How to fix college basketball

[itsbotime]

Get rid of the possession arrow. Instead of settling possession with a jump ball, have each team pick a player to represent them in an impromptu game of HORSE. Winner's team gets ball.

 

[moqui]

totally agree. not sure how anyone could think the overall talent level is not good. Its literally 1000 times better than it used to be. The TEAM game has gone downhill, however, and it does lead to some tough games to watch.

it's pretty simple - while the individual players are just as good, the game has changed radically because the best players exit early and the rest is more widely dispersed than it was in the past . . . I don't know how anyone can miss the atrocious quality of college basketball compared to even a decade ago, even by the supposedly marquee programs

 

[Orange87]

I don't understand this.

What rules does UConn (public) not play by that Syracuse (private) does, and vice-versa?

4). Public colleges must play by the same rules as private colleges. (This should apply in high school too).

 

[IthacaMatt]

How To Fix College Basketball: 3 Changes That Must Be Made

Agree that college basketball needs fixing, but don't think those are the answers.

To me:

1. Call the fouls, dammit. It's not that hard. The old charge/block rule was just fine. The guy was supposed to have established position with both feet on the ground before the guy starts his move. Let's get back to that.

2. Call the fouls, dammit, part 2. Stop letting people mug players as they come up the floor. Stop the moving picks, stop the bumps as players cross the lane, etc. Call the fouls!

3. If refs called the fouls consistently, players would be forced to adjust. The writer of the article wants 6 fouls so that good players remain on the floor - this is so wrongheaded. We did that in the Big East 1 year and it turned the game into a rugby match - even more physical! Terrible idea.

4. If players are not impeded so many times on every possession, the scoring will go back up. There's no need to play with the shot clock, although if they did cut it to 30 seconds, it would probably give our defense an even greater advantage.

5. Paying the players? What does that have to do with watching the game?

 

[NineOneSeven]

It's simple- stay in college 2 years for all kids.

 

[IthacaMatt]

There are a lot of good suggestions on here, but I think the 2 most important by far are shortening the shot clock (I would take 30 secs but would gladly go lower) and the timeouts.

Timeouts are currently a disaster. There are just too many, I would at the very least shave 1 off the top (so 4 total, max of 3 going into 2nd half.) And they should not be able to be called when a player is trapped/falling out of bounds/etc. Possibly should be no live TO's at all.

They won't change the timeouts, because that's when the broadcasters make their money. Forget that one.

 

[Hoo's That]

They won't change the timeouts, because that's when the broadcasters make their money. Forget that one.

No, not exactly. They absolutely, positively won't mess with the mandatory TOs every 4 minutes, those are the long breaks loaded with commercials. It seems like the broadcasters generally don't cut away from the court for the 30-second TOs called by one of the teams, only the full one. Usually for the 30s, they like to zoom in on one team's huddle and try to guess what the coach is telling his players to do, especially if it looks like he's screaming at them.

 

[Alsacs]

Here are the proposed changes. Sadly no 30 second shot clock, but something about recycling the shot clock to only 25 when fouls are committed under that time left on the shot clock. Atleast this will get the ball rolling towards lowering the shot clock.

http://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball...ittee-recommends-change-airborne-shooter-rule


he Men’s Basketball Rules Committee recommended an alteration to its airborne shooter rule during its May 7-9 meeting in Indianapolis, which if approved would become effective with the 2014-15 season.
In order to take a charge, the alteration will require a defending player to be in legal guarding position before the airborne player leaves the floor to pass or shoot. Additionally, the defending player is not allowed to move in any direction before contact occurs (except vertically to block a shot). All rules alterations must be approved by the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel, which is scheduled to convene via teleconference on June 25. The proposal is allowed in the non-change year under PROP guidelines because the committee believes a new rule requires alteration.

“This alteration will impact block/charge plays in an effort to make this play easier to coach and officiate,” said Rick Byrd, head coach at Belmont and chair of the committee, which met jointly with the National Association of Basketball Coaches board of directors and the Division I Men’s Basketball Championship Committee. “In our discussions, the men’s basketball community, including coaches, officials and administrators, agreed that this rule needed adjustment.”

Last season, the committee changed the timeframe at which the defender must be in legal guarding position, adjusting it to when the airborne player started his upward motion with the ball to attempt a shot or pass. When reviewing game footage from last season, the committee concluded that those types of plays became more difficult to coach and officiate.

Experimental rules: restricted area and resetting shot clock in frontcourt

The committee also recommended an experimental rule to expand the restricted-area arc in front of the basket to 4 feet. The experimental rule can be used in multi-team events and the committee plans to work with the Preseason National Invitational Tournament and others who are interested to research the impact of a larger arc.

The current restricted-area arc, which marks an area on the court in front of the basket where a secondary defender is unable to draw a charge, is 3 feet in front of the basket.

Another experimental rule is to have the shot clock reset to 25 seconds (or the remaining time on the shot clock if more than 25) when a foul or a violation occur in the front court.

