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New Rules Proposals: Some Good, One Just Dumb

Who needs more fouls?

Duke v Kansas
OMAHA, NE - MARCH 25: Referee Doug Sirmons (L) explains a call to head coach Mike Krzyzewski of the Duke Blue Devils during the game against the Kansas Jayhawks during the 2018 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament Midwest Regional Final at CenturyLink Center on March 25, 2018 in Omaha, Nebraska.
Photo by Lance King/Getty Images

The NCAA is considering several new rules. Some of them are just tools for game management and will stand or fall on merit.

One of them is stupid and another is at least interesting.

The first is to give six fouls. The Big East tried this back in the day and it was, to be charitable, a disaster; the league was unwatchable.

The NCAA has some wrinkles though: four fouls in a half will DQ you. But if you can manage three or less in the first, you’ll get three in the second. But if you get just one in the first, then you’ll get four in the second.

Just simply put, it’s too complicated. Why not simplify it this way? A fifth foul, any fifth foul, is a technical with the ball going back to the other side.

That would cut down on a lot of nonsense, and also help to rein in late fouls when a team is behind and desperate to catch up. Actually, you could simplify things again by just giving a T for a transparent late foul that’s only intended to stop the clock.

Fortunately, this will be looked at during the 2022 NIT before anything else happens. Good thing, because it’s a terrible idea.

The other major tweak will be to give a technical for flopping. That’ll be a judgement call obviously, and may end up sending officials to the replay even more than they go now. Other than that, it’s hard to root against.