Sweeping Rules Changes Coming

[Blue Heaven]

I'd like for tie-ups to be determined with a jump ball like the pros do.

[Spiritof96]

I'd like for tie-ups to be determined with a jump ball like the pros do.

I hate the current college tie-up rule.

[surveyor]

I'm not holding my breath on cleaning up the physicality. Many couldn't even go the entire season last year without relaxing those calls near and through tournament time.

[Joneslab]

I'm not holding my breath on cleaning up the physicality. Many couldn't even go the entire season last year without relaxing those calls near and through tournament time.

Yeah, this is why the changes need to start with the coaches.

I say this a lot but if you watch basketball on YouTube in 1985 and then watch a game from last year and just pay attention to defense, you see a radically different thing. There's this thing called "attachment," which is basically the defender gauging how far away he is from the offensive player with a hand. You didn't see that thirty years ago at all. Guys were given a ton of space to move--and even to shoot.

So until the principles and the fundamentals of defense change the game is going to stay where it is. Defense these days is played so ungodly tight that hand-checking is essentially a must; it's the only way guys can keep dribblers in front of them.

That needs to be changed, but it would have to begin with youth basketball and move through.

[Old School]

I think there are dangers in changing the game so that it suits TV better.

Most college basketball games aren't televised, and many aren't prime time events geared toward big TV audiences. I think UK fans can forget that because UK basketball games are all on TV and a lot of the fan base tunes them in, but that's not true everywhere. Rule changes for TV affect a lot of games that aren't televised.

There's also a point where the game suffers when it's redesigned too much in an attempt to appeal to the TV audience, or even the audience in the stands. A lot of people point to the NBA as an example. The XFL is another example. Change it enough to make it more entertaining, or to attract people beyond current avid fans, and you do lose something in the process.

I'm not saying any of these changes will make college basketball into the XFL. But I do think that if you tinker with the rules too much because the guys in marketing think it'll increase revenues, you do lose something that, to me as a fan, is more important. Where and when is subjective; if we all argued about one of these proposed college basketball rule changes for the next three years, it would pale in comparison to, say, all of the debate or argument over the designated hitter rule, or many other things, in the same sort of context.

And I think that in the long run staying true to the game itself instead of giving in to trendy marketing shortcuts has its value. There are mammoth TV ratings for the Olympics, but a lot of those events are played by more or less the same rules they've had for decades, and I don't think many rule changes in the Olympics are made in order to increase appeal to TV audiences.

Anyway . . .

How significant are the rules differences between Division I and, say, Divisions II or III, or even high school basketball in most states?

Which, if any, of these rule changes were likely prompted at least in part by specific events from the past season or two? The shot clock issue in the Wisconsin game was mentioned; in what other high profile games was that a major factor? Other than Chris Jones, were there other major, obvious flops for which technicals should have been called in high-profile games, but were not?

[Lighthouse]

I like a lot of what Old School says. Referring to the Olympics is perfect. They have their rules and the officials enforce them, not to the point of perfection but the fans nor TV have any, or not much, influence on those rules and that goes for any sport. There is no difference between the rule books in any of the College levels that I know of, and very little difference in the HS rules, but it seems Officials in all levels have their own interpretation of those rules.

[Katmendo]

I wish the shot clock was 28 seconds.

I still can't think why the closely guarded rule was tossed. I imagine this scenario:

Team A has 7 footer on the edge of the paint.
Team B has guy 6'7" defending. Team a guy puts b on his hip and extends his arm, palming the ball. And keeping it forver out of Player B reach.Tick tock, tick tock, 18 Seconds go by, then player puts the dribble doqn and puts his move on. And then there's a whistle .

I see this a possible disaster. Am I the only who sees this?

[Lighthouse]

I wish the shot clock was 28 seconds.

I still can't think why the closely guarded rule was tossed. I imagine this scenario:

Team A has 7 footer on the edge of the paint.
Team B has guy 6'7" defending. Team a guy puts b on his hip and extends his arm, palming the ball. And keeping it forver out of Player B reach.Tick tock, tick tock, 18 Seconds go by, then player puts the dribble doqn and puts his move on. And then there's a whistle .

I see this a possible disaster. Am I the only who sees this?

