The Four Corners and the College Shot Clock
1982 to 1986. A famous stall forces the NCAA to start the clock
The Four Corners offense was created in the early 1950s by John McLendon at North Carolina Central and made famous by Dean Smith at the University of North Carolina. Four players stood in the corners of the half court while the fifth dribbled in the middle. With a lead, a team could run down the clock while waiting for a layup or a foul.
College basketball had no shot clock, so a team could do this for as long as it liked. In the 1982 ACC championship game, top-ranked North Carolina faced Virginia and its towering center Ralph Sampson. North Carolina held the ball for roughly the last seven minutes to protect a small lead and won 47 to 45 on national television.
Fans had had enough. For the 1985 to 1986 season, the NCAA introduced a 45-second shot clock across the country, and the three-point line followed a year later. The clock was cut to 35 seconds in 1993 to 1994 and to 30 seconds in 2015 to 2016.
What changed
Stalling to protect a lead disappeared from college basketball. Teams in front still had to attack, so late-game offense and pressure defense mattered more than simply keeping the ball.