Rules Changes Coming to Men's Hoops in 2015-16
Head Coach Eddie Jordan a fan of new rules changes
June 10, 2015
By Tom Luicci
ScarletKnights.com
PISCATAWAY, N.J. -- The recurring image
Eddie Jordan still has from last college basketball season is watching Rutgers play solid, energized defense for 20 to 25 seconds -- only to realize it had to do so for another 10 to 15 more.
So count the Scarlet Knights' head coach as a fan of the sport's biggest rule change for 2015-2016, when the shot clock will be reduced from 35 seconds to 30.
"I like the 30-second clock. Thirty-five seconds just felt too long, especially for your defense to dig in for," he said. "That's the impression I've had. Obviously, I'm coming from the NBA (which has a 24-second shot clock) for over 20 years and I come in and the first year I'm saying `we are defending our butts off. We're going to get a stop here.'
Then I look up and there are still 10 or 15 seconds left on the shot clock."How can you keep defending ball movement, ball movement and more ball movement for that long?
Or even people just trying to get to the basket? You stop them, you close them out, you stop again, you stop again, you're staying in front of people, you're rotating, and there are still 10 or 15 seconds left on the shot clock.
That just didn't seem right to me. You penalize the defense by asking them to guard for that long."In general, Jordan says he favors almost all of the significant rule changes that will be in effect for the coming season.
Beyond the reduction in the shot clock -- the first change there since it went from 45 seconds to 35 for the 1993-94 season -- there are handful of other changes that will have a significant impact on the sport, which is looking to prop up the pace of play.
Those include the elimination of the closely-guarded five-second rule; expanding the restricted arc area under the basket from three feet to four; allowing a total of 10 seconds (eliminating most reasons for a re-set of the time) to advance the ball to the frontcourt; taking away one timeout and prohibiting coaches from calling a timeout when the ball is live (only players will be allowed to do so in those situations).
The biggest cosmetic change is removing the prohibition on dunking during pre-game warmups and at halftime."I like the elimination of the five-second closely-guarded rule," Jordan said. "I could never figure out when and where it started. It was too discretionary to me. It was hard to tell when it started and stopped.
But we didn't see a lot of that this year because the game has move to more pick and rolls."The Scarlet Knights' third-year coach said extending the restricted arc a foot, bringing it in line with the NBA, "will be an adjustment.
""You've got to be quick to come from your weak side over to the strong side and be another foot out to get a charge," he said. "And with this new charge call they're saying if the guy is already in motion then you can't take a charge.
They did that last year. This year they added the four-foot circle. So it's a double whammy. You really have to get out and establish your position.
"Overall, I like the majority of the rule changes -- the shot clock, the five-second change, the 10-second limit in the backcourt. I love that.
If you get a deflection and there's eight seconds left it stays there. It doesn't re-set at 10 seconds, with only a few exceptions."As a team, we'll adjust to the rules, just like everyone else. With our new guards we'll be able to get the ball up the court quick enough. With our full court pressure defense maybe we'll turn the ball over more."Jordan said he is pleased what he has seen during team workouts, although he is eager to have freshmen newcomers Corey Sanders and Jonathan Laurent and junior college transfer DeShawn Freeman added to the mix.
"We're still waiting for some new players to come in and get involved," Jordan said. "(Kansa State transfer) Nigel Johnson (a guard sitting out) looks great. I like the way Nigel looks. (Redshirt freshman guard)
Justin Goode looks good. It's just a matter of getting all the pieces together in one place."
