NCAA basketball rules group proposes reduced shot clock, timeouts

After a college basketball regular season marked by low scoring, slow tempo, overly physical play and an endless stream of late-game timeouts, the sport's powerbrokers are making changes aimed to make the game more appealing.

On Friday, the men's basketball rules committee announced that it would recommend shortening the shot clock from 35 seconds to 30, increase the restricted area arc in front of the basket from three feet to four feet, and three changes aimed at reducing timeouts.

The strategy is simple: A shorter shot clock is expected to lead to more possessions, a faster pace of play and perhaps an increase in scoring. Expanding the charge circle should reduce the low-post collision rate.

For timeouts, the recommendation are to reduce timeouts from five to four, with no more than three carrying over from the first to the second half; quicker resumption of play coming out of timeouts and player disqualifications; disallowing coaches from calling timeouts in live ball situations; and making a timeout called within 30 seconds of a media timeout stand for the media timeout.

In addition, the committee wants officials to be able to review shot clock violations on made field goals at any point in a game. And the committee recommended lifting the ban on dunks in pre-game warmups. Finally, the committee wants officials be able to penalize players for faking fouls, or diving.

The rules proposal next goes to the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight panel, which decides which proposals will be enacted.

The shot clock and lane contact rules were used experimentally this postseason in the NIT, CBI and CIT to gather data in advance of this week's rules committee meetings. It was a small sample size, but it did show a decrease in crashes and a slight uptick in scoring.

Next season's NIT experiment, the committee also decided Friday, will give an additional foul to each player, meaning it would take six fouls to be disqualified.

Iona coach Tim Cluess, whose team had the 38th-most efficient offense and played at the 12th-fastest tempo in the Division I this past season, said he doesn't think a reduced shot clock will fix what ails the game. He experienced the experimental rules in the NIT and felt little to no difference — maybe one or two possessions felt faster for each team over the course of the entire game, he said.

"I honestly don't think it's going to have much of an impact, to be honest with you," Cluess told USA TODAY Sports by phone. "I think it can go two ways. Some teams will play a little bit faster, but I think teams that don't play fast are not going to change because of five seconds, which is OK. The biggest thing is it's going to be an advantage for the defense because the defense won't have to play as long. I don't know if it's going to really, really change much. It might change scoring a little bit, but I don't think it will change the style of play.

"I don't think it's going to be this big change that everyone is thinking it's going to be."

However, the hope is that the shorter shot clock forces coaches to improve their offensive approaches. ESPN analyst Fran Fraschilla, who wrote a detailed primer on the rule change last week and watches a great deal of international basketball, believes the new shot clock is a healthy change for men's college basketball.

"A lower shot clock is actually going to be a breath of fresh air for the game," Fraschilla said.

"Coaching needs more offensive creativity in the game. Seventy percent of the coaches are essentially running the same type of offenses. It not only becomes boring, but it becomes easy to defend. I think the lower clock will force coaches to take stock of what they're doing offensively. Play faster. Play with more ball movement. Play a more team-oriented style. It's going to force them to. If I were coaching next year with the lower clock, I would already be preparing for more zone defenses. I know that's coming. I'd be preparing my team for what I call under-seven-second offense. You're going to have an organized game plan when the clock goes low.

"These are all parts of the puzzle that a coach is going to have to figure out. Figure it out now before next season comes along."

These new rules, taken together, are intended to restore more balance in the men's game between the defense and the offense, and to open the game up considerably.

"We've got games that are just not edible," John Adams, the outgoing NCAA coordinator of officials, said during the Final Four. "Some of this is officiating, and some of this is play."

Connecticut women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma put it most bluntly when he said earlier this spring: "I think the game is a joke. … There's only like 10 teams, you know, out of 25, that actually play the kind of game of basketball that you'd like to watch. Every coach will tell you that there's 90 million reasons for it.

"The bottom line is that nobody can score, and they'll tell you it's because of great defense, great scouting, a lot of team work, nonsense, nonsense. College men's basketball is so far behind the times it's unbelievable. … Every other major sport in the world has taken steps to help people be better on the offensive end of the floor. They've moved in the fences in baseball, they lowered the mound."

College basketball's proposed rule changes are drastic, but they're also of the same spirit: Help the offense, help the fans, and it will make the game better.