We talked about a proposed change to NCAA women’s basketball last week, however today the NCAA has announced changes that will affect P. A. announcers at games on both the men’s and women’s sides.

Women’s Basketball

Update (June 8, 2015, 4:52 p.m.) We noted in an earlier blog post that music could be played during stoppages in women’s basketball.  That too has been passed.  The post with all the information on the rule changes is below, along with a link to our previous piece on why this might not be a good idea.  Though we hope to have fun with it if given the chance and would love to work with schools on their production if they need some help.

NCAA.org: Women’s Basketball Moves To A Four-Quarter Format

SportsAnnouncing.com: NCAA Could Have An NBA Sound

The women have what could be the biggest change in that games will no longer be played in halves, but in four quarters.  The NCAA rules committee believed the four-quarter format would enhance the flow of the game, and here’s how (the following is from this post on the NCAA.org website posted May 15, 2015).  See some Twitter feedback about this change at the bottom.

• Teams would reach the bonus to shoot two free throws on the fifth team foul in each quarter.

• Team fouls would be reset to zero at the start of each quarter.  If a team reaches the bonus in the fourth quarter, that team would remain in the bonus in any additional overtime periods.

• Media timeouts in televised games would also be changed to one in each quarter.  Media timeouts would occur at the first dead ball under the five-minute mark of each quarter and at the end of the first and third quarters. However, if a team calls timeout before the five-minute mark, that would be treated as the media timeout.  This means two fewer media timeouts per game.

In the proposed format, teams would have four timeouts (three 30-second timeouts and one 60-second timeout). A team may use the 60-second timeout at the discretion of the coach during the first or second half of the game. Teams would be allowed to carry over only two of those timeouts into the second half. Each team would be awarded one 30-second timeout in each overtime period, plus any unused timeouts remaining from the second half.

In non-televised games, teams would have five timeouts (three 30s and two 60s). Four of the timeouts would carry over to the second half.

“The rules committee is very excited about the change to the four-quarter format for the 2015-16 season,” said Michael Shafer, chair of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Rules Committee and women’s basketball coach at the University of Richmond (in the original post). “We believe this change, along with the associated changes to the timeout and foul rules, will address flow of the game and physicality. The overall format will strengthen the connection of college basketball with women’s basketball globally.”

The proposed format change is also endorsed by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association Board of Directors.

“What a great step forward for our game,” said University of Connecticut women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma, who has led the Huskies to 10 national championships, a record in NCAA women’s basketball. “As the game becomes more global each year, it’s important that we start the process toward standardizing the rules. This is just the beginning of what I hope are many other changes to improve this great game.”

WBCA President Sue Semrau, women’s basketball coach at Florida State University, added: “The coaches appreciate the meticulous effort the NCAA Women’s Basketball Rules Committee puts into developing the women’s game. We are excited to see how these rules will elevate our game to new heights, while forcing coaches to reevaluate their play-calling.”

No word yet on if the clock will stop on shots made in the last minute of each quarter or simply the fourth quarter and subsequent overtimes if necessary.

Personally, we like this as it brings the game to more uniformity to the levels above and below as high schools and WNBA play quarters.

Men’s Basketball

Out is the 35-second shot clock, it’s now 30 seconds.  The men will now also see a reduction in timeouts (which makes a lot of people happy).  It looks like the NCAA will be taking out a 30-second timeout in the second half for all men’s games, regardless of whether or not they are on television.

We’ll post more on this when the details are released.

Here is a post from D3hoops.com that goes over the proposed rules and gives opinions on all.  Comments are welcome here too.

D3hoops.com: Recommending No To Some Proposed Basketball Rules

Reaction on Twitter to Women’s Changes

Some of these reactions are a little over the top, others, well there are going to be people who like the changes and those who don’t.

@tylerbrinkman1 @connor_50 @chmielewski31 @NCAAWomensBKB what Geno wants is what Geno gets apparently 😒

— Barries (@ChrisBarries) June 8, 2015

Pretty sure Geno (Auriemma) likes this because a lot of his players go on to play in professional leagues who use quarters, and 100% of his players come from a structure that plays quarters.

The @NFHS and @WNBA play quarters, now so will @NCAAWomensBKB!! Agree with it, but it upsets a lot of traditionalists. — Metro DC DJs & Ent. (@MetroDCDJs) June 8, 2015

The game will move quicker, fewer timeouts and it will make it more entertaining.  There are traditionalists who don’t want it, they want to keep halves, but EVERY other league plays quarters.

@CoachHocking @NorbertDurst @NCAAWomensBKB Don’t mind it, but having M & W different will be confusing for fans. They neede to work 2gether.

— David Petroff (@DavidPetroff) June 8, 2015

David, we agree with you, it will be confusing and they should work together.  Imagine what it’s going to be like for P. A. announcers who are doing a dobuleheader and going from quarters in a women’s game, to halves in a men’s game. We think the men will follow suit soon.

4 Qtrs in @NCAAWomensBKB will revolutionise game coaching (for the better) far more than any of the Men’s changes #ncaa #ncaaw — Zach Meekings (@zmeeks04) June 8, 2015

Zach is on to something here.  The WNBA is a much different game structurally than college.  Following suit is a great idea and we have been saying this since the days of the ABL.

@UWOCoachFischer @NCAAWomensBKB feel free to disagree! I am for it if the men did it – otherwise completely against it.

— Hoopsville/McHugh (@d3hoopsville) June 8, 2015

Dave knows his basketball and runs helps run D3hoops.com.  We get to work with him a few times a year and he has some great perspective on all of this.  His original blog post from May can be found linked above.

@NCAAWomensBKB Not happy about this. Unnecessary change that will make the game longer. — Derek Crudele (@DerekCrudele) June 8, 2015

Not sure how the game will be longer, maybe Derek can elaborate.  The NCAA is removing two media timeouts and the teams are losing a timeout.  So, eliminating 4 timeouts and about 6-10 minutes of real time.  Don’t understand his math on this one.  Plus the flow of games will be quicker because you have one media stoppage per quarter, or three per half, including the intermission between the first & second, and third & fourth quarters.