Most college basketball players were toddlers the last time rulesmakers approved a major change in court markings, by adding the three-point line in 1986.

And many of today's players' parents had not yet been born in 1956, the year of another major change in the court's appearance -- doubling the width of the free-throw lane from 6 to 12 feet.

So it's understandable that any major proposed change in the game -- such as the current effort to adopt a trapezoid-shaped lane and move the three-point line slightly over nine inches farther away from the basket -- would prompt hesitation, doubts and debate.

After four years of study, the NCAA Men's Basketball Rules Committee earlier this year recommended a trapezoid-shaped lane using the same 19-foot, 8³/4-inch baseline width currently used in international play. It also proposed moving the three-point line to the international distance of 20 feet, 6¹/4 inches.

But the proposal encountered resistance, resulting first in action to scrap the wider lane and seek approval of the new three-point line only, then disagreement among the NCAA membership divisions over whether to adopt the three-point line by itself (with conflict also arising over related proposals in women's basketball).

The proposal recently was referred by the NCAA Executive Committee back to the Men's Basketball Rules Committee for further consideration.

While the ride for the current proposals has been even bumpier than normal for rules actions, it is typical for significant changes in the game to encounter resistance -- a fact known both from recorded history and experience. That's because there have been many alterations of the original rules -- including several changes in court appearance -- during the 112 years since Dr. Naismith first nailed a peach basket to a gymnasium wall.

Such familiar court features as the center circle and half-court line, space behind the basket, free-throw circle and even the regulation length and width of the court have been adopted at different times through the game's history. Some of those changes occurred for practical reasons, such as need for a place to conduct a jump ball. Others dealt with tactics deemed harmful to the game, such as the first use in 1932 of a half-court line, used to implement the 10-second rule and reduce stalling.

And several have occurred because players have become bigger, stronger and faster through the passage of time.

"All you have to do is watch ESPN Classic, and you can see the difference in the players then and the players playing the game today," said Ed Bilik, secretary-rules editor of the Men's Basketball Rules Committee.

"Physical aspects will always be a part of basketball, but as much as possible you don't want that physical aspect to dominate so much that it's no longer a skillful game. And that's one of the reasons the rules committee is seriously looking at widening the lane," Bilik says of the current proposal.

Actually, it's all rather familiar.

"I can't help but think of 1956-57, when we went from 6 feet to 12 feet. I often wonder what was going on in the minds of the members of that rules committee," Bilik said. "Did they have the same concerns then as we are now considering today?

"For instance, was it congested around the basket? Was a physical or bigger player gaining a big advantage being only three feet away from the basket and posting up? Did it prevent periphery players from getting to the basket? I'm wondering if they didn't have those questions. Whatever the questions, they answered them by increasing the lane by six feet, and that lane has stayed with us for nearly 50 years."

Without a doubt, rulesmakers at the time -- members of what then was known as the National Basketball Committee (NBC) -- had lots of questions. And it appears from accounts from those days that it took about 10 years to find answers and take action.

The first secretary-rules editor for college basketball, Oswald Tower, asked a few of those questions in the 1946-47 edition of the Spaulding Official Basketball Guide.

"What, if anything, should be done to curb further the extremely tall player?" he wrote in his annual rules report. "It is a real problem to determine how far we should go in legislation against the relatively few tall players at the risk of spoiling the game for teams which do not need such legislation."

A Springfield College doctoral student, Thomas Knudson, devoted his 1972 dissertation to amateur men's basketball rules changes and the ways in which they have affected the game. He summed up the specific problem Tower had referred to in that 1946 report:

"The problem was two-fold: On defense the big man could bat away or deflect shots headed toward the goal by jumping with his hands just outside the rim. On offense the tall player would station himself alongside the basket just outside the free-throw lane, a distance of only three feet on either side of the basket. From here, with the advantage of size, he was able to score easily or rebound missed shots with little or no movement to gain position. The big man became over half of the team's value."

Knudson noted the tall player "had an advantage not meant in the game."

By the time of Tower's report, the national committee already had addressed the defensive end with a goaltending rule in 1945, and also implemented the three-second rule -- largely in response to dominance of the game by big men George Mikan of DePaul University and Bob Kurland of Oklahoma State University.

