Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

NCAA extends coaches’ boxes as part of rules change package

Stanford v Arizona State

LAS VEGAS, NV - MARCH 08: Head coach Bobby Hurley of the Arizona State Sun Devils argues an official’s call during a first-round game of the Pac-12 Basketball Tournament against the Stanford Cardinal at T-Mobile Arena on March 8, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Arizona State won 98-88 in overtime. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Getty Images

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The NCAA’s playing rules oversight panel will give college basketball coaches more room to roam next season after approving an extension of the coaches’ boxes from 28 to 38 feet.

Other men’s basketball rules changes include finding more consistent spots for inbound passes.

The shot clock will be reset to 20 seconds when the offensive team draws a foul in the frontcourt. If more than 20 seconds remain there will be no change.

Referees can use instant replay in the final two minutes of the game or overtime to determine whether a secondary defender was inside or outside the restricted-arc area.

A legal screen will require players to keep their feet no wider than their shoulders. And a minimum of 0.3 seconds will be taken off the game clock when the ball is legally touched.

Defenders who straddle an offensive player’s leg and prohibit him from making a normal basketball move, including pivoting, will be assessed a personal foul.

Women’s basketball rule changes included moving the restricted-area arc in the lane to 4 feet. The arc previously had been 3 feet in front of the basket. A secondary defender must be outside the arc and in legal guarding position to draw a charge.

Also in women’s basketball, coaches will be allowed to carry over all timeouts to the second half rather than having one “use it or lose it” first-half timeout. The 10-second backcourt count won’t be reset when a women’s basketball team on offense calls time out. Women’s basketball also approved the same rule change the men adopted in extending the coaches’ boxes from 28 feet to 38 feet.

Women’s basketball officials also will be allowed to use replay to determine if the ball was released on made baskets before the shot clock expired.