NCAA rules committee recommends pushing men's 3-point line back
The three-point line in men’s basketball could be moving back in the 2019-20 season.
The NCAA men’s basketball rules committee recommended a rule change that would make the college basketball three-point line standard with the international three-point line at 22 feet, 1 3/4 inches. The current three-point line is at 20-9.
The recommendation comes as basketball teams are more reliant on the three-point shot. Teams averaged nearly 23 three-point shots per game in the 2018-19 season and the recommendation is being made after the international three-point line has been used in the postseason NIT the past two seasons.
Three-point shooting percentage has been down in the NIT in those two seasons compared to the regular season. From the NCAA’s release:
“After gathering information over the last two seasons, we feel it’s time to make the change,” said Tad Boyle, committee chair and coach at Colorado. “Freedom of movement in the game remains important, and we feel this will open up the game. We believe this will remove some of the congestion on the way to the basket.”
Teams in the 2019 NIT averaged 23.1 field goal attempts in the tournament from behind the arc, compared with 22.8 3-point attempts in the 2018-19 regular season. The 3-point shooting percentage of teams in the 2019 NIT was 33%, compared with their regular season average of 35.2%.
Shot clock adjustment proposed as well
Men’s college basketball could also feature a shot clock that doesn’t reset to 30 seconds after an offensive rebound, either.
The committee proposed a change that cuts the shot clock to 20 seconds if the team with possession gets the rebound off a missed shot that hits the rim. The NBA has a similar rule and teams that get offensive rebounds have 10 seconds fewer to shoot a second time.
Both recommendations will be voted on by the an oversight panel on June 5.
– – – – – – –
Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports.
More from Yahoo Sports:
