NCAA Division 1 Basketball Rules

The National Collegiate Athletic Association is divided into three levels for athletic competition. Division I is the top level in college men's and women's basketball and features the high-profile programs that battle for spots in the popular NCAA postseason tournaments. The rules of NCAA Division I basketball are designed to promote fair competition and ensure the safety of the players.

  1. Timing

    • NCAA basketball games, on both the men's and women's sides, are divided into two 20-minute halves. The clock stops whenever the whistle blows for a foul or other violation, or because a ball goes out of bounds. There is a 15-minute halftime break between halves. If a game is tied at the end of the 40 minutes of play, the teams break the tie playing a five-minute overtime period. Tie scores at the end of the overtime periods bring on an additional period of the same length.

    Fouls

    • Players in NCAA Division I basketball are allowed to commit five personal fouls during the course of a single game. A player who commits her fifth foul is disqualified from further participation in that game, but she can be replaced by another player. A player who is in the process of taking a shot when he is fouled gets to take two free throws. If he is not in the act of shooting, his team takes the ball out of bounds from the sideline. Each team is allowed six team fouls in a half before those nonshooting fouls earn free throws. The seventh team foul puts the opposing team in the bonus, and they get to shoot a one-and-one for the seventh, eighth and ninth fouls. A one-and-one gives the player who was fouled one free throw; if she makes it, she gets a second one. Once a team hits 10 fouls in a half, all fouls earn the opponent two free throw tries.

    Court

    • The basketball court for NCAA Division I play is 94 feet long and is divided by a midcourt line at the 47-foot mark. The playing area is 50 feet wide. The lane area at each end of the floor is 12 feet wide. The backboard sits four feet inside the baseline and the free throw line is another 15 feet out from the backboard. Offensive players are restricted as to the amount of time they can spend inside the lane area. The women's 3-point shooting line is an arc painted 19 feet, 9 inches away from the rim, and the men's three-point line is 20 feet, 9 inches out.

    Shot Clock

    • To keep the game moving at both ends of the floor, NCAA basketball uses a shot clock. A women's team has 30 seconds from the time it takes possession of the ball to get a shot off, and a men's team has 35 seconds. A violation of this rule turns possession over to the other team.

    Alternate Possession

    • NCAA basketball uses a jump ball to set possession at the start of the game and at the start of overtime. Any other time there is a play on which both teams have simultaneous possession of the ball, the alternate-possession rule comes into play. The team that did not have possession of the original jump ball gets the next possession on a tied-up ball, and then the teams alternate the rest of the way, including at the start of the second half.