College basketball rule changes

Shorter shot clock

Rule: The shot clock was reduced from 35 to 30 seconds.

Intent: Produce more possessions, and therefore more scoring.

Fewer, faster timeouts

Rules: 1. Teams will have four timeouts instead of five, and can carry only three over to the second half. 2. Officials can issue a delay-of-game warning or even a one-shot technical foul for teams that do not resume play quickly after a timeout.

Intent: Speed up games by reducing delays.

No "double timeouts"

Rule: Timeouts called within 30 seconds of a scheduled TV timeout will now become the TV timeout.

Intent: Eliminate double timeouts that disrupt the flow.

Faster substitutions

Rule: The time to replace a disqualified player was reduced from 20 to 15 seconds.

Intent: Speed up games by reducing delays.

Fighting flops

Rule: Officials may now use video review to penalize players who fake fouls.

Intent: Better address a growing problem (flopping), and to speed up the game by avoiding additional free-throw situations.

Coach timeouts limited

Rule: Coaches can no longer call timeouts when the ball is live (players still can).

Intent: Expand the players' freedom and to prevent interruptions in play.

Firm 10-second rule

Rule: Teams have a maximum of 10 seconds to advance the ball past half court. Timeouts called do not result in another full 10 seconds, as they have in the past.

Intent: Force teams into their offenses quicker and increase possessions.

Less under-the-basket carnage

Rule: The restricted-area arc was expanded from 3 to 4 feet.

Intent: Reduce the number of block/charge calls and reduce collisions at the basket.

AMELIA RAYNO