Yet Another Discussion About the Changes in NCAA Basketball

Matt McCullers

Several days ago, I wrote an article that discussed how the NCAA’s new rules would influence the pace of the game. Now I’m going to talk about how some of these new rules will attempt to limit the physicality of the game amongst other things. Honestly, I do not know why a committee would make rules that will teach these players to be less physical. The raw physicality of basketball is what makes it exciting and interesting at times. And players are going to get injured, no matter what. Anyways, the committee has introduced a change to the game that will influence the level of physicality. This change is the altering of the restricted area arc from three feet to four feet.

The restricted area arc is a small area under the basket where a defender cannot draw a charge. I’m not too familiar with this area on the court because I never had to personally experience it (in high school basketball, there is no arc and much to my chagrin, refs have called charges on me when defenders were in this area). But apparently, it works! The NCAA experimented with it in the NIT Tournament and the number of charge/block calls were reduced, which improves the flow of the game and limits players from potentially colliding with one another in a limited space. Although a defender may be in this area, if the offensive player lowers his shoulder or trucks through the defender, a charge should be called nonetheless. But ultimately, this new rule will limit collisions and reduce the difficulty for the officials who are calling the fouls.

Aside from that, the rest of the rules range in purpose:

- Allowing the officials to monitor a shot clock violation throughout the entire game-Ugh…this problem scarcely happens but this shows the hypocrisy of the NCAA. This rule not only decreases the factor of human error, but when the officials have to monitor this, it will take an unnecessary amount of time, thus disrupting the flow of the game.

- Penalizing fake fouls- Faking fouls? Ha! It seems as if Duke has a real problem now. There is no excuse for players trying to fake a foul. It’s just bush-league. Stop acting and play the game. The NCAA is right for enforcing a rule that penalizes players who fake fouls, just like the NBA was right for penalizing players who flop.

- Making class B technical fouls one shot technical fouls- Some of these types of fouls include hanging on the rim and delaying the resumption of the game. I don’t think that this rule is really necessary. One free throw is really nothing unless someone is stupid enough to hang on the rim in a tight game.

- Eliminating the five second rule- This rule used to be that if you were guarded closely for five seconds without giving up the ball (passing, shooting), it was a turnover. I always thought that was a stupid rule. I mean, what player wants to be guarded that closely for that long anyways? If the defender hasn’t fouled you within five seconds, then you’re bound to turn the ball over anyways. I guess it’s alright that the NCAA is getting rid of that rule.

- Removing the prohibition of dunking during warmups- I never understood this rule. Just another useless product of the NCAA nanny-state.

Another rule that the NCAA should seriously consider is changing the foul limit from five to six fouls, like the NBA. Good offensive players tend to be hindered by their foul trouble at times. This means that they have to sit out for a long period of time to prevent picking up further fouls. When good offensive players have to sit out, the offense becomes stagnant, and the flow of the game is disrupted. Plus, it’s more fun to watch a game where players aren’t worried about picking up their next foul. If the committee is really concerned about improving the state of the game, they should seriously consider this rule.

That about wraps it up for the new rules instituted by the NCAA. Hopefully these rules improve the state of college basketball. We’ll see how they do in November.