College basketball went through some pretty major changes today. The NCAA committee concluded on some new rules to be enforced during the 2015-2016 season. They will even test out a few new rules in the 2016 NIT tournament. Here are the new rules and how they change the world of college basketball.
1. Shot clock reduced to 30 seconds. This is the biggest rule being introduced to college basketball. They are hoping to speed up the game after taking five seconds off the shot clock. The committee experimented this on the 2015 NIT tournament and it gave them some good results. It should be interesting to see a few teams adjust their programs around the new timer.
2. Increase the restricted area arc in front of the basket from three to four feet. This might seem like a minor rule change but it can effect a lot. This means charges will be called more and there will be less jump shots taken. People will take advantage of the larger paint.
3. The recommendations are to reduce timeouts from five to four, with no more than three carrying over to the second half; quicker resumption of play coming out of timeouts and players getting disqualified, disallowing coaches calling timeouts in live ball situations, and making a timeout within 30 seconds of a media timeout.
4. The committee wants officials to be able to review shot clock violations on made field goals at any point of the game. This plagued the world of college basketball. Without the ability to review shot clock violations, Kentucky might have been screwed out of a national title game birth. This will make things a lot more even in close games.
5. In the NIT tournament they will experiment with allowing players six fouls to give instead of just five. This will change the world of college basketball because players can stay in games longer. This rule is already in effect in the NBA and would be a great one for the amateur game.
Before these rules can go into effect they now have to get past the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight panel. Many fans, including this writer, hope that each one of these rules are enforced for the 2015-2016 season.