When the 2023-24 high school basketball season opens up this winter, there will be different situations at the free-throw line, altering some late-game scenarios for coaches and players. A new rule issued by the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association will give offensive players a little bit more of an advantage at the charity stripe and lower the pressure situations of a close game.

At its most recent board meeting, the PIAA voted to adopt the National Federation of State High Schools Association’s (NFHS) rule change that teams will shoot two freee-throws for common fouls when in the bonus. The change to Rule 4-8-1 eliminates the one-and-one foul shooting scenario. The bonus will now be set at five fouls in a quarter, instead of seven fouls in a half, and the team fouls will now be reset after each quarter, instead of carrying over.

According to a press release from Lindsey Atkinson, the NFHS Director of Sports and liaison to the Basketball Rules Committee, the rule change was implemented to help reduce higher injury rates on rebounding situations and the NHFS saw this as an opportunity to reduce opportunities for rough play during rebounds.

Atkinson also stated that the rule change will improve game flow and allow teams to adjust their play by not carrying foul totals to quarters two and four.

Like with anything else, the new rule was met with some positivity and some negativity as coaches try to grapple with the change and what it means for the sport. Parkland High School girls head coach Ed Ohlson is not a fan of the new rule when it comes to the X’s and O’s of the strategy part of the game.

“I’m not in favor of it in its singular change,” said Ohlson. “Anything that takes the strategy out of the game to me is not helping the game. I do think if they implemented this with a shot clock, I would be in favor of it. On its own merit this rule takes pressure off the shooter and in turn the winning team at the time. If you had a shot clock, the losing team then would have to strategize about getting a defensive stop within the time allotted or fouling.

“This is the statement from the PIAA, ‘The rules committee studied data that showed higher injury rates on rebounding situations and saw this as an opportunity to reduce opportunities for rough play during rebounds.’ “I’d like to see the imperial evidence that one-and-one rebounding situation has anything to do with higher injury rates.”

Ohlson believes it will alter late-game situations in close games when teams may purposefully foul away from the ball to put worse shooters on the line.

“It will make it harder on teams to come back in games when they are down and it may lead to harder fouls away from the ball,” Ohlson said. “So instead of fouling the person with the ball in late game situations, teams are going to foul whoever the worst foul shooter is, a Hack-a-Shaq type of scenario.”