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Neiburg: Make sure the rule changes don't ruin the game

05/28/2015, 5:45pm EDT
By Jeff Neiburg

Jeff Neiburg (@Jeff_Neiburg)
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(Ed. Note: CoBL spoke to several local Division I coaches about the proposed rule changes in NCAA Division I basketball. The overview of the rule changes, with thoughts from many coaches, can be found here.)

It was evident from the eye test. It was evident from listening to a large faction of coaches talking about it. And it was evident afterward, when you look at the landscape when the dust settled and say, “that makes some sense.”

College basketball needed some changes.

But exactly how much effect the changes will have on the desired goal - more scoring - remains to be seen.

The changes are abundant, and most of them were necessary, but just how far can we go to try to improve the game without ruining it?

The most important thing to take away from change is to evaluate what results from it. That is true in almost everything. And it’s most certainly true in the future of college basketball.

The 30-second shot clock, down from 35 seconds, certainly appears like it will speed up possessions and create more scoring, but it may have a backfiring result.

“I don’t think it’s a drastic change for us,” Temple coach Fran Dunphy said, “but I also don’t think that we’re looking at the salvation of the game because now there will be more scoring and all of that, there’s not necessarily going to be any more scoring, because the shots that will now be taken will be a little more rushed.”

Dunphy’s point is a valid one. Think for a second how many shots you’ve seen taken inside of five seconds remaining on the shot clock recently in college hoops. It’s a lot. Many of the college teams at the Division I level are used to running longer offenses to set up shots in the final 10 seconds of the clock.

Sometimes those first looks aren’t open. Sometimes the second look isn’t, and poor shots go off. Might that be expedited now with a quicker shot clock? It’s certainly plausible, and teams are going to need to adjust and run quicker, more efficient offenses.

“I don’t think we’re perfect in any stretch, but I don’t think if it wasn’t changed, I don’t think it would change the excitement or the greatness about college basketball either,” Dunphy said.

While most of the rules changes seem to have the goal of opening up the floor and speeding up play, there’s a few changes that are likely going to have a directly opposite effect.

The shot clock review, which will allow officials to go to the monitor to check all shot clock violations, can only slow down the pace of play.

“I think it’s fine and accuracy is really important,” Lehigh coach Brett Reed said, “but it seems a little bit counter to the other rules that were proposed, in that the goal is to increase the number of possessions of play and reduce stoppages, and you’re introducing an element where there’s even greater stoppages of play.

“Right now we can review something at a media timeout that is either a two-point field goal or a 3-point field goal, and that goes pretty seamlessly into the game, the officials are working while the timeout takes place. To add monitor review all the way through, I think it’s important to get it right, but I think it is a little bit counter to some of the overall emphasis coming out in these rules.”

“I don’t like increased use of the monitor,” St. Joe’s coach Phil Martelli said. “I think it gives a crutch to a less-than-confident referee. And the only thing I want is a confident referee, I want a guy out there that has conviction and he will make his calls with conviction, he will communicate with conviction.”

Another change coming next year is a stricter enforcement of defensive rules, which will undoubtedly lead to more fouls called, at least early in the season.

More fouls means more whistles, which means slower games.

“I think we probably need to tighten it up a little bit, but I don’t want it to change the game to the point where it’s just so slow that it’s a mass attendance at the foul line,” Dunphy said. “I think we need to make sure that the game is called right, I think we need to improve defensively position-wise, it’s just those kinds of things. I think the model was out there with the pros, they tried it a couple of years ago, it opened up the game more. They call more fouls, but in the pro game where they go the hack-a-Shaq thing on some guys, you can’t have that.”

The new-look landscape of college hoops will be interesting, to say the least. Most of these rules were needed. A few of them may just improve the overall product.

But how much is too much? We’ll see.

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