On Friday the NCAA proposed a package of rules to enhance scoring opportunities and balance the offense and defense in college basketball. The NCAA's entire recommendation is available in a statement, and CliffsNotes follow.
#MBBRules Committee proposes reducing shot clock to 30 seconds with eye on increasing possessions and pace of play. pic.twitter.com/o5IgWevUky— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) May 15, 2015
#MBBRules Committee proposes rules with goal of reducing physicality in the sport. pic.twitter.com/XW0iwZNeCN— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) May 15, 2015
#MBBRules Committee proposes changes related to timeouts. pic.twitter.com/qrGYSL8tk7— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) May 15, 2015
The recommendations must be approved by the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel, which is scheduled to discuss the changes via conference call June 8.
"Although the reduction in the shot clock to help increase scoring seemed to be the most discussed topic, the increase in the physicality of play has been a major concern for coaches. The NCAA rules committee has addressed that this week with an emphasis on perimeter defense and post play," Georgia State head coast Ron Hunter, the chairman of the National Association of Basketball Coaches, said in the statement.
In an interview with Marc Tracy of The New York Times Jay Bilas provided excellent insight of the problem the NCAA is attempting to solve.
In an interview, Jay Bilas, a college basketball analyst for ESPN, echoed that sentiment. "The shot clock is a positive step forward — I wish they had gone to 24 — but the most important initiative is going to be freedom of movement," he said. "We have very skilled players, and they're not able to show their skill because of the physicality of the game."
"A lot of it is going to be up to the supervisors and officials themselves to stick with it, and not be deterred by momentary complaining," Bilas said. "We tried to do a portion of this two years ago, and we didn't have the will to stick with it."
Virginia Tech men's basketball coach Buzz Williams might have had a long family vacation planned this summer. The Virgin Islands are breathtaking this time of year, and Charleston is gorgeous. Perhaps he was going to master the art of smoking pork butts in an effort to understand to the regional cuisine. Tomorrow's trip to the Cascade Falls is as rewarding as yesterday's. Does Buzz golf? Either way, in a reminder that Williams is playing chess, not checkers, Buzz will spend the hot months learning the new rules inside and out.
#Hokies basketball coach Buzz Williams on rule changes: "My summer plans just changed, because we are playing a completely new game now ..."— Mike Barber (@RTD_MikeBarber) May 15, 2015
"....I need to spend my time learning the best strategies involved," - #Hokies basketball coach Buzz Williams on new NCAA rule changes.— Mike Barber (@RTD_MikeBarber) May 15, 2015
#Hokies Buzz Williams was particularly surprised by the rule preventing coaches from calling timeouts during live-ball situations. "Seismic"— Mike Barber (@RTD_MikeBarber) May 15, 2015
I've got a new job- One that I need to prepare for & learn about. It is going to be a completely different game now. https://t.co/ZJ7ABSu3fL— Buzz Williams (@TeamCoachBuzz) May 15, 2015
Comments
My bet is he will come out the smartest coach in the class. I believe he is a brilliant game tactician.
Crap... ACC officials already stop play every other possession. Basketball games are gonna take 4 hours now.
So uh... do people really think basketball is getting too 'physical'...?
Seriously?
Or am I reading that wrong?
I really hope not. It's already frustrating to see guys get called for breathing on their opponents.
Maybe this is what they're going for:
There you go. After 5 team fouls, every game will be decided by a slam-dunk competition. Every game will be over in 20 minutes.
I think they want to prevent the hard collisions under the basket. Those are the ones that most often end with injuries.
I balked at that too at first. I think it's more an opening it up for the offense, than a physicality thing.
From the NCAA's release:
The key areas the committee will focus on in the upcoming season are:
Yes.
I know this is just my opinion, but I don't want to watch a junior NBA league, I want to watch NCAA basketball. A 30 second shot clock is going to increase the disparity of the schools too. A quicker game is going to require a deeper bench. The rules there to reduce physicality seem like they are there to increase points scored and will hurt defensive teams (sorry UVA).
Yep. I don't understand why college football and basketball are trying to eliminate the distinctions between the college and pro games. And it mostly ends up being detrimental to the quality of play at the college level (and ultimately the pro level).
