NCAA’s Proposed Rule Changes for the 2017-18 Season

[Fieldhouse Flyer]

Yesterday the NCAA announced their proposed rule changes for the 2017-18 season (listed below), preceded by historical context.

Rules of Basketball - Wikipedia

Original Rules
In January 15, 1892, James Naismith published his rules for the game of "Basket Ball" that he invented. The original game played under these rules was quite different from the one played today as there was no dribbling, dunking, three-pointers, nor shot clock, and goal tending was legal.

History of NCAA Basketball Rule Changes 1900-2016 – OrangeHoops.org – June 2015

Excerpted major rule changes from a lengthy OrangeHoops.org list that is well worth reading:

1900-1901 - A dribbler may not shoot a field goal and may dribble only once, and then with two hands.
1908-1909 - A dribbler is permitted to shoot.
1910-1911 – No coaching is allowed during the progress of the game by anybody connected with either team.
1920-1921 - A player can re-enter a game once. Before this rule, if a player left the game, he could not re-enter for the rest of the game.
1933-1934 - A player may re-enter a game twice.
1937-1938 - The center jump after every made basket is eliminated.
1944-1945 – Defensive goal tending is banned.
1944-1945 - Five personal fouls disqualifies a player.
1944-1945 - Unlimited substitution is allowed.
1944-1945 - Offensive players cannot stand in the free throw lane for more than 3 seconds.
1948-1949 – Coaches are now allowed to speak to players during a timeout.
1951-1952 - Games are to be played in four 10 minute quarters. Previously it was two 20 minute halves.
1954-1955 - Games are changed back to two 20 minutes halves.
1956-1957 - The width of the free throw lane is increased from 6 feet to 12 feet.
1957-1958 – Offensive goal tending is now banned.
1967-1968 - The dunk is made illegal during the game and during warmup.
1972-1973 - Freshman are now eligible to play varsity basketball.
1976-1977 - The dunk is made legal again.
1985-1986 - The 45 second shot clock is introduced.
1986-1987 - A three point shot was introduced at 19'9".
1993-1994 - The shot clock is reduced from 45 seconds to 35 seconds.
2008-2009 - Three point arc extended to 20' 9".

Men's Basketball Rules of the Game homepage - NCAA.com – June 2015; updated June 2016

2015-16 and 2016-17 Men’s Basketball Rules Changes (6-page .pdf table) - NCAA.com – June 8, 2015

The following rules changes were approved by the NCAA Men’s Basketball Rules Committee and the Playing Rules Oversight Panel. They will be
incorporated into the rules book for the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons.

NCAA changes shot clock to 30 seconds, makes other changes to game - NCAA.com – June 8, 2015
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The Proposed New Rules:

Men’s Basketball Rules Committee looks at future of the game – NCAA.com – May 12, 2017 - 5:18 PM

2017-18 Rules Recommendations

The committee’s rules proposals must be approved by the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel, which is scheduled to discuss the men’s basketball rules recommendations on June 13, 2017. The committee’s recommendations are:

• Extend the coach’s box to 38 feet for the 2017-18 season. The coach’s box is now 28 feet. Committee members believe this will allow coaches to improve communication with their teams. “We believe this change will help our coaches, particularly when the ball is at the opposite end of the floor.”

• Reset the shot clock to 20 seconds when the ball is inbounded in the front court after a foul or other violation by the defense, such as a kicked ball. If more than 20 seconds remains on the shot clock, the shot clock will not be reset.

• Make throw-in spots more consistent in the front court. The location of all throw-ins in the front court will be determined by the current rule, defined as an imaginary line from the corner of the court to the intersection of the lane line and the free-throw line. If the stoppage of play is inside this area, the throw-in will occur on the end line three feet outside the lane line. If the stoppage occurs outside this area, the throw-in will be at the nearest sideline at the 28-foot mark. Deflections will continue to be put back in play at the nearest out-of-bounds spot. Throw-ins in the back court will continue to be at the nearest spot.

• Allow referees to use the instant replay rule in the last two minutes of the second half or last two minutes of overtime to see if a secondary defender was in or outside the restricted-area arc. If the player is in the restricted area, a block will be called on the defender. If the secondary defender is in legal guarding position and outside the restricted area, a player control foul will be called. The Big Ten and Mid-American conferences experimented with this rule last season.

• A mandatory minimum of 0.3 second be taken off the game clock when the ball is legally touched.

• Redefine a legal screen to require that the inside of the screener’s feet be no wider than his shoulders.

• Adjust the officiating guidance in relation to the cylinder rule. If a defensive player straddles an offensive player’s leg in a way that prohibits him from making a normal basketball move — which now includes pivoting — contact that creates a common foul will be called on the defensive player.

• Approve the Southeastern Conference’s request to use a separate individual or individuals to collaborate with the on-court officials on all monitor reviews during their league games during the 2017-18 season. This collaboration will take place from a central location that is not at the game site.

NCAA Men's Basketball Rules Committee declines to recommend major changes - Myron Medcalf, ESPN – May 12, 2017 – 6:08 PM

College basketball might look even more like the NBA in the future -- just not the immediate future.

