The NCAA News - News and Features

May 5, 1997

Men's basketball reinstates five-second closely guarded rule

Women's rules committee approves bonus free throw on 10th foul

The NCAA Men's and Women's Basketball Rules Committees approved several rules changes designed to improve the continuity of play and developed an experimental rules package for selected exempt events during their annual meeting April 19-22 in Kansas City, Missouri.

Among the major rules changes, the men's committee reinstated the five-second closely guarded rule and the women's committee approved the awarding of two free throws for common fouls beginning with the 10th foul in each half.

In reinstating the five-second closely guarded rule after a four-year hiatus, the men's committee addressed what it believed was the need to improve the flow of the game and initiate more continuous action. The rule had been in place since 1982 but was eliminated before the 1993-94 season when the shot clock also was reduced from 45 seconds to 35 seconds.

"The committee believes that the five-second closely guarded rule will promote more team play," said Laurence C. Keating Jr., former athletics director at Seton Hall University and chair of the men's committee. "The committee also looked at adjusting the shot clock as a way to further improve the flow of the game but felt that the five-second rule would be sufficient at the present time."

The women's committee, in addition to adopting the bonus free throw on the 10th foul in each half, changed the number of timeouts allowed in both nontelevised and televised games to align with a rule the men's committee adopted last year.

The committee changed the number of full-length timeouts from five to four in games not involving commercial electronic media. Two 20-second timeouts also are allowed and may be used at any time. In games involving commercial electronic media, the number of full-length timeouts was changed from three to two and the number of 20-second timeouts allowed was changed from two to three (including two that may be carried over to the second half).

"With the increasing number of women's games that are televised, the committee felt it was important to establish consistency between the men's and women's games regarding the number of timeouts," said Marianna Freeman, women's basketball coach at Syracuse University and chair of the women's committee. "The committee believes this will reduce confusion for followers of both the men's and the women's games without compromising coaching strategy."

The committees also adopted several mutual changes, including one that limits the number of substitution opportunities during multiple free-throw personal fouls to before the final attempt in the sequence or after the final attempt has been successfully converted.

Both committees also agreed that the game clock and the shot clock shall be started simultaneously when the ball touches or is touched by another player on the court. Exceptions to this rule are the jump ball at the beginning of the first half or any overtime period, and possession occurring after a rebounded free throw. In those instances, the shot clock will not begin until one team clearly has gained possession.

Experimentation

Regarding experimentation, both committees will forward experimental rules to the NCAA Special Events Committee for approval of use at selected exempt events during the 1997-98 season. Experimentation in such events was approved when the NCAA Council in January stipulated that all exempted basketball contests certified by the Special Events Committee use experimental rules designated by the basketball rules committees upon approval of the Special Events Committee.

Both the men's and women's committees agreed to experiment with a maximum of five players occupying the free-throw-lane space marks during an attempted free throw. The defensive team must by rule occupy the two lane space marks nearest the basket and has the option of filling one additional spot, while the offensive team has the option to occupy two lane-space marks.

The committees will recommend this experimental rule be used during selected events played before December 1, 1997, including the preseason men's and women's National Invitation Tournaments, the Basketball Hall of Fame Tip-Off Classic, the Maui Invitational, the Great Alaska Shootout and the Black Coaches Association Classic. Other events include the Big Island Invitational, the Hawaii Hilo Shootout and the Top of the World Classic.

"The committees see these exempted events as opportunities to collect meaningful data that will help us assess the state of the game," Keating said. "We're concerned with an increasing level of rough play as well as increased violations during free-throw attempts. We'll be interested to see how the experimental rule addresses those concerns."

The men's committee also will request that the exempted events utilize experimentation with a 40-second shot clock. Both experimental rules also will be encouraged, but not required, for conferences to use during regular-season games.

An additional experimental men's rule that will be encouraged for conferences is one in which an offensive turnover will result when the defensive team initiates a held-ball situation (with the exception of a held ball after a rebound). The women's committee is urging conferences to experiment with officials wearing a gray shirt rather than the traditional black and white stripes.

Uniform specifications

In other common actions, both committees agreed to re-emphasize rules regarding uniforms and reiterated that teams not in compliance with the uniform specifications in Rule 3-5 will be assessed a technical foul at the beginning of each game in which the uniforms are worn.

The committees expressed concern over a growing number of uniform violations in the past year and are reminding teams that the current rule shall be enforced for the 1997-98 season.

Other highlights

Men's and Women's Basketball Rules Committees
April 19-22/Kansas City, Missouri