The rules changes that college basketball’s overlords instituted to create a more free-flowing game seem to have taken their effect.
At least, that’s the belief held by N.C. State forward BeeJay Anya, who sees opponents go batty trying to defend slippery Wolfpack point guard Anthony “Cat” Barber without drawing a whistle.
“I can see it all the time,” Anya said. “A defender gets mad because (Barber) is so fast that sometimes you have to put a hand on him a little bit to keep him in front.”
With rules promoting freedom of movement for offensive players, those hand checks are fouls. As a result, Barber has taken 261 free throws this season, sixth-most in the country through Sunday’s games and an average of 8.4 per game.
When the ACC tournament begins Tuesday at the Verizon Center, fans may notice a quicker, more offensive-minded game. After a variety of rules changes were implemented over the offseason, scoring is up about 8 percent from last season, from 67.7 points per game to 73.1 points per game.
Wes Durham, the longtime Georgia Tech play-by-play man who now spends his winters calling games across the ACC, has seen it.
It’s not a “half-court slug,” he said. “It’s more kind of like what they said they wanted the game to be, more free-flowing.”
Another significant change, the reduction of the shot clock from 35 to 30 seconds, has sped the game up, increasing shots and points. Teams have averaged 71.7 possessions per game, according to teamrankings.com. The average at this point last season was 67.7.
Four more possessions per game change accounts for much of the uptick in scoring. However, field-goal percentage is also up slightly.
“I think they’ve opened up the floor and people are hitting more shots,” Durham said.
The 73.1 points-per-game average, should it hold, would be the highest rate since the 1994-95 season. Field-goal percentage is up, also, from 43.49 percent last year to 44.06 this season.
NBA senior scouting director Ryan Blake, who estimates watching between 14 and 20 college basketball game a week, has also noticed.
“There’s definitely more space,” he said.
Blake attributes part of the change to the influence of the NBA game, which has also implemented rules changes over the last several years to open up offense. The league has seen a change in which passing and movement off the ball have become more widespread.
“You’re seeing that from other players as it trickles down,” he said.
Durham foresees that more changes could be coming, including another reduction of the shot clock and the 3-point moving out again. It moved from 19 feet, 9 inches to 20-9 in 2008. The international distance is 22-1.75. The NBA distance is 23-9 in the middle of the court and three feet from the sidelines on the sides.
The emphasis follows an attempt in the 2013-14 season to open up the game when scoring fell to 67.5 points per game in 2012-13, the lowest average since the 1951-52 season. Hand-checking was changed from a guideline to a foul. Scoring jumped to 71 points in 2013-14, but fell back to 67.74 last season as the changes failed to take hold. Hence, another attempt last offseason.
It is part of the game’s efforts to reduce physical play and increase popularity, as the regular season has gotten lost in the NFL playoffs. Further, the pattern of players turning professional after their freshman and sophomore seasons has reduced fans’ familiarity and attachment to teams. Late-night tipoffs and the ever-increasing availability of games on television are likely factors, as well.
Average home attendance for Division I games has declined for the past eight seasons, from 5,327 in 2006-07 to 4,754 last season.
When the game’s rules makers convene again next offseason, though, they may need to make sure the implemented rules have stuck before going forward with more changes. Not all are convinced that that’s happened. Barber, the N.C. State point guard, said officials didn’t call the game as tightly during the ACC regular season as they did during the non-conference schedule. So did his coach.
“In November, it was different,” Wolfpack coach Mark Gottfried said. “Maybe halfway through December. And then I think all that went out the window, to be honest.”
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