The Executive Board has taken a pre-season vote to review some rule changes from the 2023 Ballot Results and offer some clarification on other aspects of the ruleset and NCDA constitution.
Rulebook Updates:
R.1) Update to the Shot Clock Violation Penalty – PASS 8-1
NEW – A shot clock violation will result in a team forfeiting all balls in their possession. (Revert back to 2021-2022 season)
Previous: Shot clock Violation call will result in a team forfeiting all but two balls in their possession (or all if possessing 2 or fewer)
R.2) Redefining the Start of a Team’s Shot Clock – PASS 6-3
NEW – The shot clock will begin when the third ball is considered dead.
Previous: The shot clock will begin when the third ball enters the team’s zone
R.3) Clock discontinues on “failed” retrieval of third ball – PASS 7-2
NEW – The shot clock of a team acquiring their third ball discontinues if the ball returns to the throwing team.
Previous: Shot clock continues if third ball returned to the throwing team.
R.4) Player has 5 seconds to reenter after exit – PASS 8-1
NEW – If a player gets out and has not yet exited the court before a catch is made to bring them back into the game, they will have 5 seconds to enter the court after exiting to their jail.
Previous: A player has 5 total seconds to exit to the jail and reenter the court.
Policy Updates:
P.1) Redefine Dir. of Records to Open Director position – PASS 7-2
NEW – The Director of Records position may be assumed by any of the elected Open Directors.
Previous: The Director of Records position must be elected specifically for said role.
P.2) Redefine Dir. of Female Engagement to Open Director position – PASS 5-4 NEW – The Director of Female Engagement position may be assumed by any of the elected Open Directors.
Previous: The Director of Female Engagement position must be elected specifically for said role.
Supporting Data:
R.1) Update to the Shot Clock Violation Penalty
Evidence to support the reversion to the previous year’s rule comes from the results of the Leadership Conference Tournament survey. After playing with the new rule, we had 15 players provide feedback on our open form on what they thought. Since the results were not strongly in favor of the change, it did not seem logical to play out a whole season with a rule that is more so for the point of “trying something new”. Here were the results:
In Favor – 5 (33%)
Indifferent – 7 (47%)
Not In Favor – 3 (20%)
R.2) Redefining the Start of a Team’s Shot Clock
This rule is being implemented to promote consistency and to provide a more straight-forward way of resuming the shot clock. Each year the NCDA filters out a large portion of their experienced refs, resulting in a wave of new refs having to familiarize themselves with performing shot clocking duties. The previous rule was ill-defined and often interpreted in different ways by each team. This new rule is easy to learn, and easy to track when preforming duties as the shot clock.
R.3) Clock discontinues on “failed” retrieval of third ball
This rule was commonly misconstrued, or rather “imagined” somewhere along the way during the development of the NCDA ruleset. It was never formally stated that the shot clock of a defending team returned to an unenforced state if the throwing team successfully retains their ball after a “wall-ball” attempt. This change can be more so interpreted as a clarification in the ruleset since it is implementing a rule that most teams already follow.
R.4) Player has 5 seconds to reenter after exit
This change is for the sole purpose of bettering the ruleset. Before, in any situation, a player only has 5 seconds to reenter the court. Clarifying that a player will have additional time to reenter in abnormal situations allows them time to understand their situation and address the proceeding steps appropriately. If a player realizes too late that they have been caught back in, they may stay on the court instead of making the appropriate exit and return. No player should be forced to make a bad decision because they do not have time to react.
P.1 & P.2) Redefine of Directors to Open Director positions
The Director or Records and Director of Female Engagement positions were proposed as standalone positions when they were meant to be proposed as additional Open Director spots. The “Open Directors” were originally created to allow a more broad definition of the responsibilities of each board member. Redefining these roles allows for a more broad definition, where elected Open Directors may assume the role of specific director titles as they wish.