Area schools adjusting to new rules

If the lack of scoring in college basketball has left you a bit cold in recent years, you may be in luck.

Over the summer, the NCAA men’s basketball rules committee made a number of changes to the rule book — two of which will likely increase fouls and therefore scoring.

One of the new rules concerns the always controversial block/charge call around the basket. Once an offensive player is airborne, the defensive may no longer slide in front to try to draw a charge. The rule applies to both primary and secondary defenders.


“Once a player starts in his upwards motion, which means he starts to pass or shoot the ball — he goes up and tries to pass or shoot — the defender may now no longer move to maintain,” explained Reggie Greenwood, the Coordinator of Officials for both the Ivy and Patriot Leagues, via conference call. “He must stay stationary.”

The other change concerns defensive hand checking. Defenders may no longer keep a hand or arm on an opponent, put two hands on an offensive player, jab at an opposing player by extending an arm or use an arm bar to impede progress. Though many of those things were already in the back of the rule book as a guideline, they are now in the front of the rule book as an official rule and will be emphasized as such.

“Those two rules are the two major rule changes that will make some noticeable impact on the game,” Greenwood said. “Whether it is good or bad is still to be determined, but these are the mandates that have been given to the officials.”

Between the two Division I programs in Mercer County, opinion on that question appears to be split. In Princeton, Tigers coach Mitch Henderson said he was in favor of the changes during Thursday’s media day.

“Scoring is at an all-time low in 26 years in college basketball,” Henderson said. “I think it is going to improve scoring and I think it is going to reward teams which value skill and playing together, which we’ve done here for years. I like it. I think its great, and our guys love it too.”

The new rules seem to come at a good time for the Tigers. Last year’s team featured the tallest starting lineup in all of college basketball, but after the graduation of senior forward Ian Hummer, this year’s group figures to be a bit more guard-oriented and less reliant on physical play down low.

That doesn’t mean Henderson hasn’t taken some extra steps to prepare his club.

“There has been a few times when coach (Henderson) has brought in refs just for us to scrimmage with in practice,” senior forward Will Barrett said. “They didn’t do anything too intense but it was just to get us used to the different rule changes. It helped me a lot.”

Down Route 206, however, the Rider Broncs don’t seem quite as keen on the idea.

“I think it’s going to cause us to play a little more zone, which is not what I want to do,” coach Kevin Baggett said. “I think you take the aggressiveness away from guys. I know they want to scoring to be up, but I still think people appreciate defense. I’m not overly in love with them.”

Baggett also said he wasn’t alone in his views on the subject.

“There are going to be a lot of fouls," the second-year coach said. "Some of my better players are going to be on the bench so we have to get our reserves ready to play. I’m concerned. I’ve spoken to a number of coaches and they are also concerned, as well.”

Ultimately, the changes could have their biggest impact in early non-conference play, before teams have a chance to see how live game action is being called and have time to adjust.

“Will it have an impact on the game? If players don’t adjust, and referees call it, yes, it will have an impact,” Greenwood said. “Hopefully, when we call this stuff early and get this stuff out of the game early, people will make the adjustments necessary in order to make the game a free flowing game.”