by Ken Brown
MARSHFIELD – Head coach Chris Hudson is stepping away from the Twinfield-Cabot boys’ basketball program this winter after nine highly successful seasons, including four trips to the Division IV Final Four.
Hudson returned a storied Trojan basketball program to divisional prominence nine years ago, reaching the Barre Auditorium four times in his first six seasons on the sidelines. School choice and three consecutive years of battling the injury bug, stripped Hudson’s teams of talent the past three seasons, forcing the veteran coach to compete at the varsity level with a plethora of developing eighth graders and freshman.
Hudson’s successor this season, Kris Bador, knows that young talent well after coaching Twinfield-Cabot’s junior varsity program last season. Bador will take over a Trojan program that returns several young key pieces as they enter their third season in the rugged Mountain League. Ed Berry will take over the reigns as the head JV coach.
“We are excited to have Kris step into the varsity boys’ position. He brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to a program that Chris was able to establish as a solid Division IV program,” said Danville-Twinfield-Cabot (CCSU) athletic director Randy Rathburn.
Twinfield-Cabot alum and former multi-sport standout Jack Whalen replaces David Conover and will lead both the varsity and junior varsity Lady Trojan basketball programs this winter.
Upcoming Rule Changes for High School Basketball
NORTHEAST KINGDOM – Vermont high school basketball will look slightly different this coming winter, as a few significant rule changes will take effect for the 2023-24 season.
The most significant change this upcoming hoop’s season is to rule 4-8-1, eliminating the one and one scenario in high school basketball. Previously, teams were awarded the one and one free throw bonus when their opponents committed seven fouls in a half and two foul shots when 10 fouls were committed each half. High school basketball teams will now shoot two free throws for common fouls when in the “bonus.” In addition to awarding two foul shots for all common fouls, teams will reach the bonus when their opponent commits five fouls in each quarter and team fouls will reset at the end of each quarter.
Hazen Union boys’ varsity head coach Aaron Hill had these thoughts on the rule change. “I am not sure they will have a major impact, but I think it could result in more physical play and it will be harder to come back late in games when everyone is shooting two shots instead of one and one’s.”
Other Points of Emphasis include a change to Rule 9-3-3, which was amended to allow a player to step out of bounds and return to the court if the player gains no advantage. A player will now be penalized only if, after returning inbounds, the player is the first to touch the ball or avoids a violation. The throw-in procedure for front-court violations was also simplified in Rules 7-5-2 through 7-5-5. Starting this season, when the ball is in team control in the offensive team’s frontcourt and the defensive team commits a violation, a common foul prior to the bonus, or the ball becomes dead, the corresponding throw-in by the offensive team will now be at one of four designated spots determined by where the infraction took place. The designated spots are either the nearest 28-foot mark along each sideline or the nearest spot 3 feet outside the lane line on the end line. The one exception is when the defensive team causes a ball to be out of bounds, the throw-in shall be the spot where the ball went out of bounds.
