Shorter shot clock, fewer timeouts among changes coming in 2015-16

The NCAA has approved multiple rule changes to men's basketball for the 2015-16 season, including a 30-second shot clock and fewer timeouts for each team.

The organization announced the changes, approved Monday by the NCAA playing rules oversight panel, in a tweet.

The men's basketball rules committee recommended the rule changes aftermonths debating how to increase scoring and speed up play, especially late when flurries of fouls and timeouts made games seemingly drag on endlessly and needlessly.

The panel approved cutting the number of timeouts each team can use in the second half from four to three and eliminating some of the extra stoppages by using any timeout called within 30 seconds of a media timeout as the scheduled break. Committee members hope that will eliminate the occasional double timeouts that occur when there is no natural break around the 16-, 12-, 8- and 4-minute marks.

The move came as a result of data showing a drop of approximately five points per game last season and concerns over the length of games.

"The areas of concern in our game have been about pace of play, about scoring, about increased physicality defensively," NCAA rules committee chairman and Belmont coach Rick Byrd said last month. "There are concerns about how long it takes to play our games sometimes, particularly as we've introduced review in the last two minutes. I think we've addressed all these areas as best we can."

The arc underneath the basket will be extended out another foot, from 3 feet to 4 feet, after data showed it reduced the number of collisions.

The NCAA experimented with the new shot clock and restricted area rules in the 2015 NIT. Byrd said the NIT data did not "indicate a negative effect in terms of scoring and possessions."

The shot clock was last reduced, from 45 to 35 seconds, in 1993-94. The women's college game already uses a 30-second clock.

In other changes, coaches will no longer be allowed to call timeouts during live ball situations and, with only a few exceptions, teams will get just 10 total seconds to advance the ball past half court instead of resetting the clock if there is a stoppage.

Teams also will have 15 seconds, instead of 20, to make a substitution when a player fouls out, and officials will be instructed to start play more quickly following timeouts. If a team does not comply, it will be given a warning. Each additional offense will result in a one-shot technical foul.

Other changes include allowing refs to use replay reviews for potential shot clock violations on made baskets throughout the game and to penalize players for faking fouls, making Class B technical fouls such as hanging on the rim and delay of game one-shot infractions instead of two, removing the prohibition on dunking during warm-ups, eliminating the five-second rule when a player is dribbling and experimenting with a sixth foul during next season's lower-tier postseason tourneys.

In a change to women's basketball, theplaying rules oversight panel approved using 10-minute quarters starting next season.

The Associated Press and ESPN's Eamonn Brennan contributed to this report.