Proposed basketball rule changes

WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

( Staff Columnist Jenny O'Bryan alerts us in today's column about a possible rule change being considered for womens college basketball. It could have a pronounced effect on the game...)



-Rule change could greatly alter WBB

-Rutgers finally decides on vote for AD: Julie Hermann

-Media Tuesday for Louisville Softball

If you have listened to Paulie, Jeff and I on Crescent Hill Radio on the Cardinal Couple radio hour you have likely heard us reference NCAA and their affinity for rules.  There are so many rules and regulations that it makes my head spin just thinking about it. 

However, the NCAA Women’s Basketball Rules Committee made a recommendation for a rule change at their annual meeting in Indianapolis.  This is one rule I can get behind. 

The committee is recommending that a 10-second backcourt rule be implemented in the women’s game.   In order for this to become a rule for the 2013-14 season the Playing Rules Oversight Panel must approve it.  They will convene June 18  in a conference call.

Below is an excerpt from the NCAA website regarding the recommendation:

Women’s 10-second backcourt rule

In women’s basketball, committee members added the 10-second rule in the backcourt for the first time since the NCAA began administering women’s championships in 1981-82.

Previously, teams could take as much time off the 30-second shot clock as they wanted before crossing the mid-court line.

Officials will use the shot clock to determine if a 10-second violation has occurred.

Committee members believe adding the 10-second rule will increase the tempo of the game and create more offensive scoring opportunities.

Women’s intercollegiate basketball is the only level in the sport throughout the world that does not have a backcourt rule in place.

If this rule is adopted by the Playing Rules Oversight Panel, the committee is also recommending that the closely guarded rule in the backcourt be eliminated from the rules book.

The closely guarded rule in the frontcourt would read that a player holding the ball for five seconds with a defender not exceeding six feet will be a violation. Previously, the defender had to be within three feet of the offensive player with the ball to force a 5-second violation.

“Given feedback from stakeholders through the years, this is the right time to approve the rule,” said Barbara Burke, Women’s Basketball Rules Committee chair and director of athletics at Eastern Illinois. “Overall, we discussed pace of play, creating scoring opportunities and flow of the game. Adding the 10-second backcourt rule adds another element of strategy, and this rule fits into the concepts of growing the game.”

I have to say this is one NCAA rule I welcome.  Not only will it increase the pace of the game and provide more scoring opportunities, I believe it really works to the advantage of a team like Louisville that likes to play pressure defense.  The thought of some combination of Bria Smith, Tia Gibbs and Jude Schimmel wrecking havoc in the backcourt with pressure has me bemoaning the fact that basketball season is 6 months away!

While this rule is not a done deal, yet, it does sound like the support is there pretty unanimously.  We should know more in late June. 

For more about proposed rule changes check out the full article (mentioned above) at:

RULE CHANGE

-Jenny O Bryan

( One thing that we should see here at CARDINAL COUPLE if this rule goes through is our readers won't be bemoaning the fact the Louisville guards are taking 10-15 seconds to get the ball across the timeline on occasions. We'll follow this proposal with interest...the  CARDINAL WBB full court press was very productive at times last season.  -- Paulie)


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The search for an Athletic Director at Rutgers University had come down to Frazier and Hermann. The six-member committee couldn't decide, though. Until today.

Word is...that a vote last night resulted in a 3-3 tie on who will become the new AD for the Scarlet Knights. There are three men and three women on the committee.

They tried again, today, through the eleven member Board of Governors, to break the deadlock. Julie wins! Julie wins! There are only three schools in Division I athletics with a female Athletic Director...California and North Carolina State...and now Rutgers. 

Sean Frazier is the deputy athletic director at Wisconsin. It's widely known that Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez lets Sean handle most of the day-to-day operations. Julie Hermann supervises 20 of the UofL sports and also keeps tabs on marketing at UofL.  Frazier would probably mutter that getting close only matters in horseshoes and hand grenades.

WE have to ask the question...why didn't they appoint seven (or five) people to the first decision-making committee?  

Good luck, Julie! Rutgers has a whole bunch of issues to resolve...one of them being how to break a tie...We're going to miss you!

Be sure to catch the Thursday editon of CARDINAL COUPLE...Jeff McAdams will review Hermann's appointment.


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I had a blast down at Tuesday's Media Day for the UofL Softball team. Got there a little early and learned quite a bit watching practice...the Cards do a full field  and full speed drill where they put the team in situational aspects of a game and see how they perform. Two outs, bottom of the seventh inning Alicja Wolny at bat and Rachel LeCoq on the mound....as an example. Even though the wind was blowing straight out of the ball park, I didn't see any home runs today. I'm guessing their saving those for IPFW, UAB and UCLA.

I also got some great interviews for our Saturday radio show on Crescent Hill Radio. Without giving anything away...here are 10 teasers you can listen for Saturday (or on the archived broadcasts that stay up on the site for several weeks...) You can listen to Crescent Hill Radio 24/7 if you wish on the internet. The station is applying for a low wattage FM license that will dramatically increase the "over the airwaves" broadcast area and hopes to obtain the permission to being this in November.  You can listen to Crescent Hill Radio at the link below

CRESCENT HILL RADIO

Here's your teasers:

1) What do geese and a certain UofL softball player have in common?
2) Who is the best stand-up comic on the team?
3) One of the players reveals her most embarrassing moment on the field.
4) Just how many dogs is Coach Pearsall keeping track of these days?
5) Does a certain Cardinal softball player accept my challenge to a 60 yd. race?
6) How does Coach Pearsall feel the Cards have done with "small ball"?
7) Which Cardinal softball player is a big fan of THE WALKING DEAD?
8) Which softball player defeated Shoni Schimmel in a game of "HORSE"?
9) Who picked whole wheat bread over white and rye bread?
10) Which player prefers Katy Perry over Pink, Taylor Swift and Bruno Mars?

See you Saturday 11 a.m. for CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO on Crescent Hill Radio!

-Paulie

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