Defending the post

The committee addressed a major officiating concern for the 2014-15 season by focusing on play in the post area. The committee directed officials to call plays in the post as written in the rulebook. The officiating guidelines are below:

• A defensive player pushing a leg or knee into the rear of the offensive player shall be a personal foul on the defender;

• An offensive player dislodging a defensive player from an established position by pushing or backing in shall be a personal foul on the offensive player;

• A player using the “swim stroke” arm movement to lower the arm of an opponent shall be charged with a personal foul;

• Post players using hands, forearms or elbows to prevent an opponent from maintaining a legal position shall be charged with a personal foul.

Shot clock monitor reviews

The committee also approved an interpretation for the reviewing shot clock violations in the last two minutes of regulation or overtime. In cases where officials question whether a shot was released before the shot clock expired, the official must stop play before the ball is inbounded after a successful basket or immediately after the shooting team retains possession. In all cases in which the defense retains possession after a missed shot, there shall be no monitor review.

Team timeout experiment

Committee members also recommended an experimental rule involving timeouts, with an eye on potentially using this in the Postseason NIT. In this proposal, when a team calls a timeout within 30 seconds of the next scheduled media timeout (first dead ball under the 16-, 12-, 8-, and 4-minute marks), that timeout will become the first media timeout.

For example, when Team A calls a timeout at 16:02 in the first half, there will not be a media timeout at the first dead ball under the 16-minute mark. This would eliminate a stoppage of play without reducing the number of team timeouts.

 

[73CAV]

Going from 35 to 30 on the shotclock reduces things by 14%; I'm not sure you'd get 14% more possessions, but you might get 10% more possessions; thats like 7 possessions per game, per team. Not insignificant.

Wouldn't your conclusion presume that most, if not all, teams are using the full 35 seconds of the shot clock? If I am not mistaken, the APL (average possession length) for Div 1 men's basketball teams is close to 20 seconds. Knocking five seconds off the shot clock is likely to produce little change in that number, IMO.

 

[Alsacs]

Wouldn't your conclusion presume that most, if not all, teams are using the full 35 seconds of the shot clock? If I am not mistaken, the APL (average possession length) for Div 1 men's basketball teams is close to 20 seconds. Knocking five seconds off the shot clock is likely to produce little change in that number, IMO.

In the NCAA tournament and in nonconference games teams with inferior talent play stallball and hold the ball for 20-25 seconds each possession against the more talented team. This leads to terrible low scoring low possession games. UVA holds the ball, but runs a motion offense instead of a pure stall game. I think this switch to 30 seconds would make the college game better because we would get more possession to see the skill of the players rather than the burn offense.

 

[73CAV]

In the NCAA tournament and in nonconference games teams with inferior talent play stallball and hold the ball for 20-25 seconds each possession against the more talented team. This leads to terrible low scoring low possession games. UVA holds the ball, but runs a motion offense instead of a pure stall game. I think this switch to 30 seconds would make the college game better because we would get more possession to see the skill of the players rather than the burn offense.

While that may all be well and true, it still doesn't address the basic issue. If teams are not using more than 30 seconds of the shot clock, then little significant change will occur if you reduce said shot clock from 35 seconds to 30 seconds. All you're doing is eliminating time that wasn't being used in the first place. As it applies to UVa, reducing the shot clock could be advantageous to Virginia. If I am not mistaken, its defensive APL is significantly higher than average. Reducing the shot clock would likely result in more shot clock violations. I am not convinced such a change would affect the offense in any profound way.

 

[BillJay]

...
2. Prefer the possession arrow...refs cannot toss the ball up fairly. Any way why should the possession be awarded based on height? How is that fair?
Propose this trade off: All tie ups are awarded to the defense (the tie up happened because of good D).
...

The NCAA tried that in '98 but just for a season. Apparently had teams getting over aggressive on D, more fouls being called, etc.

 

[rrlbees]

College basketball is not broken with the lone exception of the best players staying 1, maybe 2 years. Tweaking rules is fine but none if them will have an impact that will be near as significant as getting kids to stay in college. Rule changes are only band aids and don't fix the root cause.

 

[Knicks411]

Wouldn't your conclusion presume that most, if not all, teams are using the full 35 seconds of the shot clock? If I am not mistaken, the APL (average possession length) for Div 1 men's basketball teams is close to 20 seconds. Knocking five seconds off the shot clock is likely to produce little change in that number, IMO.

Right, that's why I said it wouldn't add 14% more possessions. I don't know what the number is; maybe 10% more is too high? Average possession is right around 18 or 19 seconds though, that is true.

 

[RandygoCuse]

I don't know if it would fix it, but I think it would help if there were more regular season games between the best teams. Some journalist last year came up with the idea of a Champions League format - it would use the best teams from the year before. I thought it was kind of a cool idea. One of the main problems CBB has is that the talent is spread among so many teams. Consolidating the talent would probably help overall ratings but hurt a lot of teams.

