Wednesday, June 5, 2019

Summary of Men's, Women's Hoops Rule Changes

Below is text and links from a memo issued by the NCAA today with information related to men's and women's basketball rules changes that have been approved by the Playing Rules and Oversight Panel.

Below are links to the men’s and women’s basketball playing rules changes recommended by the NCAA Men’s Basketball Rules Committee and by the NCAA Women’s Basketball Rules Committee that were approved by the Playing Rules Oversight Panel during a teleconference this morning.

Please note the following: 
  • Effective date: All changes are effective with the 2019-20 season EXCEPT the men’s new rule to extend the three-point line, which is not effective for Divisions II and III men’s basketball until the 2020-21 season.​
  • Three-point line: The men’s three-point line will be extended by approximately 1’ 5” (to a distance of 22’ 1 ¾” at the top of the key and 21’ 7 and 7/8” in the corners). The distance of the three-point line for women’s basketball will remain the same as the current rule (20’ 9”). A link to a basketball court diagram illustrating both the men’s and women’s three-point lines is also available at the bottom of this memorandum.
On behalf of the committees, thank you to all of the commissioners, directors of athletics and head coaches who participated in the rules survey and/or the two-week comment period offered by the committees. The feedback received was very helpful and assisted the committees in their work.

Men's Basketball Rules Changes
Women’s Basketball Rules Changes
NCAA Men’s and Women’s Basketball Court Diagram

Please note that for the upcoming two-year rules cycle, the women’s rules committee plans to experiment with the international three-point line for 2019-20 postseason events, excluding the NCAA championships. Both the men’s and women’s rules committees also plan to study in more depth the use of technology in the bench area for coaching purposes during competition.