President Obama in Favor of Shortened Shot Clock in College Basketball

It's well known that President Barack Obama is an avid basketball fan, and one of the most anticipated moments during March Madness is watching the Commander in Chief fill out his bracket. However, he has other thoughts that could make the game even better.

One issue that many people have with college basketball is that it is mostly played at a slower pace; meaning less points are scored and there are fewer possessions per game compared to the NBA level.

A simple fix to this is by shortening the shot clock from 35 seconds to 30 seconds, a rule that is being experimented with during this year's National Invitational Tournament.

Obama spoke about this possible rule change for the entire landscape of college basketball to ESPN's Andy Katz on Tuesday when shooting for his bracket selection for the NCAA Tournament.

"I am an advocate, by the way, for the NCAA changing the rules in terms of shortening the shot clock... The fact of the matter is I like how basketball is going in the NBA because it's fluid."

It seems to have helped on a small scale in the 2015 NIT, as only five of the 18 teams that played on the first day scored less than 65 points, with only one of those games finishing with both teams scoring less than 65.

Could a permanent rule change give more excitement to the game of basketball at the collegiate level, or will too many changes make it too similar to the NBA game?

One thing is certain though: more points have been scored thus far with the experiment. We'll see if the pattern continues tonight as the rest of round one of the NIT will be played.