Last Tuesday night’s college basketball doubleheader had it all. We got to see the top two teams in the country duel it out as Michigan State University held on against the University of Kentucky. We got to see the top two freshmen go head-to-head as the University of Kansas outlasted Duke University. Unfortunately, we also got to see a ridiculous amount of fouls and free throws.
The NCAA implemented new rules outlawing hand-checking and arm bars. The goal is to improve the flow of the game and give offenses a greater opportunity to score. While that all sounds well and good, it’s simply not working, and it’s never going to work the way that they want it to.
Instead of improving the flow of the game, it’s just causing the game to be stopped a lot more for ticky-tack fouls. Games are being won and lost on the free-throw line. Nobody wants to watch that.
They are trying to sell to us that eventually players will adjust and the rules will improve the game. But players are not going to magically adjust how they play. They’ve played this sport their entire life, and they’ve learned to play defense a certain way. It’s incredibly hard to stop using your hands on defense entirely. And apparently coaches have been concentrating a lot time leading up to the season teaching their players how to play under these new rules. But if the early part of the season has told us anything, it’s that the players are not adjusting at all.
Sure, teams may be scoring more, but that’s just because they’re shooting a million free throws. On top of ruining the flow of the game, these rules are putting just about every player in foul trouble. Seven players finished with four fouls in the Michigan State-Kentucky game.
Foul trouble was even worse in the Kansas-Duke game. The main storyline going into the game was guard Andrew Wiggins versus forward Jabari Parker. But we barely got to see Wiggins in the first half because he was held out of the game with foul trouble — he played just nine minutes in the first half. This is absolutely horrible for the sport. Even worse was the fact that Parker fouled out and missed the end of the game. In fact, the Blue Devils got in the worst foul trouble of any team in the doubleheader. Two of the starters fouled out, and two more starters had four fouls. Overall, this game featured a total of 53 fouls. This is just embarrassing for the sport of college basketball.
To solve this, the NCAA needs to look to its NBA cousin. College needs to move to a six-foul limit. I know it’s just one more, but it would certainly make a difference. The NBA does it because it’s less likely that a superstar is going to foul out of a game. The NCAA should do it for the exact same reason.
The NCAA should also look into making a shorter shot clock. It makes no sense that the NCAA shot clock time is longer than both the high school and NBA clock. Thirty-five seconds is just too much. They need to lower it at least to 30 seconds, if not all the way to 24 seconds. This would definitely improve the flow of the game and increase scoring. It would accomplish what the NCAA wants to see without making the game into a free-throw shooting contest.
Although not as urgent, I’d like to see the NCAA move the 3-point line back to where it is in the NBA. Too many teams are chucking up threes like they’re casual mid-range jumpers, because that’s exactly what they are. The college first down line is 10 yards, same as in the NFL. The college pitching rubber is 60 feet, six inches from home plate, same as in the MLB. So why on earth should the college 3-point line be closer to the hoop than in the NBA? This would improve the flow of the game by causing teams to drive and move the ball more, as opposed to just shooting threes.
In an attempt to improve the game, the NCAA has done just the opposite. They’ve turned games into boring free-throw shooting contests. Worst of all, a night that was supposed to showcase the game’s greatest players couldn’t live up to its full potential because these players were on the bench with foul trouble. I love college basketball, but I’d agree that changes could be made to improve the sport. But unfortunately, the NCAA chose the wrong thing to change. They need to reverse these new rules immediately, and take some lessons from the NBA for rules that would improve the sport of college basketball.
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