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The weekend in college hoops
Proposed rule changes could improve the overall pace of play and limit endless reviews. Sounds great. Plus: Virginia's roster should be an ACC disruptor, Seton Hall snags a shooter, Duke officially gets Evans back, and Louisville adds yet another marquee non-conference game.
Mike Miller
May 12, 2025
Good morning! Who’s ready to see what happened in college hoops news the last few days?
Let's dive in.
1. Pace of play rules changes could be coming
The last few minutes of college basketball games can be torture. And not just if your team’s losing.
Timeouts and in-game play reviews frequently stretch 1-2 minutes of actual gametime into 20-30 minutes of real time, which is great for drama and companies selling ads, but a lousy use of time for the rest of us. Especially when it’s a late tip.
ANYWAY, the NCAA may enact some rule changes to switch it all up. From a release on Friday:
Recommendations include a coach's challenge at any point in a game to review out-of-bounds calls, basket interference/goaltending and whether a secondary defender was in the restricted-area arc. Committee members also recommended modifications to the rule on continuous motion on field goal attempts.
Other enhancements to help with the flow of the game included new emphasis for the basketball officials for 2025-26. Points of emphasis will include directives to address delay-of-game tactics, limit time spent at the monitor, improve game administration efficiency and reduce physicality.
The NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel must approve all rule proposals before they become official. The panel is scheduled to discuss men's basketball rules proposals June 10.
It’s important to note that the new proposal ensures officials would no longer review out-of-bounds calls unless a coach challenges the ruling. And if most reviews come on out-of-bounds plays, this could be a really, really good thing for clawing back some minutes of your life.
"Coach's challenges were deemed to be the most efficient way to accomplish this goal. Data from the NCAA tournament and membership conferences showed a substantial number of reviews were on out-of-bounds plays,” committee chair and AAC associate commissioner Karl Hicks said in the release.
Also included in the overall discussion? Potentially changing from two halves to four quarters. That also could theoretically improve pace of play because team fouls would reset and create fewer bonus free-throw opportunities.
The committee noted that there was “positive momentum” for this change, but acknowledges that media timeouts will make it challenging. As a result, they’ll study it for a year and issue a report next spring.
Finally, the committee recommended that officials can now call a Flagrant 1 foul when a player makes contact with another player’s groin. That’s currently a Flagrant 2 foul that results in a player ejection.
2. Virginia may be more than an ACC disruptor
Ryan Odom had to replace the entire Virginia roster this offseason. And it looks like he’s not only about done, but he’s got a solid squad.
