National Collegiate Athletic Association

The NCAA News - News and Features

June 30, 1997

Bowl game recommended; event exemptions OK'd

The NCAA Special Events Committee recommended certification of an additional bowl game and approved 1997-98 exemptions for events in several sports during its June 10-13 meeting in Kansas City, Missouri.

The committee recommended to the Division I Championships/Competition Cabinet that initial certification be approved for the Sports Humanitarian Bowl, to be played in Boise, Idaho, December 29, 1997. The new bowl game features the champion of the Big West Conference vs. an at-large opponent.

The exempted contests that were approved include several basketball events that will use experimental rules. Experimentation in such events was approved in January when the NCAA Council stipulated that all exempted basketball contests certified by the Special Events Committee use experimental rules designated by the NCAA Men's and Women's Basketball Rules Committees, with Special Events Committee approval.

The Special Events Committee approved the rules committees' recommendations, which are applicable to exempted contests played before December 1, 1997.

These events include the men's and women's Preseason National Invitation Tournaments, men's and women's Basketball Hall of Fame Tip-Off Classics, Aloha Classic, Black Coaches Association Classic, Carrs Great Alaska Shootout, City Bank/Aloha Airlines Big Island Invitational, Hawaiian Airlines Rainbow Wahine Classic, Maui Invitational, Puerto Rico Shootout, The First Four, Top of the World Classic and United Airlines Tip-Off Tournament.

The rules committees recommended that both men's and women's events use an experimental rule that allows a maximum of five players to occupy 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.

Men's events also will experiment with a 40-second shot clock.

In addition, the Special Events Committee approved a proposal to experiment with a four-quarter format in men's and women's events conducted before December 1, 1997. The format, designed to address concerns regarding the length of contests, would provide for stoppages at the six- and three-minute marks of each 10-minute quarter.

The format could vary slightly depending on the television contracts in place for each event. Tournament directors and coaches of participating teams will be notified of the specific format, in addition to any modifications in the number of charged full and 20-second timeouts, by September 1.

In other actions, the Special Events Committee recommended that NCAA Bylaw 17.5.3.1-(d) be amended to permit the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic, which was approved for an exemption in January, to be conducted after December 9. It also was recommended that the format be changed from a one-day, two-game, event to a two-day, four-game, exempted contest.

The committee also recommended that Bylaw 30.10.1.6 be amended to permit an institution from the Western Athletic Conference to participate in an approved exempted contest sponsored by the University of Hawaii, Manoa, providing that it does not receive a regular-season exemption for participating in a game against the University of Hawaii, Manoa.

Exempted events

The following is a list of events approved for exemption by the NCAA Special Events Committee at its June 10-13 meeting in Kansas City, Missouri:

Annual basketball exemptions:

  • Chase Postseason National Invitation Tournament (men's), March 11-29, 1998, to be played at various campus sites and finals in New York.

  • DirecTV Great Eight (men's), December 2-3, 1997, Chicago, Illinois.

  • National Invitation Championship (women's), March 20 and 22, 1998, site to be determined.

  • State Farm Women's Basketball Hall of Fame Tip-Off Classic, November 22-23, 1997, Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, following the 1997 competition.

  • Women's National Invitation Postseason Tournament, March 22 and 24, 1998, to be played at various campus sites.

    One-in-four-years exemptions:

    Baseball

  • Bank of America Easter Baseball Tournament, March 23-29, 1998, Honolulu, Hawaii.

    Basketball

  • Ala Moana Paradise Classic (women's), December 19-22, 1997, Honolulu, Hawaii.

  • Aloha Classic (women's), November 21-22, 1997, Honolulu, Hawaii.

  • Basketball Hall of Fame Tip-Off Classic (men's), November 21, 1997, Springfield, Massachusetts.

  • BCA Classic (men's), November 14, 1997, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

  • Carrs Great Alaska Shootout (men's), November 26-29, 1997, Anchorage, Alaska.

  • Chase Preseason (men's) National Invitation Tournament, November 17-28, 1997, New York, New York.

  • City Bank/Aloha Airlines Big Island Invitational Tournament (men's), November 28-30, 1997, Hilo, Hawaii.

  • Hawaii Invitational (women's), December 14-15, 1997, Honolulu, Hawaii.

  • Hawaii Nike Festival (men's), December 19-20, 1997, Honolulu, Hawaii.

  • Hawaiian Airlines Rainbow Wahine Classic (women's), November 28-30, 1997, Honolulu, Hawaii.

  • Hilo Holiday Shootout (men's), December 28-30, 1997, Hilo, Hawaii.

  • Maui Invitational (men's), November 24-26, 1997, Maui, Hawaii.

  • Northern Lights Invitational (women's), December 18-20, 1997, Anchorage, Alaska.

  • Outrigger Hotels Rainbow Classic (men's), December 27-30, 1997, Honolulu, Hawaii.

  • PowerBar Men's Basketball Invitational, December 6-7, 1997, Honolulu, Hawaii.

  • Preseason Women's National Invitation Tournament, November 19-20, 1997, various campus facilities.

  • Puerto Rico Holiday Classic (men's), December 24-27, 1997, San Juan, Puerto Rico.

  • Puerto Rico Shootout (men's), November 27-30, 1997, San Juan, Puerto Rico.

  • The First Four (women's), November 14, 1998, San Jose, California.

  • Top of the World Classic (men's), November 21-23, 1997, Fairbanks, Alaska.

  • United Airlines Tip-Off Tournament (men's), November 28-30, 1997, Honolulu, Hawaii.

    Golf

  • John A. Burns Intercollegiate Golf Classic (men's), February 18-20, 1998, Honolulu, Hawaii.

  • Rainbow Wahine Invitational (women's), March 24-26, 1998, Honolulu, Hawaii.

    Ice hockey

  • Ice Breaker Cup Men's Ice Hockey Tournament, October 11-12, 1997, Rosemont, Illinois.

    Softball

  • Bank of Hawaii Invitational, March 12-15, 1998, Honolulu, Hawaii.

  • Paradise Classic, February 13-15, 1997, Honolulu, Hawaii.

    Swimming and diving

  • Rainbow Invitational (men's and women's), January 2-3, 1998, Honolulu, Hawaii.

    Volleyball

  • Outrigger Hotels Invitational (men's), February 26-28, 1998, Honolulu, Hawaii.