This week, the power brokers of the college game discussed the implementation of an NBA 3-point line, quarters instead of halves and a wider lane, but decided against making any significant changes.

The NCAA Men's Basketball Rules Committee, which met in Indianapolis for its annual meeting, will not make major recommendations to the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel. But its conversations included plans to work with the NBA on possible adjustments that would alter college basketball.

Deeper 3-point line or 4 quarters not among NCAA's proposed rule changes just yet - Matt Norlander, CBS Sports - May 12, 2017 – 7:07 PM

Here are the proposed rule changes that will probably be coming to college basketball.

[Fieldhouse Flyer]

The Coach’s Box

• Extend the coach’s box to 38 feet for the 2017-18 season. The coach’s box is now 28 feet. Committee members believe this will allow coaches to improve communication with their teams. "We believe this change will help our coaches, particularly when the ball is at the opposite end of the floor."

The 28-foot long coach’s boxes are shown at the bottom of this diagram: Men’s Basketball Full Court Diagram - NCAA.com
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The Free Throw Lane


Six-foot wide free throw lane prior to 1956-57 season.

1956-1957 - The width of the free throw lane is increased from 6 feet to 12 feet.

1956-1957 - On the lineup for a free throw, the two spaces adjacent to the end line must be occupied by opponents of the free thrower. In the past, one space was marked 'H' for the home team, and one 'V' for the visitors.

2008-2009 - Eliminated first space nearest basket in the lane in the free throw shooting alignment (i.e. now only six players could stand next to the lane during a free throw instead of eight).

It is important to know that extending the 3-point shot, going to quarters, and widening the lane are all still on the table.

If the 3-point line or widening of the lane is coming to college basketball in the next couple of years, the NBA's assistance on this matter will probably wind up being key.

[BEXU]

So after your lengthy post, I surmise we can expect no significant rule changes?
http://newsok.com/article/5549194

[stever20]

well the big one IMO is that the shot clock will only reset to 20 on a foul or a kicked ball violation. That's going to be a bigger change than folks think. I think eventually it'll get reset to 20 for even offensive rebounds.

Another one I think is big is the legal screen one. I think it's larger than you would think.

So not huge ones- but ones that will have an impact.

[Fieldhouse Flyer]

The current NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball recruiting calendar runs from August 1st, 2016 through July 31st, 2017. The next recruiting calendar should be agreed at the June 13, 2017 NCAA meetings and become effective on August 1st, 2017. For those of you interested:

NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Recruiting Calendar - RecruitLook.com

NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Recruiting Rules - RecruitLook.com

Patrick Ewing’s Slip Shows Need to Learn NCAA Recruiting Rules – Adam Zagoria, The New York Times – April 7, 2017

On Thursday, Patrick Ewing, in a guest appearance on “The Dan Patrick Show,” told the host that he hoped to get another former Georgetown great, Allen Iverson, involved in recruiting.

“I’m not sure if he will be on the staff but he’s always welcome,” Ewing said of Iverson. “I’m going to use him every way I can. There’s a kid down there in Connecticut who’s a big fan of his, who he committed to come to Georgetown, but when JT3 got let go he wanted us to release him. I know he’s a big Allen Iverson fan, but at some point I’m going to try to get him and Allen together, either on the phone or in person.”

Dropping Iverson’s name sounded impressive, and it may have been a noble idea for Ewing to want to unite a potential future point guard (Tremont Waters) with one of the game’s best scoring guards (Iverson). The previous Georgetown staff, in fact, had won Waters’s commitment in part by telling him he could be the next Allen Iverson.

The problem for Ewing — and one that quickly manifested itself on social media — was that what Ewing was suggesting violated a well-known NCAA recruiting rule.

“Only institutional staff members are permitted to recruit student-athletes,” reads the pertinent NCAA rule. “Generally, NCAA rules prohibit anyone else from contacting (calling, writing or in-person contacts) prospects or the prospect’s relatives or guardian for recruiting purposes.”

Free .pdf download: 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 NCAA Men's Basketball Rules and Interpretations - NCAA Publications.com

[Fieldhouse Flyer]

Update:

2017-18 and 2018-19 Men’s Basketball Rules Changes (.pdf) – NCAA.org – June 13, 2017

The following rules changes were approved by the NCAA Men’s Basketball Rules Committee and the Playing Rules Oversight Panel. They will be incorporated into the rules book for the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons.

NCAA extends coaches’ boxes as part of rules change package – AP/Washington Times – June 14, 2017

A minor change to college basketball's schedule could make a big difference – Sports Illustrated – July 7, 2017

Last week, the Division I Council introduced a seemingly minor rule change: College basketball games could start three days earlier than they currently do in coming seasons.

At face value, it looks like a minor tweak—and it might be, should the Council approve the rule change. But those 72 extra hours of season could be a major improvement for a sport that for its first three months each year has to compete with the behemoth that is football.

Consider this: As it stands, the college basketball season begins on the second Friday in November each fall. That corresponds to Week 11 of the college football season and Week 10 of the NFL, right as conference and division races are starting to really heat up. College basketball needs to throw any resource it can toward competing in that environment, and by moving up its start from Friday to Tuesday, it could seize upon the dead sports evenings that are Tuesday and Wednesday to capitalize on its tipoff.

