The NCAA is changing the penalty for game delay violations in women’s basketball and adding a new rule on flopping.
Players will no longer be charged with a technical foul for certain game delay violations, including Iowa’s star guard Caitlin Clark being called out in the Hawkeyes’ NCAA Championship game loss to LSU. All-American received a technical foul, According to the pool report after the match, because she did not pass the ball to an official after a foul was called late in the third quarter. Officials considered this to be a delay in the match.
Because this was Iowa’s second game-delaying violation, Clark was charged with a technical foul. Players receive a personal foul when a technical foul is assessed in college basketball, and the foul was Clark’s fourth of the game.
Under the new rule, this play would have resulted in the team receiving a technical foul in place of Clark.
For flopping, players will be issued a warning on the first offense and a technical foul will be charged for each subsequent offense. Under the new rule, the second call and any subsequent failed calls will add to the team’s foul count but will not count towards the player’s five fouls that lead to a disqualification.
The committee hopes that this change will reduce the instances of players attempting to deceive officials by flopping either on the offensive or defensive side.
The NCAA Rules Committee also agreed to reduce the restricted area arc from 4 feet in the lane to the area directly below the basket. Defenders cannot create a legal guard position directly below the basket.
Previously, secondary defenders had to be outside the bounding arc to foul an offensive foul on a player.
Other rule changes included allowing players to wear any number from 0 to 99. Schools would no longer have to make a waiver for players to wear religious headgear, provided it was safe for competition.
Members of the Women’s Basketball Rules Committee also expressed concern about the increase in intentional fouls, technical fouls and disqualification errors last season, as well as bench fitness and misconduct incidents. This will be the focus of officials this year.
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