College basketball is going to look different in a number of ways starting in 2015. The NCAA approved a series of rule changes to the men’s and women’s game on Monday which will impact everything from the way officials call the games to, in the case of women’s basketball, the implementation of quarters instead of halves.
The main change on the men’s side of the game has to do with speeding up the game, as the NCAA finally approved a new 30-second shot clock. This is a rule change that was proposed a few months ago out of a desire to speed up the game, and it’s not the only radical change that will look to accomplish this goal. The NCAA also gotten rid of one time out in the second half—knocking it down from four to three—got rid of a coach’s ability to call time outs from the bench and fixed the media time out procedure, among other changes.
OFFICIAL! 30-sec shot clock, 4-foot arc, reduction in time outs among changes coming to men's basketball next season. pic.twitter.com/qgLqt0BS6D
— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) June 8, 2015
Also new to the men’s game will be the expanding of the restricted area under the hoop, which will go from three feet to four, and a new rule to judge if there is flopping during reviews for a flagrant foul. There is a plan in place to have all non-NCAA Tournament postseason games give players six fouls before disqualification, and in more fun news, dunking during pre-game and halftime warm-ups are no longer prohibited. All of the new rule changes are outlined on the NCAA’s official site.
The most radical change, however, will happen in the women’s game, as it will now adopt four 10-minute quarters instead of two 20-minute halves. This led to a change in the way fouls can be accrued during games, as it does away with one-and-one free throws and teams will jump to two free throws once they reach the bonus after five team fouls, which will reset after each period.
The women’s game will also feature changes in post defense, as defenders are now allowed “to place a forearm or an open hand with a bend in the elbow on an offensive post player with the ball whose back is to the basket.” It also changed up its rules on advancing the ball after time outs in the last 59.9 seconds of a fourth quarter, and tweaked the game’s 10-second backcourt rules. You can find all of the changes to the women’s game right here.