I don't think it will be junior NBA - but I do think that a shorter shot clock is a must. Basketball is about motion, cutting, ball movement, etc. The game should have a flow to it. There's no reason that a team should be able to play 10 seconds without advancing ball, and then still have ~15 seconds left on the clock. I'm not sure how I feel about the game being 'less physical' or having more fouls called, but I'm definitely in favor of more possessions/game.
I don't see a shorter shot clock as a must at all. Do you disagree that this will favor the Dukes and UNCs of the basketball world, or do you want to see them beat teams by 40 and see scores like 112 to 82?
From a Hokie perspective it would seem to really hurt us at least until we get 2 or 3 more Buzz classes here.
I can see it from the perspective that it'll make the game more fun for the average fan to watch. Let's face it, as good as they were, UVA was a boring team to watch. Is that good or bad for the sport as a whole? I dunno. But I definitely hate the idea (not to mention I'm not even sure how it's possible) of ACC refs calling more fouls than before.
Honestly, I don't think it'll hurt Buzz's team that much. And you did mention Duke as being high tempo, which they can be, but when Jahlil Okafor was in the game for them, he was slowing down the offense compared to when he was not on the court. But I don't see why it would hurt Buzz's team that much. Buzz runs sort of an average paced offense, tries to get a lot of motion in. He may not be a run and gun coach, but his style isn't exactly slow as a turtle. Plus, barring injuries, we'll have great guard depth this season and respectable post depth. I don't really see where you got the whole hurting us thing, as it's going to affect everybody, and it shouldn't affect us significantly more than some teams that attempt to slow down the game, like UVA.
I don't think we'll see scores like 112 to 82... I think/hope we'll see scores like 80/70 - 70/60. I don't think the blue bloods will now have a distinct advantage (at least no more of an advantage than they have now). I see teams like VCU, Okst, getting an immediate advantage. I think running teams, 3 point teams, teams that have an offensive identitiy (ie, not 2014 UVA) will have the advantage. Yes, certain teams will have to adapt, and it will take some teams longer than others, but I do think this is in the interest of college basketball.
the rules changes will increase the diversity of offenses and defenses which may be effective and place a greater premium on teamwork and execution. at the landscape level, i think that is very good for the game
Neither the problem nor the cure for the college game is the rules. The problem is that the quality of basketball being played (while very athletic) is not very good.
They're treating the symptom not the disease.
I love the reduction of the shot clock, and, in fact, wouldn't mind seeing it reduced to maybe 27 or 28 seconds.
I also like the new timeout procedure proposals. I hate when a player dribbles into a corner (something you're taught never to do) and is able to clean it up by merely calling a timeout. If I read Buzz's statement correctly about no live timeouts (I'm not sure if I did; correct me if I'm wrong), this situation would be eliminated.
I do not understand how basketball can become any less physical, though. If they are trying to reduce the risk of bad injuries, I understand. But, the worst injuries tend to be non-contact (i.e. ACL tears). Concussions aren't a very common occurrence in basketball, relative to football, although they do happen (see Justin Bibbs). But, like I said, the worst injuries are more often than not non-contact, and basketball is already difficult to watch.
I think the emphasis on reducing physicality is much less about reducing injuries and much more about letting skilled players show off their talent. When teams can bump, grind, grab, etc. it can really slow things down and limit scoring. If they start calling hand checking fouls like they had planned a few years ago it will really let offensive players get better looks, in theory, producing more points.
I don't think this is the perfect fix, but I do like it. I love defense in any sport (I blame bud foster) but college basketball has become very hard to watch in recent years because of the horrendous offense.
Very well true, but it would be hard for teams to adjust to less physical play. Rather than exciting, high-scoring basketball, we'd just see teams trading fouls and spending 8+ minutes in the double bonus and shooting foul shots every minute.
"Team timeouts within 30 seconds prior to media timeouts will become media timeouts"
Love this change. The media timeout immediately after a team timeout always killed things from a crowd perspective.
I've heard Buzz say before that he likes to use a timeout right before a media timeout to give our team an extended breather since we weren't very deep. Hopefully we're building up the roster enough where this will be a non factor.