NCAA Basketball Rules

While many of the basic rules of National Collegiate Athletic Association basketball are the same as those of the National Basketball Association , there are some significant differences. These variations involve distances on the court in some instances and how long a team has to attempt a shot in another. Rules that pertain to fouls and matters of timing vary from the NCAA game to the professional one. The NCAA women’s game follows the men’s rules in most aspects, with some variations.

  1. Rules Involving Time

    • Both the men and the women in NCAA basketball games play two 20-minute halves, unlike other levels of the sport in which the teams play four separate quarters. The men have a shot clock that gives the offense 35 seconds to attempt a field goal, while the women’s game at the collegiate level requires a shot attempt before 30 seconds elapse. The men have 10 seconds to bring the ball over half court before the referees can call a back-court violation, while the women have no such restriction. The game clock will stop after a team makes a field goal only during the last minute of the game’s second half and in the last minute of an overtime period. Overtime periods last for five minutes, which is the same length of time as the professional game.

    Rules Involving Distances

    • The NCAA rules regarding the three-point shot require that the women be behind an arc that is 19 feet 9 inches from the basket, which is the same distance the men have in college games. While this distance changes to 20 feet 6¼ inches in professional women’s basketball, it is much further in the NBA, at 23 feet 9 inches. The width of the lane, the rectangular area beneath the basket extending to the foul line, is 12 feet by 19 feet in NCAA men’s basketball and 16 feet by 19 feet in the NBA. The women have the same lane measurements in both the professional and college game at 12 feet by 19 feet.

    Other Rules

    • In an NCAA basketball game, a jump ball is used to open the contest, with each subsequent situation requiring a jump ball then decided by alternate possession. A player that the referees charge with five fouls is no longer eligible to play in an NCAA game. In the professional game, it takes six fouls to “foul out.” After a team commits its seventh foul in a half in an NCAA game, the rules dictate that the opponent will shoot one free throw. If that one goes in, he or she will receive another. This is a “one-and-one” situation. After the tenth foul of a half, the opponent will shoot two free throws with no such restrictions.