Nick Elam

Nick Elam is an educational leadership professor at Ball State University, notable for the "Elam ending", a variation to the rules of basketball.

Nick Elam
EducationPhD
Alma materUniversity of Dayton
Miami University
OccupationEducator
TitleProfessor of Educational Leadership at Ball State University

Education

Nick Elam graduated with his undergraduate degree from University of Dayton in 2004.[1] In 2017 he received his Ph.D. in Educational Leadership, Culture, and Curriculum from Miami University.[2] His dissertation was entitled The Impact of the Ohio Teacher Evaluation System on Principals' Approaches and Perceptions Toward Evaluation.[3]

Career

Nick Elam began his career as a grade school teacher in Ohio,[4] later becoming a middle-school principal before moving to university education. He is an educational leadership professor now at Ball State University.[5]

Elam Ending

Elam is known as the inventor of the "Elam Ending", which has been used in basketball tournaments including The Basketball Tournament and the 2020 NBA All-Star Game.[6] He developed the alternative game ending while a senior in college, in order to make the ending of competitive basketball games more compelling[1] and put an end to the practice of intentional fouling. The potential solution was developed through an Elam-led research project that showed that intentional fouling was prevalent in college basketball, but highly ineffective in helping teams with a losing score in the late minutes of the game from winning.[7]

The Elam ending changes the end of a basketball game in that teams play to a "target score", with the game clock turned off. As used in The Basketball Tournament, at the first dead ball after the four minute mark of the 4th quarter, the game clock is turned off, and the "target score" is 8 points above the current leading team's score. In the 2020 NBA All-Star Game, the Elam ending began at the start of the 4th quarter, with the game clock turned off and the teams using the "target score" of 24 points (in honor of Kobe Bryant) above the current leading team's score. Elam believes that this change reduces fouling at the end of games, as time management is a non-factor.

It has been argued that the Elam ending is a return to "pick-up" basketball, which is traditionally played to a target score.[8]

Personal life

Elam is a member of Mensa.[7]

References
  1. Greene, Nick (February 18, 2020). "An Interview With the Man Who Helped Make the NBA All-Star Game Exciting". Slate Magazine.
  2. "Nick Elam". Ball State University.
  3. "The Impact of the Ohio Teacher Evaluation System on Principals' Approaches and Perceptions Toward Evaluation". OhioLink.
  4. Mike Jensen (August 1, 2019). "The Elam Method explained, by Elam himself and the basketball players using it". Philadelphia Inquirer.
  5. Wasserman, Howard M. (November 30, 2018). "Infield Fly Rule Is in Effect: The History and Strategy of Baseball's Most (In)Famous Rule". McFarland – via Google Books.
  6. "How the Elam Ending came to the NBA All-Star Game, with some help from Chris Paul". Oklahoman.com. February 16, 2020.
  7. Tim Hackett (April 26, 2018). "The Elam Ending: One Man's Plan to Eliminate Intentional Fouling". Sports Illustrated.
  8. Lowe, Zach (June 18, 2018). "New kind of crunch time has NBA luminaries excited". ESPN.
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