Last week I looked at some of the rules changes the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel (PROP) made for men’s basketball. This week I’ll review some of the changes for the upcoming women’s basketball season one of which is considerably more dramatic than any of the changes in the men’s game. The big change is one that has long been rumored. Beginning this season, the NCAA women’s game will shift to four 10-minute quarters – a move that impacts not merely the general flow of the game but time outs, team fouls, and when teams reach the bonus. Let’s take a look.
So, this is the big one, folks. The NCAA was the last bastion in women’s basketball tenaciously clinging to the 20-minute half. It is no more. For future generations of NCAA women’s basketball fans, the 20 minute half will be viewed as a relic of a quainter era – though likely not as quaint as the three dribble limit of most early women’s games.
At long last, the NCAA game will now look more like the WNBA and FIBA. If you have difficulty envisioning how the game might now appear, Washington is fortunate enough to have a WNBA franchise so if can find your way to the Verizon Center sometime this summer to watch a Mystics game, you’ll get a sense of what the college game will look like at least from a structural standpoint.
In the now discarded format, women’s basketball has five types of fouls – non-shooting common fouls, shooting common fouls, bonus fouls, double bonus fouls and technical fouls. Most of you know this but a non-shooting common foul is either an offensive foul or one committed by a defensive player when the offensive player is deemed not to be in the act of attempting a shot. No shot is taken on the first six non-shooting common fouls of a half. For fouls seven through nine, teams shoot a “bonus” commonly called one and one though I always thought of it as: if one, then one because the second is awarded only if the shooting player makes the first shot. Beginning with the 10th foul in a half, common fouls become two shot fouls or a double bonus. Say goodbye to this old chestnut, too.
Bonus fouls are no more. Yes, if one then one (one and one) is gone. Teams will reach the bonus and shoot two shots on the fifth foul of any quarter. Team fouls reset to zero at the beginning of each period unless the game goes into overtime. The fouls accumulated in the fourth quarter will carry over and, once a team reaches the bonus in either the fourth quarter or the overtime, the bonus will carry over into all extra periods.
Although a team can now effectively commit eight fouls in a half before sending the opponent to the free throw line for a bonus (four fouls in the first quarter plus four in the second), individual players will still be disqualified on their fifth personal foul and technical fouls will still count as personal fouls.
Beginning this season, the women’s game will incorporate, with a small twist, one of the most loved and hated rules currently used in the NBA – the ability to advance the ball after calling a timeout near the end of the game. The tweak applied by the PROP allows the offensive team to advance the ball to the frontcourt in the last 59.9 seconds of the fourth quarter and in any overtime periods if it calls an immediate timeout after a made basket. Teams also will be allowed to advance the ball to the frontcourt after a timeout when securing the ball from a rebound or a change of possession.
Yes, sound decision making, speedy dribbling or accurate and quick passing will no longer necessarily be required to move the ball to the front court in the final minute of a game. These will now be replaced by a skill that is likely to require years of training and practice from even the best players, the ability to holler “TIME OUT!”
The committee was also quite precise regarding the location of the inbounds play after this dramatic moment. The inbounds play will be made at the 28 foot mark on the side of the court where the official scorer’s table is located.
The 10 second count made its first appearance in the women’s game in the 2013-14 season. This season fans will see three exceptions when a team will not be subject to the 10 second count. These exceptions occur when:
One has no relation to the other but the explanations are so short that neither merits its own header. In post defense, defenders may now “place a forearm or an open hand with a bend in the elbow on an offensive post player with the ball whose back is to the basket.” However, while the NCAA press release made no mention of the expanded restricted-area arc, I assume that this rule will flow to the women’s game simply because having two arcs seems to be a recipe for confusion and repainting the arc between each men’s and women’s games seems cost prohibitive.
With regard to music, either the band or amplified music can now play during any dead ball situation. Previously, this was limited to timeouts and halftime. The committee hopes this will “improve the overall fan experience.”
I know hearing the pep band play M-A-R-Y-L-A-N-D, Maryland will win! during a five second dead ball will certainly enhance my game experience.
The committee has also tweaked its timeout proposals and will hold a discussion with the rules panel on June 24th. I will have a full, comprehensive, and exhaustive report once the change is finalized.
No comments have been posted yet, be the first!
Post a comment by filling out the form below.
