Cowgirls forward Chaundra Sewell goes for a basket.
The Mountain West Conference has made changes to its officiating and rules for the upcoming basketball season.
As the conference enters its 14th year, it is creating cultivated opportunities for student-athletes to compete at high levels while fostering academic achievement and sportsmanship. With its participation with the NCAA, the MW also finds it must regulate and change rules according to what is fair for all of its participants.
According to the MW handbook, a guide released every year for each of the different sports, there have been 28 changes to the rules for basketball this year. Changes for rulings in the NCAA are permitted only once every two years, except in emergency situations like issues concerning the players’ health and safety.
Some modifications have been made to the court and equipment policies, according to the information distributed by the MW. One change states that all shadow lines on the court must be clearly discernible and distinguishable. It also has been recommended that the area of the free throw lane inside the boundary lines be one solid color.
The distance from the center of the basket to the outside edge of the three-point field-goal line has been modified make the total distance 20 feet, nine inches. Additionally, the arc must be a solid colored two-inch line that has a radius of three feet and extends in a straight line to the front face of the backboard.
There also have been changes made for officials and their expected duties. One major change states that an appeal for a correctable error may only be made by a head coach, table official or game official. This appeal must then be honored and reviewed by an appointed official. Coaches also may request a monitor review to determine if any of the fouls have occurred, but if no foul is assessed, a time-out shall be charged to that team.
For the players, substitutes and equipment division, regulations for uniform apparel have also had changes. Shoulder panels in jerseys must be measured from the top of the shoulder seam and extend a maximum of five inches toward the bottom of the game jersey on both the front and back. Colored necklines are also not allowed to exceed one inch in width. There are also more strict regulations enforced on logos worn on shorts and socks.
Definitions for the game have also changed. The term “flagrant one-person foul” will replace, “intentional personal foul.” Contact with an elbow that occurs above the shoulders of an opponent when the elbows are not swung excessively is classified as a flagrant one-person foul and results in two free throws with the ball being awarded to the offended team.
The MW also has made a major change to timeout administration. If a team is not ready to play at the second horn during a timeout, officials are instructed to formally warn the team on the first offense. On the second offense, officials are to make the ball ready for play by putting the ball on the floor and beginning the count.
Most of the changes made for the year occur in the fouls and penalties category. Now, administrative technical fouls do not count toward the team count foul. When there are administrative technical fouls by both teams, the fouls shall offset with no free throws awarded to either team. If fouls are charged as a player/substitute technical foul, the offended team is awarded two free throws and the ball at the point of interruption.
