Rules Committee proposes four-foot restricted zone

There was no bending of the rules at this week’s meeting for the NCAA Women’s Basketball Rules Committee, but there is a proposal to bend the restricted area to four feet for the 2017-18 college season.

Extending the restricted zone was one of seven suggestions announced on Friday. The WNBA currently uses a four-foot restricted area, while college basketball continues to use a three-foot zone. Over the last few years, rule changes for NCAA women’s basketball have increased the symmetry with professional and international regulations.

A change to the restricted area isn’t the only adjustment that would mirror the upper ranks. Another proposal would grant officials the ability to use replay on any shot to determine if the ball was released before the shot clock expires.

Other “tweaks,” the term used in the statement released by the NCAA, include allowing coaches to carry all four timeouts over to the second half. Under current rules, if a team’s head coach doesn’t use their first timeout by the end of the first half, that timeout is lost. The provision has resulted in arbitrary stoppages of play, particularly for a team who builds a big lead by halftime.

The rules committee also suggested that if an offensive team calls a timeout in the backcourt, the 10-second limit to advance the ball would not be reset. Implementing this rule would eliminate a minor but potentially influential loophole. As a result, defenders would gain an additional incentive to apply full-court traps.

The proposals require approval from the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel. They plan to discuss the changes in a conference call on June 13.