In this scenario, college basketball would have a full 24 hours before Thursday Night Football in the NFL, four days before the onslaught of a college football Saturday—and it wouldn’t be opening on Friday, a night that’s always hard to lure viewers. The scheduling move certainly wouldn’t fix the sport’s problem of being essentially reduced to a two-month season of February and March, but it’d be a step toward combatting it, or at least opening with more of a bang.

The tweaked schedule would also include a provision that basketball players get a three-day break from sports over the school’s winter break; it’s hardly shocking that, according to an NCAA survey, the majority of players are in favor of it. That mini-vacation is a nice perk, and using athlete well-being as a justification for the schedule change is perfectly acceptable.

College basketball still faces a tall task in November and December — or, really, from its opening day through the Super Bowl. But giving the sport two days to itself to open the season each fall is a no-brainer. Read on ...

If the Council approves the proposed rule change, I would expect Fox Sports to strongly encourage Big East teams to schedule their season-opening games on Tuesday and Wednesday in order to take advantage of the available TV air time.

[Fieldhouse Flyer]

DI Men’s Basketball Committee redefines quality win – NCAA.org - July 14, 2017

New-look team sheets will place greater emphasis on road wins

The NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee is altering its definition of a quality win, placing greater emphasis on winning road games by changing the team sheets that include the results of every team being evaluated for selection and seeding for the men’s basketball championship. The group also committed to continue studying various metrics the committee has at its disposal to evaluate teams, with the likelihood of a new metric being in place for the 2018-19 season.

For the past several years, team sheets have divided results into four columns: results against the top 50 teams in the NCAA’s Rating Percentage Index; 51-100; 101-200; and any team ranked 201 or lower. Effective with the 2017-18 season, team sheets will place greater emphasis on where the games are played rather than the ranking of each opponent.

There still will be four separate columns, with the first column consisting of home games against teams ranked 1-30, neutral-site games against teams ranked in the top 50 and road games against opponents ranked in the top 75. The second column will include home games against teams ranked 31-75, neutral-site games versus teams ranked 51-100 and road games against teams ranked 76-135.

The third column will consist of home games played against competition ranked 76-160, games played on a neutral court versus teams ranked 101-200 and games on the road against teams ranked 136-240. The fourth column will include home games against teams ranked 161-351, neutral-site games played against teams ranked 201-351 and road games versus opponents ranked 241-351.

Read on for more ...

NCAA tournament committee tweaks criteria to boost value of road wins – Jeff Eisenberg, The Dagger - July 14, 2017

[Wizard of Westroads]

The new weighting for road games is a big change. Creighton AD Bruce Rasmussen will head the committee next year and has spoken in favor of giving more weight to road games. Matt Norlander sees it as giving a big boost to mid-majors, who are forced to take road games in non-con against the big boys. They'll get more credit for those wins, if they get them, and the big boys will get less credit for just sitting at home and playing mid-majors. One of the frustrations of being a mid-major was watching a mediocre team in a big conference get credit for winning home conference games against top teams. A team like Wake Forest last year might not make the tournament this year.

https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/ncaa-tournament-committee-to-emphasize-road-results-in-new-bracket-process/

"It also puts an emphasis on losses," an NCAA source who was in the room in Chicago told CBS Sports. "If you look at Monmouth from a couple of years ago, they were dinged for losing games against teams in the 200s on the road. Now, in the current system, those teams would be in the third column now instead of the fourth. It's not just the wins, but where those losses -- which show in up red on the team sheets -- land in the columns."
Monmouth missed the NCAA Tournament in 2015 despite owning many neutral and road wins over power-conference teams (including victories over Notre Dame and USC). Under these guidelines, it's the Hawks may have landed an at-large bid.

[HoosierPal]

The new weighting for road games is a big change. Creighton AD Bruce Rasmussen will head the committee next year and has spoken in favor of giving more weight to road games. Matt Norlander sees it as giving a big boost to mid-majors, who are forced to take road games in non-con against the big boys. They'll get more credit for those wins, if they get them, and the big boys will get less credit for just sitting at home and playing mid-majors. One of the frustrations of being a mid-major was watching a mediocre team in a big conference get credit for winning home conference games against top teams. A team like Wake Forest last year might not make the tournament this year.

Not only Wake, but the other three from last tourney's Final Four In, Providence, Kansas State and USC, would have been susceptible to losing their bid. Let's hope this helps eliminate the cupcake games that shouldn't be played, like the upcoming Butler v Western Illinois.

[stever20]

the problem with what you are saying is look at Illinois St. The great mid-major hope if you will(if you remember, they were the only non P5 school as one of the 1st 4 out).....
tier 1- old 1-2 new 0-3
tier 2- old 1-2 new 1-2
tier 3- old 13-1 new 12-1
tier 4- old 11-1 new 13-0
tier 1-2- old 2-4 new 1-5
tier 1-3- old 15-5 new 13-6

So I'm just not seeing this magical help for them.....