NCAA Basketball Rule Changes for the 2015-16 Season

A new season is upon us and with that come a few new rules. We at Corn Nation will do our best to break them down for your reading pleasure.

Most of these changes are in response for the need to increase scoring and speed up play. If you have seen any games in the last few years you would have noticed the need for some of these changes. Mainly latter moments of the game when teams would constantly foul and call timeouts. All of a sudden, 2:00 on the clock turned into 20:00 in real time.

Below is a rundown of the major changes that you will probably see throughout the season. While there are over 30 changes, these are the ones that we think will make the biggest difference. Some will be quite noticeable while others will only pop up on occasion. These are in no particular order and and the numbers are there to help break them down.

1st Change - The NCAA has cut the number of time outs each team can use in the second half from 4 to 3.

2nd Change - Any timeout called within 30 seconds of a media timeout will turn into that scheduled break. So if we are 30 seconds from a media timeout (something we all love...) and someone calls a timeout, the timeout will be the media break. This will hopefully cut out some of the double timeouts during the game.

3rd Change - The arc under the basket will be moved out from 3 feet to 4 feet. This was done due to research finding that there were fewer collisions when this was applied. Maybe our big guys will stay a little healthier because of this.

4th Change - The shot clock moving from 35 to 30 seconds. This is one area that will hopefully increase scoring and less lag play that can drag a game out longer than is needed. This was tested in the 2015 NIT tournament and there was no indication of any problems with scoring and possessions. This is one that was favored by the coaches. It's not the 24 second clock that the NBA and international leagues use, but it's a start.

5th Change - Coaches will no longer be able to call timeouts during live ball situations.

6th Change - Teams will get just 10 total seconds to advance the ball past half court instead of resetting the clock if there is a stoppage.

7th Change - The ability to substitute a player when they foul out has gone from 20 to 15 seconds. If a team does not comply they will get one warning for the first offense and a one shot technical foul for each additional offense.

8th Change - Class B fouls will now be one shot infractions instead of two. These would apply to such actions as hanging on the rim and delay of game.

9th Change - Players can now dunk during warm ups. Raise your hand if you are sick of seeing constant layups for 20 minutes while you eat a corn dog.

10th Change - The ability for refs to use replay reviews for potential shot clock violations on made baskets.

11th Change - Penalties for players faking fouls. If only soccer would adopt this.

12th Change - The five second rule is now eliminated when a player is dribbling.

Attached is a the NCAA instructional video for the rule changes for your viewing pleasure. If you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comments section below. We will do our best to interpret the new rules.