On Friday, May 10^th, 2019, the NCAA Men’s Basketball Rules Committee has proposed a new regulation to move the three point line back a little over 1 foot in distance from where it is currently. As of now, the three point stripe is at 20 feet and 9 inches in length from the basket, but the new distance would be equal to the international three point line. The international three point mark is at exactly 22 feet and 1 3/4 inches from the bucket.

The above-mentioned proposal to move the line will have to be approved no later than June 5^th, 2019 by the Playing Rules Oversight Panel if it will go into effect. If it passes through the Panel, the change would take effect for the next season of NCAA men’s basketball in Division I (2019-2020 basketball season). It would eventually take effect for the 2020-21 season for Divisions II and III for financial reasons.

Statements Regarding the Change:

“After gathering information over the last two seasons, we feel it’s time to make the change,” says the coach of Colorado, Tad Boyle, who is the committee chair of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Rules Committee. “Freedom of movement in the game remains important, and we feel this will open up the game. We believe this will remove some of the congestion on the way to the basket.”

“The time is right because it gets college guys close to the NBA line,” says Jay Wright the head coach of Villanova’s men’s basketball team and NCAA tournament champion. “The shooting has improved enough that moving back is warranted. The line back will create better spacing and help with freedom of movement.”

4 Other Proposals Recommended by The NCAA Men’s Basketball Rules Committee:

• The shot clock to be reset to 20 seconds after the team on offensive grabs an offensive rebound to maintain possession.
• Players would be given Flagrant 2 technical fouls and ejected from the game if they use derogatory language referring to an opponent’s ethnicity, race, gender, religion, disability, or sexual orientation.
• Enabling the coaches of these college teams to call live-ball timeouts themselves during overtime and throughout the last two minutes of the second half.
• Allowing for review of instant replay for basket interference or goaltending calls in overtime as well as the final two minutes of the second half.

My Thoughts:

With the evolution of the game of basketball, I truly believe it is time to move back the line to international if not NBA range to accommodate the way the game is played these days. As player are progressively getting better at shooting especially from long distances it is about time to go ahead and make the necessary adjustments.

I would go further to say the NBA should move back their 3 point line as shooting 3 point shots occurs way to often in basketball nowadays. In today’s NBA it seems like team take too much advantage of the three point stripe to outscore the opposing team. Even centers who should be down in the paint are too often seen popping out behind the arc to attempt a 3 point look.

This is not how the game of basketball was meant to be played. In fact, the 3 point line was only introduced back in the 1979 / 1980 season in the NBA. The three point line and 3 point shot were first initially added to the game of basketball in 1967 by the ABA league.

In my opinion, the line has made basketball games less physical and defensive. These days players don’t play defense like they used to. They typically go back and forth trading shots which are commonly 3 pointers, and they don’t take the ball to the hole like they used to which was exciting especially at the end of a basketball game.

I am sure millennials with short attention spans need plays to happen as fast as possible, but purists of basketball love and appreciate the beauty of the game when team pass the ball around and take it right into the teeth of the defense as opposed to simply shooting over defenders. I agree with the latter respectively.