 

[Hoov50]

Here are the things that bother me, maybe no one else is bothered by them, but here goes:

Grabbing, pushing, moving into the path of players moving without the ball needs to be called a foul. Watching Cooney this year, and other players in the past get held, shoved and kneed while trying to get open was ridiculous. Fouls should be called when these things happen.

I also don't like that teams can simply throw the ball in 3/4 of the way down the court into the backcourt when inbounding underneath the basket. This should be considered a backcourt violation.

Illegal screens, if it is not going to be called when players move with the defender when setting a screen then get rid of the rule. For years Pitt would have one of their big guys simply jog down the court in front of their point guard like a lead blocker. How is that not illegal? Now teams will set screens on our top two defenders of the zone and move into and shove them when they try to avoid the screen. How is that not illegal?

I guess with the exception of my second complaint these aren't really changes, just simply enforcing rules that have been around for many years. These are some of the things that make non-SU (and even some SU) games just about unwatchable for me.

 

[IthacaMatt]

College basketball is not broken with the lone exception of the best players staying 1, maybe 2 years. Tweaking rules is fine but none if them will have an impact that will be near as significant as getting kids to stay in college. Rule changes are only band aids and don't fix the root cause.

You don't think there is a ton of fouling and chucking of players that doesn't get called?

I find college hoops to be getting so ugly that if Syracuse isn't playing it's pretty hard to watch.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Here are the things that bother me, maybe no one else is bothered by them, but here goes:

Grabbing, pushing, moving into the path of players moving without the ball needs to be called a foul. Watching Cooney this year, and other players in the past get held, shoved and kneed while trying to get open was ridiculous. Fouls should be called when these things happen.

I also don't like that teams can simply throw the ball in 3/4 of the way down the court into the backcourt when inbounding underneath the basket. This should be considered a backcourt violation.

Illegal screens, if it is not going to be called when players move with the defender when setting a screen then get rid of the rule. For years Pitt would have one of their big guys simply jog down the court in front of their point guard like a lead blocker. How is that not illegal? Now teams will set screens on our top two defenders of the zone and move into and shove them when they try to avoid the screen. How is that not illegal?

I guess with the exception of my second complaint these aren't really changes, just simply enforcing rules that have been around for many years. These are some of the things that make non-SU (and even some SU) games just about unwatchable for me.

100 likes for this post. This sums up my view precisely. Call the damn fouls (especially off the ball) and the game would be just fine.

 

[BlazeOrange]

Do what the NHL does:

8.6 (c) (iv)
If a Player drafted at age 18 or 19, who had received a Bona Fide Offer in accordance with Section 8.6(a)(ii) above, becomes a bona fide college student prior to the second June 1 following his selection in the Entry Draft and does not remain a bona fide college student through the graduation of his college class, his drafting Club shall retain exclusive rights for the negotiation of his services until the later of:
(a) the fourth June 1 following his selection in the Entry Draft,
or (b) thirty (30) days after NHL Central Registry receives notice that the Player is no longer a bona fide college student;
provided that **IF** the Player ceases to be a bona fide college student on or after January 1 of an academic year and the Player:
(1) is in his fourth year of college and has commenced his fourth year of NCAA eligibility,
or (2) is in his fourth year of college and is scheduled to graduate from college at the end of his fourth year, then in the circumstances described in (1) or (2), the Club shall retain the exclusive right of negotiation for such Player's services through and including the August 15 following the date on which he ceases to be a bona fide college student.

 

[SBU72]

• 30 sec clock is fine.
• Drastically change the block/charge call to a no harm, no foul as is should be. Scoring eliminates any call. Brushing a player on the way to the basket doesn't really effect the player. If it does, he's not much of a player. I can't see how running into a player gives the offense player an advantage, so if he does and scores, so be it but if he misses, then so be it also.
• Allow player to play all 5 years they can be on campus to complete a degree if they want. Then the players can take the minimum # of credits to matriculate and with a some summer courses, have enough credits to graduate.
• Allow players to transfer and play immediately. At least relax the rules greatly. If a coach can leave to coach someplace else with out sitting out the length of the contract they had, why should a player have to? If school fires a coach then why can't the kids leave if they don't want to play for the new coach?
• Force schools to plan more than 1 day between games when travel is involved. These Saturday/Monday games aren't good for anybody when the team has to travel and doubly so if there it is 2 away games!
• NCAA TV money should be split evenly among ALL schools in D1.
• All replays should have a short time limit and be viewed by the refs at normal speed. This frame by frame stuff is ridiculous.
• Refs be held for extremely bad calls. Also limit the number of game they can ref. Heck, they have to get tired like the players do.

 

[SBU72]

Get rid of the possession arrow. Instead of settling possession with a jump ball, have each team pick a player to represent them in an impromptu game of HORSE. Winner's team gets ball.

sure add even more time to a game.

 

[Fireball Jr.]

How to fix college hoops? Been done before. http://espn.go.com/classic/s/basketball_scandals_explosion.html