Well I didn't see anything like that before the rule was put in. The rule was adopted because of the slow down games some coaches played. I remember some games where a team would play hard to get a lead, and then fans would be treated to a boring game of keep-a-way, and if the defense didn't come out, the score would be very low. I remember a HS game where the score was something like 8-5.

[Joneslab]

Most of the rules have been officially approved.

Coaches will now get 4 timeouts instead of 5, with only 3 timeouts carrying over to the second half.

The restricted arc in the paint will be expanded.

The shot clock will move to 30 seconds.

Coaches will now be disallowed from calling timeouts during live-ball situations.

And one of my favorites: if a timeout is called within 30 seconds of a TV timeout, then that timeout becomes the media timeout. Very good (and needed) rule.

Also, interestingly the women's game has decided to go to four 10-minute quarters.

[KevinHall]

Also five second rule eliminated.

Players can dunk during warmups.

Officials can review baskets in relation to the shot clock anytime during the game now. Not the last two minutes like before.

Also in the NIT next year they will experiment with 6 fouls per player.

Back in the late 90's four quarters was experimented with in the mens game for early season games one year. Obviously wasn't adopted.

[Joneslab]

I think we've talked about this before but re: the no-dunking in warm-ups thing...

What was the reasoning behind that? Maybe Lighthouse can tell us. I've always heard that it stems from the famous Dave Winfield/Minnesota brawl back in the '70s, but somebody was telling me once that that wasn't the case.

I assume part of it may be a worry that a player is going to break the rim. But a lot of these teams put dunking into their practice reps. Kentucky's big men for instance do a drill where they will dunk the ball at the end of the drill. Occasionally if you get to Rupp early you see them doing it before games.

I've always felt like it was an odd rule. IIRC Kentucky actually benefited from it sometime recently as they got a technical foul called on somebody and shot free throws before the tip. Can't remember which game that was but it wasn't that long ago.

[GOCAT15]

I think we've talked about this before but re: the no-dunking in warm-ups thing...

What was the reasoning behind that? Maybe Lighthouse can tell us. I've always heard that it stems from the famous Dave Winfield/Minnesota brawl back in the '70s, but somebody was telling me once that that wasn't the case.

I assume part of it may be a worry that a player is going to break the rim. But a lot of these teams put dunking into their practice reps. Kentucky's big men for instance do a drill where they will dunk the ball at the end of the drill. Occasionally if you get to Rupp early you see them doing it before games.

I've always felt like it was an odd rule. IIRC Kentucky actually benefited from it sometime recently as they got a technical foul called on somebody and shot free throws before the tip. Can't remember which game that was but it wasn't that long ago.

I was at that game, it was the first round game of last years tournament in St. Louis against Kansas St. No one even knew what was going on, all of a sudden Andrew was shooting free throws.

[Joneslab]

I was at that game, it was the first round game of last years tournament in St. Louis against Kansas St. No one even knew what was going on, all of a sudden Andrew was shooting free throws.

IIRC the kid that dunked was a walk-on or a barely used player.

We (well, not me per se) always knew in high school to cut out the dunking. As soon as the refs would come out it would float down the lay-up line to stop or you'd get a T.

I always heard the rule was that you can dunk, you just can't break the rim down. That seems odd and is probably not true.

[KevinHall]

I would imagine the no dunking in warmups was out of fear that rims/backboards would be broken and not easily replaced in days gone by. Not that many years ago you would have had to run down to to the local sporting goods store or hardware store to find a replacement for the rim and'or backboard. That is if they were still open or postpone the game until a repair was made. Now you have break way rims and I'm sure other things that don't ever get broken. I haven't seen a shattered backboard in a long time. The rule was basically archaic and just was never taken out.

It also was partly a conservative rule in that dunking was showy and shouldn't be done. At one time it was outlawed in the game not just warmups. I can remember a time when it was illegal in the game. It was changed around 1975. James Lee was one of the first big dunkers I remember at UK.

[Lighthouse]

The reason given to stop dunking during warm-ups was as Kevin stated above. When the first glass backboards came out they were fairly easy to break and they didn't want a game to start late because the backboard had to be replaced. I never heard of a player being allowed to dunk but not break down the rim. In fact, in the beginning we didn't have break-away rims which added to breaking the glass. With the new reinforced glass/plastic backboards, this probably won't be an issue.