The NCAA Competitive Rules Oversight Committee on Thursday approved adding a one-game suspension to the ejection penalty for women’s basketball players, coaches or bench personnel who make physical contact or threaten a referee.
The rulebook already defines violations as “physical intimidation or threats of harm, including disrespectfully touching, pushing, shoving, spitting or attempting physical contact with an umpire.”
Members of the women’s basketball rules committee proposed the rule change, which would take effect next season, in the hopes that suspensions would help deter such behavior against officials.
In January, the Athletic Rules Oversight Committee directed all NCAA rules committees to review their sportsmanship and ethical conduct rules.
Extended Video Review
Committee members also approved expanding video replay review to include whether a player’s feet last touched the court inbounds on a shot taken before the clock expired.
Because those plays are automatically reviewed to see if a shot was taken before time expires, committee members agreed with the women’s basketball rules committee that the change gives officials another tool to make the correct call.
If a player’s foot is determined to be out of bounds, the official will record the exact time of the infraction on the game clock.
However, if the shot is successful and there is time remaining on the game clock, there will be no video review.
Previously, unless an on-court official called the ball out of bounds during the game, officials could not see if a player’s feet were out of bounds before taking a shot before the clock expired.
Additionally, if an off-ball foul is called during a field goal or free throw attempt, the official must immediately review replay to determine whether the point should be allowed.
This is an adjustment to last year’s rule change which stipulated that defensive foul reviews be conducted during the next electronic media timeout. The women’s basketball rules committee felt it would be more consistent to conduct all replay reviews at the same time when determining whether a field goal or free throw counts.
