By Staff
Coaching Management, 9.5, August 2001, http://www.momentummedia.com/articles/cm/cm0905/bblanewidth.htm
NCAA playing rules will change only slightly for the 2001-02 season, but more substantial changes may be on the horizon. A set of three experimental rules will be used in selected men’s games this season with an eye toward full implementation in the future.
The most noticeable experimental rule will be an expanded lane for both free throws and three-second violations. The lane will be widened to 16 feet (the width used by the NBA) from the current 12-foot width. The lane will remain 19 feet in length from the baseline.
“You have an awful lot of big bodies in close proximity of the basket, so maybe if we widen the restricted area, they’ll have to move out of there and not occupy space as much as they have in the present lane,” says Ed Bilik, Secretary/Rules Editor of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Rules Committee. “We’ll look at what influence and effect it has on rough play, low-post offense and defense, and rebounding.”
Two other experimental rules will also be tested. The first will eliminate free throws when a personal foul is called on any member of the offense. Currently, all but player-control fouls are treated as common fouls and result in free throws once the offended team is in the bonus.
The other experimental rule will test returning the jump ball to men’s games. Jump balls have been limited to the beginning of the first half and overtimes since the alternating possession rule was introduced in 1982. Under the experimental rule, a held ball will result in a jump ball between the two players involved.
“There’s some feeling that the alternate possession arrow is not the way to resolve a jump ball,” Bilik says. “One of the players may make a good play and because the arrow does not favor them, they do not get a chance to get the ball back. In a jump ball, they get that chance.
“One of the reasons the jump ball was removed from the game is because of the violations and physical play employed while it was executed,” Bilik continues. “We don’t know if that is still a factor. The rules committee is taking no position on it, they just want to see what’s going to happen.”
The experimental rules will be used in certified events played before January 1, 2002. The committee will look at detailed rebounding and violation data from games using the experimental rules as well as survey officials and coaches from those games. Based on the results of the data and surveys, the committee will likely decide within a year whether to adopt the rules.
The most significant standard rule change for the 2001-02 season involves technical fouls. All technical fouls, whether direct or indirect, will result in two free throws for the opposing team and the ball will be returned to play at the point of interruption. Last year, indirect technicals resulted in one foul shot and direct technicals were penalized by two foul shots. The women’s rules committee also added a provision adding loss of possession when a team is penalized for calling an excessive time out.
“Both committees wanted to clean up the technical foul penalties to avoid confusion,” Women’s Rules Committee Chair Amy Ruley, Head Coach at North Dakota State University, said in an NCAA press release. “The women’s committee also wanted to eliminate the loophole that allowed for a team to benefit from calling an excessive time out. I think both these changes will be an improvement for the game.”
Other changes in both the men’s and women’s rules include:
• penalizing only the first player to commit a lane violation during a free-throw attempt (simultaneous violations will still be ruled a double violation);
• allowing the offense to run the baseline when an intentional or flagrant foul has been called following a basket;
• allowing an official to use instant replay to determine if an unsuccessful field goal attempt was a two- or three-point attempt, enabling them to correctly determine the number of free throws to be awarded (previously, officials could only consult the replay when the field goal was successful);
• requiring a mark (either an “X” or NCAA logo) on the floor in front of the official scorer.
In addition, the women’s rule book has been changed to allow an additional player from the non-shooting team to be positioned on the lane during a free throw, giving that team a total of four. The shooting team will be limited to two players, plus the shooter.
SIDEBAR
NFHS Announces Rules Changes
At its April meeting, the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) Basketball Rules Committee implemented a spectrum of changes to boys’ and girls’ hoops for the 2001-02 season. Here are the highlights:
• To ease a coach’s ability to confer with players on the court, Rule 1-13 was changed to allow state associations to adopt an optional coaching box that is at maximum 14 feet long.
• Rule 7-5-7 now permits a team to run the baseline on an inbounds pass after a violation or foul is committed by the scoring team immediately following a made basket.
• Rule 1-18, new this season, specifies that music and/or sound effects are only permitted during pregame, time-out, intermission, and postgame periods.
• A change to Rule 3-3-1 states that a substitute who desires to enter the game no longer has to report the number of the player he or she is replacing. The substitute must still report to the scorer, but need only announce his or her uniform number.
• Rule 4-42-1 was amended to state that players shall remain standing during a 30-second time-out.
• Rule 2-2-4 now reads, “The jurisdiction of the officials is terminated and the final score has been approved when the officials leave the visual confines of the playing area.” This change exchanges the term “officials” for “referee,” leaving more opportunity for postgame corrections to be made providing any crew member is still on the floor.
For the complete list of rules changes this season, log onto www.nfhs.org.