The CIAC Board of Control took a vote on Thursday morning regarding the use of a 35-second shot clock at the varsity level for both the boys and girls beginning in the 2023-24 season. 89 schools voted on this motion, and 84 voted in favor.

It’s official, starting next winter the DHS Boys and Girls varsity basketball teams will be playing with the shot clock. This will be the first time in Connecticut high school hoops history such a thing will be implemented. This motion to implement a shot clock was originally supposed to go into effect before the 2022-23 season, however concerns from the Connecticut Association of Athletic Directors raised issues with getting ahold of the shot clocks before this winter pushing it back a year. What started earlier this year with a ruling from the NFHS (National Federation of State High School Associations), left it up to the individual states whether or not they will be implementing a shot clock. And the CIAC took a vote, and voted in favor of one.

Connecticut will be joining an exclusive list of 9 other states with a shot clock in high school basketball. California, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, and Washington, are the other 9.

So the days of stalling the clock and not taking shots late in the fourth quarter will be coming to an end. Whether or not this significant change will impact the Blue Wave’s performance on the hardwood, only time will tell.