Every summer it seems we’re smitten with the game’s gatekeepers trying to redefine and thus improve college basketball. But as every summer passes and the paperwork piles up, you can peek over it and see two patterns:
1) It’s trending toward the professional game (and this goes as far back as moving back the 3-point line several seasons ago)
2) These changes aren’t being adhered to, which means they either aren’t working or aren’t worth it (or both)
So last week the broom swung through again and swept with it more suggested changes: a 30-second shot clock, a one-foot extension of the restricted area and some minor tweaks to timeouts, stoppages and the pace of play. The shot clock looks like the headline item, but it feels like the game control initiatives are greater. And still, you know where we’re going with this.
The NCAA is aiming for a more enjoyable product, which means quicker games featuring more scoring. Those are dire items that must be addressed because postseason games are half-marathons and scoring in all games has really never been worse than it has been in recent seasons.
But again, these aren’t new problems, and changes aren’t new, either. Remember the alterations the NCAA made for freedom-of-movement issues two years ago? They’ve slowly but surely eroded. So here come new solutions when, honestly, one solution should trump them all: Make rules and stick with them.
A fear that college basketball will lose its uniqueness and too closely resemble the NBA is a valid one. Why would consumers choose to watch amateurs when the pros are a channel or two away? Protecting college hoops’ identity was important to the committee, but so was overhauling the product.
The NCAA tournament had a banner year, drawing 28.3 million viewers for the title game (up 33 percent from the year before) and a tournament average of 11.3 million viewers (up 8 percent from 2014). But the ratings gap is widening between the multi-network presentation of the NCAA tournament and the viewership for the sport’s regular season.
The committee feels these are necessary updates, like finally upgrading the sport from dial-up to WiFi. Out with the plodding and in with a high-speed product that meshes with societal trends.
“You want to talk about the pace of the game, how about stop calling all of those fouls?” Huggins said.
Huggins, of course, coaches one of the sport’s most physical teams, and this is a time when the officials will be charged with helping craft a game that is less physical and more free-flowing. Once again, the players and coaches will need time to adapt. The short-term sacrifice is worth it for the long-term benefit, but will the new rules work?
The chances will be better if, like a quality jump shot, there is follow through.
