College Basketball Rule Change Proposals: Reduced Shot Clock, Among Others

The NCAA Men's Basketball Rules Committee met to discuss the possibility of a few significant changes to the game, in hopes of improving college basketball.

One of the most important items on the agenda was the implementation of reducing the current 35 second shot clock to 30 seconds, essentially speeding up the game and increasing offensive production.

This rule was applied as an experiment for the 2015 men's NIT. During the first round of the tournament, of the 32 teams that played in the opening round, only nine scored less than 65 points, 28.1% of the teams, as opposed to the 64 "second round" teams in the NCAA Tournament who were playing under the 35 second shot clock, of which 27 teams scored less than 65 points, 42.2% of the total teams in that round.

While this is a small sample size, it's evident that the game can be sped up and offense production ascended rather significantly.

Other rules that are on the table include decreasing the number of second half timeouts by one in the second half (while limiting second half timeouts to a maximum of three), moving the restricted-area arc out from three feet to four feet, and strictly enforcing defensive rules.

These changes were proposed to help offenses in college basketball, as interest and television ratings have been steadily decreasing over the past few years. Hopefully, with the correct execution of the new rule changes, it will change the game for the betterment of players, coaches, and fans of college basketball.

Here are some of the main rules being discussed for change: