While an issue in college basketball for years, there finally seems to be an appetite for change regarding how the end of games are officiated and reviewed. As anyone who has watched this year’s March Madness knows, the final two minutes often come to a standstill as officials rely on replay to scrutinize everything from out-of-bounds decisions to the precise time on the clock.
Thankfully, the Fox-run College Basketball Crown tournament, starting Monday, is implementing a rule to combat this issue. According to Fox Sports college basketball announcer John Fanta, any questionable out-of-bounds call in the last two minutes will necessitate a coach calling a timeout for review. Unlike the standard NCAA rules, which allow officials to review any out-of-bounds call at their discretion, this change aims to streamline the process.
Here is exactly how the rule will be administered, per Fanta:
“Rather than officials arbitrarily going to the monitor on out-of-bounds calls in the final two minutes of a game, any debatable call will require a coach to utilize a timeout to challenge the play. There is no limit on challenges, but if a team has no timeouts remaining and loses the challenge, they are charged with an administrative technical foul, awarding the opponent two shots and possession of the ball. Conversely, if the challenge is successful, the team retains the timeout used for the challenge.”
This reform is exactly what college basketball needs; the final minutes of games have become largely unwatchable. Fans often spend more time watching referees review plays than witnessing actual basketball action. Moreover, the change promotes competitive integrity, as teams without timeouts that benefit from reviews for calls with no real merit are all too common.
Hopefully, the College Basketball Crown won’t be the only competition adopting such rule changes. It’s crucial to address the issues that plague the conclusion of college basketball games, and one can be certain the NCAA will be closely monitoring this experiment over the coming week.
