With March Madness in the review mirror, the NCAA rules committee has gone back to the drawing board as try to come up with new rules to help the game move along smoother.
The rules committee has decided to experiment with expanding the foul limit to six like the NBA and it has also decided to move away from the 35 second shot clock and move it down to 30 seconds.
The NCAA Men’s Basketball Rules Committee approved a package of proposals and officiating directives to significantly improve the pace of play, better balance offense with defense and reduce the physicality in the sport.
“Although the reduction in the shot clock to help increase scoring seemed to be the most discussed topic, the increase in the physicality of play has been a major concern for coaches. The NCAA rules committee has addressed that this week with an emphasis on perimeter defense and post play,” said Ron Hunter, president of the National Association of Basketball Coaches and men’s basketball coach at Georgia State University.
The committee, which met May 12-15 in Indianapolis, agreed reducing the physicality is the most critical need to encourage a more open style of play and improve the game.
The key areas the committee will focus on in the upcoming season are:
- Perimeter defense, particularly on the dribbler and strictly enforcing the directives put in the book before the 2013-14 season.
- Physicality in post play.
- Screening, particularly moving screens and requiring that the screener be stationary.
- Block/charge plays.
- Allowing greater freedom of movement for players without the ball.
As it did in the 2013-14 season, the committee is formalizing in the rulebook several officiating guidelines dealing with screening and post play, making those items fouls and not just guidelines.
“We had some success with perimeter defense and believe upgrading these guidelines to be clear rules will significantly impact enforcement,” Byrd said. “Without question, this will require an adjustment period for everyone in the game and it is likely to be difficult at times. If we strictly enforce these rules consistently, we believe players and coaches will adjust and the game will be much better in the future.”
With an eye on reducing inaction and improving pace of play, the committee approved several proposals. The most significant of the changes is to reduce the shot clock to 30 seconds. The shot clock period was last reduced for the 1993-94 season when the clock was reduced from 45 seconds to 35.
The committee discussed its rules and potential options with the number of fouls and other considerations at length. The committee has approved experimentation to add one foul per player for the 2016 postseason and will investigate interested events (e.g., National Invitational Tournament, etc.).
For once it is nice that the NCAA is actually targeting rule changes for issues that will actually improve the game instead of trying to suck the fun out of the sport.
Maybe the same rules committee can put their heads together and get some of these rules in football corrected.