Replay and physical play are high on NCAA basketball rules agenda

INDIANAPOLIS — This year's NCAA tournament was filled with upsets, tension and some fantastic finishes in the later rounds, including Duke's exhilarating 68-63 win against Wisconsin in the title game.

But as college basketball heads into its offseason, it now will focus on the four months leading up to the Madness. The regular season was marked by complaints about physicality, halftime scores in the teens and a slow pace of play — all criticisms that have dogged the game for a number of years. There also were the extended stoppages for timeouts, reviews and fouls that often drew out games' final minutes.

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

Throughout the season, those invested in the game have called for a deeper examination of the rules, the officiating and the leadership structure. Without a centralized system, it's been difficult to enact change.

There's hope that a new committee — the Division I men's basketball oversight committee, a 12-person group chaired by UCLA athletic director Dan Guerrero — could provide some of that centralized leadership and could initiate meaningful change.

These topics were discussed this week at a roundtable meeting with the game's leaders and a small group of media organizations. And it became apparent that, like fans, those who are involved in the game at the highest levels know this is a pivotal point in the sport's trajectory.

"I think we're at a tipping point," said Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany, who also is the chairman of the NCAA men's basketball officiating competition committee. "It's not just rules alone. It's not just officiating alone."

Delany also said college basketball has picked up the use of technology "a little more recently" compared to other sports, and he'd like to see replay technology enhanced and used more, along with using analytics to examine officiating and game play at large.

In the NCAA championship, officials awarded possession to Duke after the ball was last touched by Duke player Justise Winslow with less than two minutes left in a five-point game. Adams told Sirius XM College Sports on Tuesday that the on-court officials did not see one angle that would have clarified that the ball last touched Winslow, though a conclusive replay was available to the public. The call was wrong, and Duke guard Tyus Jones hit a three-pointer on the ensuing possession.

"We want perfection especially as a game is being decided," Delany said. "The question is what's the standard? How quickly we can analyze games, plays, and make clear what we think are working."

Delany said games are being evaluated on a play-by-play basis for officiating accountability and for coaches, and he said eventually it will be for the public, too. They can find out, for example, 34 calls were right and three calls were unreasonably wrong. Accountability could help, as could transparency.

This is something Adams said he plans to follow up on.

The biggest concern, at least to Delany and also Art Hyland, the men's basketball secretary-rules editor, is that the current state of the game favors physicality and defense.

The game needs to rebalance offense and defense — which means it needs changes to make it less physical (in regards to collisions in the post; for cutters, in regards to illegal screens) so offensive players have freedom of movement and can, ideally, increase scoring.

In May, when the rules committee meets, it can enact or change rules. Hyland said of the meeting: "The agenda may be longer than ever before. There's a lot of meat on the plate to chew on."

The two biggest topics, Hyland said, would likely be shortening the shot clock (from 35 seconds to 30) and expanding the restricted area-arc (from 3 feet to 4 feet). Those potential changes were used, experimentally, in the NIT, to gather data and study the effects. Hyland said, the number of crashes (block/charges) in the NIT was reduced significantly because of the 4-foot restricted-area arc.

Together those adjustments could accomplish two things: Increase safety and potentially increase scoring. Per Hyland, scoring increased 1.09 points per game per team with the 30-second shot clock (which was used experimentally in the CBI and CIT as well — 156 games total). The number of possessions rose only minimally compared with last year's postseason. But if you take the postseason data on shot clocks and compare it with the same teams' performances in the regular season, possessions increased by 3.2 a game.

Coaches are more supportive of a shorter shot clock than they were a year ago, another positive sign. It remains unclear whether that will limit some of the diverse styles of the college game, or even initially benefit defenders because it would require five fewer seconds to play tough defense. Scoring might not increase, at least initially, but from a pace-of-play standpoint, a shorter shot clock can only help speed up the game — something many would like to see.

Other topics worth noting heading into May's rules committee meeting:

— The rules committee will try to work with the National Association of Basketball Coaches about the number of timeouts in a game, and the long breaks that come with them. Belmont coach Rick Byrd, chairman of the men's basketball rules committee, said, "The flow of the game, the final two minutes … will be discussed."

— Adams, the outgoing head of officiating, said he believes officials like to call charges, but the mindset should be, if he's not sure the defender has met qualifications for one, he should call a block. That's not necessarily what's been happening.

— Adams said there are 38 fouls a game on average, and he thinks the sport could "live" with 45 or so a game if it would make the game better. Perhaps if officials call tighter fouls early, it could reduce contact overall, and teams would eventually adapt. There has been a general sentiment that if the rules were just officiated as they were written, that could help clean up physicality in the game, too.

— Hyland said a 4-foot restricted-area arc might cut down on block/charge calls — the toughest judgment call for officials.

— There will also be a discussion about the use of replays for judgment calls in light of the ending of UCLA-Southern Methodist in the NCAA tournament's Round of 64. The game ended on a controversial goaltending call. By current rule, because it was a judgment call it could not be reviewed.

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