Dr. Nick Elam is a Ball State professor focusing on educational leadership. But if you watched the NBA All-Star game this season you may have heard or seen his namesake trending on Twitter. The Elam Ending, a term coined by The Basketball Tournament, an annual $2 million prized basketball tournament on ESPN, is a way to make the ending of a game more competitive as opposed to intentional fouling to try and drag out the clock and hope the other team misses free throws.
In this episode of the SII podcast, Dr. Elam shares the 15 year journey of his idea to improve the game of basketball and where he thinks it will go from here. Host Travis Smith asks Dr. Elam’s opinions on new trends in innovating sports, such as NASCAR’s stage formula and the XFL’s new kickoff and extra point formats.
Personally, I probably watch basketball games once or twice a year but I know basketball games consist of four quarters of 10 minutes each, the team play one-way for two quarters, and the other way for the next two. The Elam Ending is different than the traditional way. The game ends when the first team reaches a set target score as opposed to when the fourth quarter or overtime period is over. you play each basketball game with a clock and the last part of the game without a clock.
I think it is awesome that Dr. Nike Elam didn’t give up on his ideal even though it is a challenge.