Basketball court markings will remain the same until at least the 2007-08 season because the NCAA Men's and Women's Basketball Rules Committees did not reach a consensus on any of the recommendations to change them during annual meetings May 2-4 in Indianapolis.

The Men's Basketball Rules Committee -- which experimented with extending the three-point line to 20 feet, 6 inches, a widened lane and a restricted-area arc last year -- decided to continue experimentation during the 2005-06 season.

"The court markings dominated our conversation," said Perry Watson, chair of the men's committee and head men's basketball coach at the University of Detroit Mercy. "The committee believes the basketball community supports extending the three-point line and widening the lane based on survey results, experimentation and feedback. But dimensional changes are a significant consideration to our game and an expense to our institutions, and we wanted to continue experimentation to ensure that the changes we make are absolutely the best dimensions for our game."

To make sure the lane and the three-point line are properly spaced on the court, the committee will experiment this year with a three-point line that is 20 feet, 9 inches, which is three inches farther back than last year's experiment and a foot farther back than the current line. The collegiate lane will be widened to 14 feet, which is a one-foot extension on each side of the current lane.

Watson said that the goal of a wider lane is to better spread the floor to reduce rough play near the basket and to allow periphery players easier access on their penetration to the basket. The extension of the three-point line is part of that goal, not necessarily an effort to make the shot more difficult.

A restricted-area arc three feet from the basket will be another part of the men's experimental research this fall. The arc, experimental at two feet last year, is meant to address a common concern from coaches and officials who want a more identifiable reference point to assist officials in making a difficult judgment when defenders attempt to establish guarding position under the basket for the purpose of drawing an offensive foul. With the experimental arc, an offensive player should not be charged with an offensive foul when a defensive player has established position with one foot inside the restricted arc near the basket unless the defensive player is making a legitimate attempt to play defense and not attempting to draw a charge.

Additional experiments

The Women's Basketball Rules Committee will be experimenting with a three-point line extended to 20 feet, 6 inches, and a 10-second backcourt rule.

Experimental rules for both men and women must be used during exempted contests played before January 1, 2006. The committees also urge experimentation during exhibition games and scrimmages.

"We need feedback on these experiments from as many schools as possible," said Lynn Hickey, chair of the women's committee and athletics director at the University of Texas at San Antonio. "We've not received the input we need in the past. The rules are common for all divisions, so for us to get good information from which to judge whether to make a change, we need to get sufficient data."

Any rules changes that have a financial impact on institutions require a one-year implementation period. Even if court changes were recommended at the committees' 2006 annual meeting, the earliest the changes could be implemented would be the 2007-08 season.

Approved changes

Both committees approved a reduction in the time allowed to replace a disqualified player from 30 seconds to 20. The warning signal will be sounded with five seconds remaining in the 20-second period.

Also, a kicked ball will no longer result the shot clock being reset to the full 30 (women's) or 35 (men's) seconds. When a violation occurs with 15 or fewer seconds remaining, the shot clock will be reset to 15 seconds. Otherwise, when the violation occurs with more than 15 seconds remaining, the clock will not be reset.

The committees also approved a ruling that allows officials to add time to the clock in game-ending situations. Presently, officials are allowed to use the official courtside television monitor to determine if a shot is attempted before time expires at the end of the first half -- or at the end of the game or any extra period when it determines the outcome of the game. If the shot is ruled successful, officials shall now be permitted to put time back on the clock when it is determined that time remained after the ball passed through the net.

"Officials were able to use the monitor to check if the shot beat the clock, but this allows them to correct the time, when applicable," Hickey said.

Officials also will be able to use the monitor to determine if a foul occurred before the end of the period.

Those and all other committee proposals must be reviewed and approved by the Playing Rules Oversight Panel May 24 before being included in the 2006-07 rules book.

Rough play will continue to be a point of emphasis in men's basketball along with palming the ball. The women's game will emphasize displacement and bench decorum.

In other actions, Larry Keating, senior associate athletics director at the University of Kansas, was recommended as the next men's committee chair. Ronda Seagraves, assistant athletics director at Southwestern University (Texas), is the nominee as women's committee chair.