But rulesmakers were cautious about more aggressive changes at the offensive end.

"It was not until the early 1950s that serious consideration was given to widening the lane," Knudson wrote. "The success of a wide lane in international play and professional basketball aided those in favor of such regulations. Others still felt that the offense and defense were sufficiently balanced as to make changes unnecessary."

Those opinions were obtained through an annual questionnaire conducted by the national committee, which also tested a couple of variations of a wider lane in a handful of exhibition games. But ultimately, the committee had to sit down and made a decision.

Influenced by the Amateur Athletic Union, which was represented on the committee as an "affiliate," and noting the scheduled introduction of a 12-foot lane at the 1956 Olympic Games, the NBC agreed to double the lane's width (although it left a six-foot lane in place for high-school basketball for a couple more years). And, since the committee was the final authority on such matters, the change went into effect.

"It could be a matter of history repeating itself," Bilik says five decades later. "The problems they had back then may be the problems we are having now."

But today, players aren't just taller; they also are more athletically talented.

"I think the one thing that has to be taken into consideration is the physical prowess of the players who are playing the game today," Bilik said. "I mean, over 50 years, just think what happened. They're more skillful, they're more explosive, they're taller, they weigh more -- in every respect they add a multidimensional physical factor to the game of basketball that has to be considered."

'Dimensional aspects'

Advantages gained from physical ability prompted changes in dimensions of the court as early as 1917, when the first in a series of actions was taken to move the backboard away from the court's baseline. That action was prompted in part by some players' habit of climbing the wall on which most baskets were attached for an easy shot.

As things developed, placing a tall player in front of the basket proved a more effective and more lasting offensive tactic, prompting a fairly lengthy series of rules actions -- most notably the goaltending and three-second rules and wider lane -- that have sought to push such players farther and farther away from the rim and require movement to score. And now, as Bilik suggests, history does indeed seem to be repeating itself.

"There has been a problem over the years in terms of physicality," he said. "There are people who think a wider lane obviously would improve the physicality around the lane area. There also are people who feel it's too congested with the present lane, and that it would open up the basket area and as a result, now periphery players could penetrate to the basket.

"The other thing is that, as a result of widening the lane, the post player has to become a more skillful player -- similar to the skill needed to play all the other positions in basketball."

History suggests players will adapt to those demands, but it probably will take time.

"Right now, I'd have to say that one of the things that really doesn't seem to be as prevalent in our game as in the past is good low-post players," Bilik said. "And I think that's probably one of the concerns that coaches have -- that we're going to make it difficult for players in the low post, and what kind of effect does that have on offense; does it give the defense an advantage?"

Will there ever come a time when the current court itself -- 50 feet wide and 94 feet long -- can't contain the size, strength and speed of a basketball player? Bilik says no, but he fully expects rulesmakers will continue to find themselves dealing with the same challenges they have faced throughout the history of the game.

"I do think that in the future, dimensional aspects have to be constantly looked at, because of the changing character of the people playing the game," he said.

"Dimensional changes have to be looked at in a very astute way, or otherwise the rules committee is not doing its job and is not being responsible. I'm not saying it necessitates change, but it has to be looked at and discussed."

Major changes in basketball court markings

1895: Baseline established directly beneath surface or post to which basket is attached; free-throw line established 15 feet from basket. (Rules also suggested a lane six feet wide between the free-throw line and basket, thus establishing what came to be known as the "keyhole.")

1917: Arc created behind basket (measured as 23-foot radius from the farthest point of the free-throw circle). One year later, the arc was changed to an "end zone," placing the baseline 2 feet behind the basket. The "end zone" was eliminated in 1920 but the baseline remained 2 feet behind the basket.

1932: Center line established with adoption of 10-second rule.

1934: Rules committee suggests ideal court dimensions of 50 by 94 feet for college game.

1939: Baseline moved to 4 feet behind basket (as adopted two years earlier by the Big Ten Conference).

1956: Free-throw lane widened from 6 to 12 feet.

1967: Mid-court area established with 3-foot boundary markers on each sideline (situated 28 feet from baselines).

1986: Three-point line established as an arc 19 feet, 9 inches from basket.