REGENSBURG (David Hein’s Eye on the Future) - Attending basketball games is nothing new for me and neither is the NCAA Tournament. But for the first time this past week I attended the NCAA Tournament live - checking out six games in Seattle.

While it was a truly exciting experience, missing was an upset that so much defines March Madness. 

That did not bother me that much since I was able to see great programs such as Louisville - who survived a tough fight against University of California at Irvine - and Gonzaga - who gave the Washington home state fans plenty to cheer about with wins over North Dakota State University and University of Northern Iowa to reach the second weekend of games for the first time since 2009. 

But after years of watching much more international basketball, it became clear watching the games at the old KeyArena from the Seattle SuperSonics that U.S. collegiate basketball would best be served with some major rule changes. 

There are two issues that I would address if I were in charge of NCAA men’s basketball.

The first are those pesky TV timeouts. 

During a 40-minute game (broken down in two 20-minute halves instead of four 10-minute quarters), there are eight mandatory television timeouts, which come at the first stoppage of play under the 16, 12, 8 and 4 minute marks of each half. 

Why the TV timeouts - also called media timeouts - you might ask? 

The reason is simple: advertising to pay the networks and then pay the NCAA and its conferences and then pay the players - oh, wait, that slipped out. That’s a whole other issue. 

In addition, both teams have at least five timeouts during the game. Yes, that means a possible 18 timeouts in one game. On top of that, the halftime lasted 20 minutes at the NCAA games in Seattle.

All those timeouts truly hurt the game, especially watching games live in person. There is little chance for a game to really develop any sort flow if there are so many stoppages of play. But of course there are tactics involved in the calling of timeouts. If your center is getting tired, you as a coach may call a timeout with 8:03 left to play to give him an immediate breather while also knowing that the next stoppage of play will be a TV timeout and that player will get another short rest.

But something really should be done.  

At the very least, do what women’s college basketball has done. A coach’s timeout called within 30 seconds of a media timeout would then take the place of the up-coming media timeout.

While that wouldn’t solve all the problems, it is at least a start. Cut out at least one of the media timeouts, or take away two of the coach’s timeouts for each team. But do something.

The other major rule in college basketball that needs to be changed is the shot clock - cut it from 35 to 24 seconds.

There is so much dead time on the court with a 35-second shot clock. It takes teams ages to really get into their offense - after a couple of failed attempts. There were so many times in Seattle when I looked up and was expecting to see six or seven seconds left on the shot clock and there was often more than 20 seconds left. 

And then there would be an offensive rebound and the shot clock would re-set to 35 seconds and I found myself greatly appreciating the 14-second re-set of the shot clock after an offensive rebound as it’s played around the world. 

So, cut the fat - make it 24 seconds. Make these teams get into their offense and take a shot. 

Apparently there is a trial going on in the NIT - the second level National Invitational Tournament which goes on at the same time as the NCAA Tournament - in which the shot clock is being reduced from 35 to 30 seconds. And Shane Ryan of Grantland reported that average offensive efficiency and pace of play during the NIT have both risen. So, it seems to be working.

But why cut it to 30 seconds and not 24 seconds? That doesn’t make that much sense.

College is about preparing students and student-athletes for professional life. And professional basketball throughout the world has the 24-second shot clock. So, the NCAA would actually be getting its players ready for the world of basketball when they leave the collegiate system. 

These are just two major areas where the NCAA games needs to be changed. Will they happen? Probably not. But it would be greatly beneficial for the game-watching experience.

FIBA

David Hein

FIBA's columnists write on a wide range of topics relating to basketball that are of interest to them. The opinions they express are their own and in no way reflect those of FIBA.

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