Here’s a thread to discuss the NCAA men’s college basketball season. Obviously, we can break it up into monthly threads if the interest is there.
These early games are always weird. West Virginia vs Texas A&M sounds like a good game on paper but it’s been an incredible slop fest so far. Of course, the game is being played in Germany so it is after midnight there. And, of course, there’s already a weird story with UCLA.
Here’s a good welcome to the season story from ESPN:
My pick on day one of the season for NCAA champion is Arizona. Given my awful prediction skills, Arizona won’t even make it to the NIT tournament!
Here are the main men’s rule changes this year (and apparently, the NCAA has gone back to making men’s basketball rule changes a yearly thing instead of every other year, like in most sports):
The coaching box is now 38 feet from the base line (instead of 28 feet). On a 94-foot standard court, the area between the two coaching boxes is 18 feet.
The minimum reset time on the shot clock is now 20 seconds instead of 15.
A third or subsequent delay of game warning is a technical foul regardless of the reason. Previously, only two of the same type of delay resulted in a technical.
In order for a screen to be legal, the screening player’s feet cannot be more than shoulder-width apart.
In the last minute of a half or OT period, if the ball is legally touched inbounds on a throw-in, at least 3/10 of a second must run off the clock.
The head coach may now ask for a timeout when either team has the ball out of bounds and before it is actually thrown in.
It is no longer backcourt if a defensive player deflects a pass or loose ball and an offensive player then touches it before it crosses the center line.
The penalty for calling too many timeouts is now a two-shot technical.
Instant replay may now be used:
(1) to reset the game clock to when the shot clock expired in the last two minutes of the second half or an OT period;
(2) to determine if a foul took place before the shot clock expired;
(3) to determine whether or not a defender was in the no-charge arc when a foul is called in the last two minutes of the second half or an OT period.
NCAA shot clock is still 30 seconds, right? Believe that was permanently implemented a couple years ago. Just scanning through the Top 25 there are some interesting names. Minnesota, Purdue, Northwestern and the St. Mary’s Gaels.
Yes. The rule change is, if the shot clock is reset because a defensive player kicked the ball or hit it with his fist, it is not reset to 30; if it is 20 or more when the violation happened, it stays where it is, and if it is at 19 or less, it is set to 20. I think the old rule was 15 instead of 20.
I hope you’re both right (about Arizona being the champion) and wrong (about Arizona not even making the NIT).
The FBI’s recruiting bribery scandal is concerning but that neither the head coach nor any current players have been implicated is encouraging.
(if the the assistant coach’s arrest had occurred in Hawaii, McGarret would have said “Book Booker, Danno.”)
From what I’ve seen, Deandre Ayton reminds me of UNLV’s Larry Johnson.