NCAA signs off on faster shot clock

INDIANAPOLIS – College basketball is undergoing a major overhaul next season.

Men's teams will use a faster shot clock — 30 seconds instead of 35 — and have fewer timeouts, while women's teams will play four 10-minute quarters instead of two 20-minute halves.

All of it became official Monday when the NCAA's Playing Rules Oversight Panel approved a series of changes everyone hopes will improve the game. It's hardly a surprise after the men's and women's rules committees made separate recommendations in May.

The men's committee had spent months debating how to increase scoring and speed up play, especially late when flurries of fouls and timeouts made games seemingly drag on endlessly and needlessly.

The most notable change will be trimming the shot clock to 30 seconds, the first modification since it was cut from 45 seconds to 35 for the 1993-94 season.

The panel also approved cutting the number of timeouts each team can use in the second half from four to three and eliminating some of the extra stoppages by using any timeout called within 30 seconds of a media timeout as the scheduled break. Committee members are hoping that will eliminate the occasional double timeouts that occur when there is no natural break around the 16-, 12-, 8- and 4-minute marks.

The move came as a result of data showing a drop of approximately five points per game last season and concerns over the length of games.

Coaches will no longer be allowed to call timeouts during live ball situations and with only a few exceptions, teams will get just 10 total seconds to advance the ball past half-court instead of resetting the clock if there was a stoppage.

Teams also will have 15 seconds, instead of 20, to make a substitution when a player fouls out and officials will be instructed to start play more quickly following timeouts.

The arc underneath the basket will be extended out another foot, from 3 feet to 4 feet, after data showed it reduced the number of collisions.

In the women's game, the quarters format will prompt additional changes.

Under the new format, a team would receive a two-shot bonus after their opponent commits five team fouls in each quarter. The number of team fouls would only carry over if a game goes into overtime.