the players involved have Division I or Division II playing experience. Some are still playing in fledgling leagues like the ABA or IBL.

All were intrigued with the novelty of the experiment.

"We're test dummies, I guess you could call us," Besecker said after a practice on Wednesday night. "It seemed like a crazy concept at first, but we're all really seeming to adapt pretty well."

At Wednesday night's practice, plenty of lay-ups were left on the front rim. Timing the jump to grab a rebound was slightly off, and plenty of deep jumpers fell short.

Brandon Burmeister, who finished his senior season at Washington in March, anticipated the chance to see how the game is different.

"It's something that is going to be very interesting once we really get out on the court and play 5-on-5 to see what a difference it makes," he said.