NCAA proposes rule changes for basketball
By Matt Hoeppner
The NCAA rules committee announced its proposed rules changes for the upcoming season of college basketball. The NCAA has been trying to increase scoring and pace of play for the last couple of years in college hoops. Before the 2013-2014 season they instituted new rules for officials regarding physical play, which resulted in a minor increase in scoring. Despite the new rules, last year was the lowest scoring season in college basketball history and more changes have to be made.
First up is the biggest one, the reduction of the shot clock from 35 seconds to 30 seconds. To me this one was an easy call and a no-brainer. If nothing else this should increase the number of possessions in any given game and it will force teams to get into their offensive sets quicker. It may even lead to an increase in transition chances as teams may be more willing to get out and run in an attempt to get better looks.
The one concern I have about the shot clock reduction is that during the adjustment period, you might see some even uglier possessions than what we have been seeing. Teams that don’t get into their sets quickly may end up chucking up a lot of bad shots as the clock winds down. Coaches will adjust though and I expect this to be a positive and the bottom line is that it needed to be done.
The second change is an increase of the restricted arc from three feet to four feet. This is a direct attempt to try and make the block/charge call easier and to deter players from “playing defense” by sliding in and "flopping" to draw a charge.
I am all for this one. Anything that makes it harder for players to try and draw charges and makes it easier for officials to try and get that call right is a big plus in my book. It also makes it the same distance as the NBA arc, which is the way it probably always should have been. Hopefully this change will reduce the number of times fans scream, "That’s a flop!" at the TV during the course of a game.
Along the same lines with that, the committee proposed a rule that wouldallow referees to penalize players for "faking fouls" during use of video review to review possible flagrant fouls. Again, anything to make it harder on floppers and fakers is fine with me.
Despite the changes, I’m sure we will still see plenty of this look.
The other major changes involve timeouts. The plan is to reduce the overall number of timeouts from five to four, with a maximum of three carrying over to second half. In addition to this, timeouts called within 30 seconds of scheduled media timeouts will become the media timeout.
Both of these changes are an attempt to speed up the pace of the game by eliminating excess stoppages, especially in the second half. The team timeout becoming the media timeout rule was a no-brainer and something that probably should have already been a rule. Don’t think coaches know exactly when those media timeouts are and call their own timeout right before so they can get the double up, especially in an attempt to rest players. This might bug some coaches, but it will make the game a lot less choppy, especially for fans watching at home.
The reduction in the overall timeouts is fine and it will force coaches to be more conservative when calling timeouts throughout the game. This is one that I don’t see having an effect on Tom Izzo though, as he usually hoards his timeouts until the end of the game anyway.
Coaches will also no longer be able to call a timeout from the bench when the ball is live. This basically just keeps coaches from being able to bail their players out who get into trouble and are either too rattled or too stubborn to call the timeout themselves.
Here are some of the other proposed changes:
- Officials can review potential shot clock violations at any time during the game
- Eliminated the five-second closely guarded rule while dribbling the ball
- Class B technical fouls (hanging on rim, delay of game etc) now one free throw instead of two
Those are more minor and logical changes with the biggest one being the elimination of the five-second rule. I have no problem with that because that rule was always odd and was way too subjective to what "closely guarded" actually meant. Once again, anything they can do to eliminate the amount of judgement calls by the officials is a good move in my opinion.
The final rule is an experimental rule increasing the number of personal fouls from five to six before a player is disqualified. To repeat, this is an EXPERIMENTAL rule that might be tried out during post-season play next year, much like the shorter shot clock and expanded restricted arc were tried out this year in the NIT and other smaller post-season tournaments. This will not be in effect next year in the NCAA tournament.
Personally, I am a fan of this idea. There are way too many times when one of the premier players on a team picks up two early fouls and then has to sit for the rest of the first half, and then picks up a quick one in the second half and has to sit back down. An extra foul would keep players on the floor and reduce the impact of the officials on the game, both good things for college basketball and its fans.
This is especially important with the rules committee wanting to focus on reducing physical play and allow greater freedom of movement for players with and without the ball. Fouls will likely pile up early as everyone adjusts and having an extra one could help smooth the transition.
Overall I think these rules are a good idea. After last year it was pretty obvious changes were coming and I think most of these changes are going to be for the better. We will have to wait and see exactly how these changes will affect the game overall, and we might not really be able to tell for a couple of years if they are having the attended outcome or not. Still, I think the intent of these changes is moving in the right direction, and that is a good sign.
The proposed rule changes will now head to the NCAA’s playing rules oversight panel, which will meet in June and vote on which proposed changes to enact.
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