As of the 2005-06 basketball season, the Land of 10,000 Lakes can also be called the Land of 36 Minutes. Minnesota became the first state to replace eight-minute quarters with 18-minute halves in all its varsity high school basketball games, adding four minutes to each contest. Many coaches favored the move, but the support wasn't unanimous.

The Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) Basketball Committee proposed adopting the new format last year, and the league's board of directors approved it, 12-7. The committee noted that the change would create 20 additional minutes of playing time for each team (four minutes x five players), and that basketball is the shortest timed sport in the state--shorter than football (48 minutes), ice hockey (51 minutes), and soccer (80 minutes).

"Our coaches had been talking about this for several years, because they wanted the increased playing time," says Kevin Merkle, Associate Director of the MSHSL. "Coaches also believe eliminating the quarter intermissions enhances the flow of the game."

Administrators and coaches who opposed the change worried that smaller schools wouldn't have the roster depth to compete in longer games, and noted that one-sided routs would be even worse with the extra minutes. But despite these concerns, Merkle says surveys conducted found approximately 70 percent support for the new rule among coaches and administrators.

Ron Larson, Activities Director and Head Boys' Basketball Coach at St. Francis (Minn.) High School, says the uninterrupted halves are greatly improving game flow this season, and the biggest difference for coaches is a heightened emphasis on developing bench players. "It's now imperative that we get more kids ready to play, because when you lengthen the game you have to give more players a rest," he says.

The NFHS refused to grant a rules variance for the increased game length, and as a result Minnesota lost its representation in basketball rules-making nationally. The NFHS only allows states to experiment with new rules if there is considerable support for making the change nationwide, which it didn't believe existed. However, since implementing the change, the MSHSL has received several calls from other state associations expressing interest in how the longer games have worked out.