Vic Schaefer always is prepared to coach better and to teach better.
Matt Insell’s teams are going to continue to play defense and a full-court trapping style.
As much as the Mississippi State and Ole Miss women’s basketball coaches like to have time to study and to adjust to changes in their game, they are ready for a host of changes that could be enacted next month when the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel meets for a conference call June 8. That’s when that panel will discuss rules changes that were recommended earlier this month by the NCAA Women’s Basketball Rules Committee.
The biggest change that could be voted on for the 2015-16 season is moving away from the current format of two 20-minute halves to four 10-minute quarters. If approved, the four-quarter format would include additional changes involving fouls and timeouts.
Michael Shafer, chair of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Rules Committee and women’s basketball coach at Richmond, believes the proposed changes will address “flow of the game and physicality.”
But Schaefer, whose nickname is “Secretary of Defense,” isn’t sure what the motivation is to make the changes, other than to bring the college game in line with high school, Olympic, and international basketball, which all use quarters instead of halves. Schaefer served on a sub committee for the of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association Board of Directors that discussed rules and officiating. He believes the move to quarters would enhance the flow of the game because the proposal calls for one media timeout per quarter, which would come at the first stop in play with less than five minutes to play. The women’s and men’s games currently use a format that calls for media timeouts at the under 16-, 12-, eight-, and four-minute marks of each half.
“Until I see it and experience it I don’t have a feeling about it one way or another,” Schaefer said. “The men are talking about a four-foot arc in front of the rim for charges. Everything is about offense. Everybody thinks that is the answer, that is the ticket. It seems to be the concern with the powers that be that this be a free-flowing offensive game. That seems to be the idea behind a lot of the changes.”
The proposed rule changes also would cut the number of timeouts for teams to four (three 3 0-second timeouts, one 60-second timeout). A team would be allowed to use the 60-second timeout in the first or second half. Teams would be allowed to carry over only two of those timeouts to the second half.
The current format gives teams five timeouts (four 30-second timeouts, one 60-second). Four carry over to the second half. In non-televised games, teams would have five timeouts (three 30, two 60), and four would carry over to the second half.
In addition to the proposals for quarters and timeouts, the committee recommended teams be allowed to advance the ball to the front court following a timeout after a made basket in the final 59.9 seconds of the fourth quarter or overtime. The 10-second rule for the back court, which was implemented for the 2013-14 season, also would be tweaked so teams wouldn’t receive a new 10-second back-court count after a ball is deflected out of bounds by the defense, there is a held ball and the possession arrow favors the offensive team, or a technical foul is called on the offensive team when the ball is in the back court.
Schaefer said he likely wouldn’t call a timeout to advance the ball to the front court, or the 28-foot line. He said that proposed change likely would help offenses because they wouldn’t have to push the ball up the court in the waning seconds of a game.
While he acknowledges some of the proposed changes could make things more challenging, Schaefer said he plans to stick with a familiar formula.
“Anybody who has followed me knows all I am going to do is teach harder and coach harder,” Schaefer said. “I don’t think 7,300 people are coming to the Hump (Humphrey Coliseum) to watch us stand around in a 2-3 zone. I think they are coming here because how hard our kids play and how exciting they play, and a lot of our excitement stems from the defense end.”
Schaefer was referring to a MSU single-game record crowd of 7,326 that saw his team beat Ole Miss 55-47 on March 1, 2015, at Humphrey Coliseum. It was the biggest crowd to see a women’s basketball in the state of Mississippi.
Insell said he likes the rule changes, but he doesn’t think pace of play is a problem. He feels the Rebels and teams in the Southeastern Conference play pretty fast, but he also said he is for the “betterment of the game.” He said he would have liked to have seen the women’s game propose a change like the men’s game that would move the block-charge arc under the basket out another foot to four feet.
“They’re trying to make it a real finesse game, and basketball is not a finesse game,” Insell said. “I think it takes kids who are physical and strong and athletic.”
Insell said “consistency” is another big issue. He said the game is working toward more consistency for its officials, but he said consistency will be paramount if the rule changes are implemented. In an effort to take the human effect out of the game, Insell suggested raising the number of fouls for players from five to six or seven, or not allowing players to foul out of games. He doesn’t believe that suggestion would ever pass, but he said he trusts SEC Coordinator of Officials Sally Bell is working hard to see league games have the best officiating.
“I like a lot of what we’re doing with our game,” Insell said. “I am not particularly thrilled about taking away a timeout and going from five to four. I think that is part of coaching and takes a little bit of coaching out of your hands.”
Two other rules have been proposed: Defenders be allowed to place a forearm or an open hand with a bend in the elbow on an offensive post player who has the ball with her back to the basket. Bands or amplified music would be allowed to be played during any dead-ball situation. Currently, music is only allowed to be played during timeouts and intermission.
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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