What’s not to like about college sporting events? The fans, the atmosphere, every athlete working hard just for the name on the front of the jersey and not the name on the back is a formula that can’t help but make you feel good. However college sports has always had its flaws. Boosters paying players under the table and the Jerry Sandusky case are just a few examples of the underbelly. There are a few ways to help college sports move forward. Most just have to do with pace of play and a few involve recruiting. Here are my five rule changes to improve college sports.
1. Shorten the shot clock
College sports take too long. College football games are now known to stretch three, even four hours. Basketball games, on the other hand, tend to be lower and lower scoring. It hasn’t erased fanhood but it certainly makes it tougher not to change the channel every once in a while at home. Basketball would benefit from a 24-second shot clock. More plays, higher scoring, more shots for this new breed of one-and-done players to show off their skill. Holding the basketball is not playing basketball. Doing this will make sure the better team wins more often and make the upsets that much sweeter
2. Fewer timeouts
Another problem in basketball is timeouts. Each team has five timeouts on top of four TV timeouts each half. Three full timeouts are more than enough if coaches manage the game correctly. It makes the game drag on near the end. If you can call timeout, set up a play, get onto the court, see what the defense is doing and then call another timeout, you have too many timeouts.
3. Overtime
College football does overtime right. Each team gets an equal opportunity to score and match the other team. However, the ball starts at the 25- yard line. College kickers are a little shaky but not shaky enough to miss a 42 yard field goal too often. 42 yards is how far a field goal is if a team doesn’t advance the ball one yard in overtime. You shouldn’t get any nearly automatic points in overtime. I propose moving the starting position back to at least the 50-yard line so a team has to work at least a little bit to score points.
Mark Emmert, president of the NCAA, made sweeping changes to recruiting, but are they right for college athletics? Photo courtesy Sports Illustrated4. Reinstate dead/ quiet periods for recruiting
This rule is for the sake of the recruit. I’m not saying reinstate the limited text messages or email, but give the kids a chance to think about their decision. I couldn’t even imagine being a top-50 recruit for any sport in the country nowadays. These kids such as Andrew Wiggins and Aaron Gordon are getting berated with hundreds of emails, texts and mailings everyday from programs and coaches. Breaks in the recruiting times need to be reinstated to give these recruits a chance to breathe and have a life.
5. No conference affiliation for officials
Every conference in the country has its own designated set of officials who rotate around the league officiating different games. Officiating needs to be governed on a national level by the NCAA. Referees do have biases and get to know players on a more personal level, which isn’t necessarily good for the game. On a national level, referees could travel countrywide and have the same focus on emphasizing certain calls. Everything would be a lot cleaner and more consistent across the board.
If you have any suggestions as to what you would like to see me write about or cover this semester, have a comment about a recent post or simply want to talk sports, contact me at nkruege1@asu.edu or via Twitter @npkrueger
