The NCAA Men's Basketball Rules Committee attacked a concern of rough play in the game, and both that group and the NCAA Women's Basketball Rules Committee modified existing free-throw-lane rules at the committees' annual meetings May 1-4 in Monterey, California.

"We felt that, in general, the rules governing rough play are in place. They just need to be enforced much more strictly," said Reggie Minton, chair of the men's committee and interim director of athletics at Colorado College. "That is our single point of emphasis for next season, and we'll carry that message to conference commissioners, supervisors of officials, officials, coaches and everyone who is a party to this -- we want to eliminate rough play all over the floor."

The committee agreed on a related rule change to address the charge, voting to reduce the number of players permitted on the free-throw lane from eight to six (four defensive and two offensive, not including the shooter). Just as last year, when the rule was used experimentally, the players in the two inside lane spaces will be permitted to position themselves to the edge of the block farthest from the end line. The reason for the change is to reduce congestion and the potential for rough play after a missed free throw.

The women's committee, which already limited the number of players on the free-throw lane to five (three defensive and two offensive), will continue that rule but permit the third defensive player in the lane away from the basket to line up at either the third or fourth position. Last season, the third defensive player away from the basket, who generally is charged with blocking out the shooter, was limited to the third lane position. The intent of the change is to give the third defensive player the flexibility to be closer to blocking out the shooter.

Both committees voted to change the penalties for technical fouls, dividing them into two categories and adjusting the penalties to better match the severity of the violation. Under the recommendation, unsporting technical fouls called against a player or coach would be penalized by awarding two free throws to the opponent. After the free throws, the team in possession of the ball before the technical foul would retain possession at the point of interruption.

All other technical fouls that the committees consider to be of a lesser nature (for example, excessive timeouts, bookkeeping errors and team delay of game), would be penalized by awarding one free throw to the opponent. The team in possession of the ball before the technical foul also would retain possession at the point of interruption.

The change would allow for technical fouls committed unintentionally and off the playing court to be penalized to a lesser degree than technical fouls involving unsporting behavior.

"The committees remain focused on having unsporting acts by players and coaches penalized severely," said Kate Pohlig, chair of the women's committee and associate director of athletics at the University of Delaware. "We wanted to realign the penalties for the lesser offenses to improve control and cooperation by event management, coaches, players, band members, and spectators."

Minton spoke to the committees' decision to eliminate the change of possession when the offending team has the ball for both categories of technical fouls.

"This makes the administration cleaner and allows the game to be continued more quickly," he said. "The penalties for players, in addition to the two shots, that make an unsporting technical foul count toward the bonus and toward disqualification, and the penalty for coaches of an ejection after two unsporting technicals and the two shots is sufficiently severe."

The recommendation will be forwarded to the Division I Championships/Competition Cabinet and the Divisions II and III Championships Committees, all of which meet in June.

Timeout modifications

The basketball rules committees changed the media timeout for both the men's and women's games for next season to include four 30-second timeouts and one 60-second timeout. No conference will be permitted to extend the added 60-second timeout by media contract. Three of the 30-second timeouts can be carried to the second half. Last year's media-timeout rule gave each team five 30-second timeouts, four of which could be carried over to the second half. The intent of the change is to provide coaches with one full 60-second timeout with which to instruct their teams.

Coaches also will be given the flexibility to call two consecutive 30-second timeouts in order to allow players to sit during the two timeouts. A coach must indicate that two consecutive timeouts will be called when he or she calls the first in order for players to be allowed to sit during those timeouts. Players will continue to be prohibited from sitting during singular 30-second timeouts.

The committees also will recommend to the division governing bodies that Division I institutions have both a shot clock and red indicator light mounted on each backboard and a game clock that that shows tenths of a second by the 2001-02 season. All Divisions II and III institutions should have a shot clock mounted on each basket by 2003-04. It also is highly recommended that Divisions II and III schools have a shot clock and a red indicator light mounted on each basket and a game clock with tenths of a second.

Since the recommendation requires different rules for different divisions and has financial impact on member institutions, it requires approval from each division's championship body, as well as from the NCAA Executive Committee, which meets August 11.

Other major changes

The committees also approved a change in format of the rules book. Past books were written in paragraph form with interpretations added at the end as a separate section. Rules that deal with manufacturers and marking of the playing court will be moved to a section separate from those that deal strictly with the play of the game. In order to provide users with more convenient references, next year's book will be divided into easily referenced articles instead of large paragraphs and the interpretations will be moved into the main text under the rules to which they refer.

Regarding committee membership issues, the women's committee recommended to the Executive Committee that Amy Ruley, coach at North Dakota State University, be appointed as chair to replace Pohlig, whose term on the committee will expire September 1. Minton, whose term also expires September 1, will be replaced as chair of the men's committee by University of Kansas coach Roy Williams.

Other major rules changes for both the men's and women's games included:

* When a foul is committed by the defense on an inbounds play after any score, the team putting the ball in play will not lose the ability to run the baseline as it had in the past. The original rule rewarded the defensive team for fouling.

* If a simultaneous held-ball occurs during a throw-in and the possession arrow favors the throw-in team, the ball shall be awarded back to the team that executed the throw-in, but the shot clock will not be reset.

* Uniforms may include a logo or mascot at the center or apex of the neckline on a team jersey. Only a team abbreviation was permitted in that space previously. Additionally, the color, style and design of all teammates' game jerseys and pants must be alike.

Other highlights

In addition to the rules changes described in the accompanying article, the NCAA Men's and Women's Basketball Rules Committees approved the following rules changes for the 2000-01 seasons:

* Stipulated that a team-called timeout (30 seconds) in a game involving commercial electronic media can be shortened if the captain notifies the official of the team's intent to do so. This does not include the team's first timeout, which automatically becomes a media timeout. The purpose is to clarify procedure when a coach uses a timeout to substitute but does not need to use the entire timeout.

* Expanded the definition of a shot-clock try to include the flange (or heel) of the ring in addition to the ring itself.

* Clarified that conference offices or the assigning authority may correct an error regarding the identification of individuals involved in a fight after a game but cannot change an official's ruling that a fight took place or lessen the severity of the required penalties. However, the conference offices or the assigning authority may make those penalties more severe.

The following actions apply only to men's basketball for the 2000-01 season:

* Will ask the Division I Men's Basketball Committee to add the rim elasticity testing standards recommended in the rules book to its list of requirements that a conference must meet to have automatic qualification to the NCAA championship.

* Will require all exempted games played before January 1, 2001, to include two experimental rules. One will widen the free-throw lane to the international trapezoid; the other will implement the NBA's restricted block/charge zone. Both will require that host arenas for these events that do not already have these court markings apply them temporarily by use of tape or water-based paint.

* Will request that the NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports research the possibility of requiring a laminate to be placed on the back of all backboards for safety purposes in case of shattering.

* Will permit commemorative/memorial patches on shoulder straps of uniforms if sewn on or attached by Velcro, to align with the change the women's committee made last season.

The following actions apply only to women's basketball for the 2000-01 season:

* Established hand-checking and post play as repeated points of emphasis.

* In Division I certified games, Divisions I and II exhibition games, and Division III scrimmages, the women's committee will request that teams experiment with allowing players in the lane during a free-throw attempt to move up to the second, third and fourth lane positions, leaving the space lower than the block open.