The Illinois High School Association released a video from the 1930s documenting how high school basketball looked and felt back then, and it looked little like today's game.
Most notably, there's no center court line, no 3-point line, and no shot clock. Indeed, as the video narrator points out, it wasn't odd for 30-35 passes between teammates before someone decided to take a shot. Slow and steady wins the race (and makes for a snoozier game).
And when they did take a shot sometimes--as you can see around the 4:00 mark--they're heaving that ball, as Marv Albert would say, from waaay downtown. Half court shots for no apparent reason? Sure, why not? Live a little.
The video also explains a few key phrases from our everyday basketball vocabulary, such as the phrase, "the top of the key." Apparently this evolves from the much more different looking free-throw lane from early basketball (which was only 6ft wide then) which resembled a key, hence why we still use the phrase today.
There's no explanation for the short shorts that predate everything great about Larry Bird's look, circa 1986.
Video: IHSA Archives on YouTube
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