Ken Pomeroy has an interesting article up about the experimental rules the NCAA is allowing next year in exempt games. The two rules he focuses on are the wider lane and farther three-point line. The rules are intended to free up the lane, allowing for a smoother-flowing offense. Ken's excellent research shows that this hasn't been true in the past few years when they've tried this.
Instead, very little changed in games with the new rules. Three point percentages were nearly identical, 33.8% with the farther line versus 33.9% with the regular line. The only thing that really changed much was that 2 point FG% actually dropped a bit in the exempt games. The plan was for these changes was to help the offense a bit, as players would have an easier time driving the lane. Instead, it appears to have just penalized the offense by pushing the big men out from the basket. Defenders can still camp in the lane, so there is no real detriment to defense.
The one rule that Ken doesn't talk about is one that is obviously interesting to me. The NCAA is going to try out a charge-block circle under the basket, just like the NBA. I like that they are thinking about this. Maybe I'm on to something - Ban The Charge! While I think the game would be better if they went even further against charges, this is a step in the right direction. I think it will be tough to do the kind of post analysis that Ken has done with this change though. You can't go through box scores and pull out charges and blocks. Whether this rule experiment is working will be more of a subjective call.
Permalink | Send To A Friend | Linking Blogs | Digg this!
Filed under:
College Basketball
