NCAA to add new technical foul component in men's basketball

On Friday, the NCAA's men's basketball rules committee suggested that referees start assessing technical fouls against players who fake being fouled during the 2021-22 season. The NCAA’s Playing Rules Oversight Panel will review the proposed rule changes on June 3.

The committee decided to add the technical foul component to the proposed rule to eliminate the practice of faking a foul. Officials would no longer be required to issue a warning if they determine that a player is faking a foul. Instead, they would be able to assess a Class B technical foul whenever they decide that the player is faking.

Officials would still be able to flag players who feign a foul. Some of the plays they would look for in this area include players faking a foul after blocking a shot or charging the ball. Also, players who do not receive a contact after a field goal attempt would be considered faking a foul.

After two years of using warnings to discourage players from faking injuries, the committee changed the rules. According to Colorado's committee chair and head coach Tad Boyle, the officials weren't getting their desired results.

What changes

The committee also allowed coaches to view live statistics on the sideline during conference games. The committee noted that the feedback from the conferences regarding the rule change has been positive. It also supported an experimental rule that would allow teams to view the pre-loaded video on the bench during the upcoming season.

The rule would be subject to conference approval. Conference officials would then determine if the technology they would use would be allowed under the rule.

The committee decided to allow the participating schools to use technology during the National Invitation Tournament in 2021. According to Boyle, the feedback from the participating schools was positive. The committee also decided to allow the conferences to implement the rule changes as they see fit.

The committee members recommended that the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) board adopt the experimental rule during the 2022 NIT.

Under the experimental rule, players would be allowed to accumulate up to six personal fouls before being ejected from a game. If they get four fouls in a single half, they would be disqualified from the game.

For instance, if a player accumulates four fouls in the first half, one would be suspended from the game. If one gets one foul in the second half, a player will be ejected from the contest.

If a player accumulates three fouls during the first half, he would be ejected from the game.

Goals of changing rules

The experiment aims to allow players to remain on the court even if they get two fouls in the first half. The committee members noted that this scenario could reduce the playing time of the players.

The goal of the rule change was to reduce the number of stoppages in the game. Currently, most men's college basketball games have media timeouts after play has been stopped for the first time during the 16-, 12-, eight-, and four-minute marks of each half.

If a coach calls a media timeout during the 18-minute mark, it would be considered as the under-16-minute timeout. If a team calls a media timeout during the 16-minute mark, it would be regarded as the under-12-minute timeout. The committee believes that this rule would help facilitate the game's flow and provide more continuous action.

Although this rule would not be required, schools would still be allowed to use shot clocks with tenths of seconds if they choose to do so.