From flop prevention to uniform designs: Every rule change in women’s college basketball

Tired of flopping? So is the NCAA.

In June, the NCAA Women’s Basketball Rules Committee, working with the Playing Rules Oversight Panel, approved a series of rules changes — and added a few new ones — for the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons.

In total, 10 rules were addressed and approved. They span topics such as flopping, apparel freedoms, guidance and resources for officials, and more.

With exhibition games in full swing and media days in the rearview, the start of the 2023-24 campaign is closer than ever. Here’s a breakdown of the new rules and changes to get you prepared for the season.

Flop warnings and technicals

New rule: Creating a penalty for trying to trick officials into making erroneous foul calls.

The NCAA calls faking fouls “outside the spirit of fair play that is foundational in the women’s game.” In an effort to quell flopping, and to provide officials with a course of action when it does happen, a team with a player the referee identifies as faking being fouled will be issued a team warning. If the “unsporting actions (misconduct)” persist, that’ll mean two free throws and the ball to the competition.

New rule: Creating a new technical foul category for an infraction that follows a team warning.

The NCAA noted that this category is meant to “appropriately penalize infractions that occur following a team warning.” Because the warning is issued to the entire team, so is the technical foul. This isn’t solely tied to flopping, either. Fans saw an example of the previous iteration of this rule in the 2023 NCAA national championship game, when Iowa guard Caitlin Clark did not immediately return the ball to a referee following a play and was issued a technical foul, which also counted as her fourth personal foul of the game. This came after Iowa received a delay of game warning earlier in the contest. The technical in that situation was assessed to Clark individually, where this new rule would mean that foul would be added to the team-foul count only and not applied to the player’s total.

“Players on the court may not be aware they are playing under a specific warning,” the NCAA said, “Assessing a technical foul directly to the player was deemed too severe.”

Time management

New rule: To reset the shot clock to 20 seconds or the time remaining on the shot clock, whichever is greater, when a foul is committed by the non-shooting team in the shooting team’s frontcourt during an unsuccessful field-goal or free-throw attempt that does not strike the ring or flange but is not committed against a player in the act of shooting or an airborne shooter.

What a mouthful! The key change here lies in the line “or the time remaining on the shot clock, whichever is greater,” The NCAA noted that fouls committed after blocked shots or airballs could previously cause the shot clock to be reset to 20 seconds when the team should have received more time, or, more specifically, the time that team actually did have.

Rule change: To change the time when a review occurs when determining whether a goal should be counted or canceled when a foul is committed by or against a teammate of the shooter by conducting the review during the next electronic-media timeout, except after the last electronic-media timeout of the fourth quarter or the entire overtime when it must be reviewed before the ball becomes live following the foul.

This one’s all about making sure the game pace doesn’t get bogged down by too many replay reviews, and making the most of those electronic-media timeouts we know all too well.

Team-specific changes

Rule change: To permit additional uniform options, including identifying names of the institution, allowing more space for logos on the jersey front, allowing numbers 0 or 00 through 99, and permitting religious headwear to be worn without a waiver of the playing rule provided it is safe for competition.

Gone are the days of more severe uniform restrictions. A player wants to wear number 79? Go right ahead. A program is rolling out interesting, alternative uniforms that read an identifying name, as opposed to the standard? Looking forward to seeing those. This rule change is also helpful to athletes who play basketball with religious headwear, dropping the red tape and waiver process that was previously protocol and helping to make the sport more inclusive.

Rule change: To permit, but not require, the transmission of live video to the bench area for coaching purposes.

According to the NCAA, this idea has been tested in the sport for the past two seasons. After receiving positive feedback, it’s now permissible for all to participate in the use of live video transmission as a resource.

Officials take note

Rule change: To reduce the restricted area to the area directly underneath the basket and eliminate the lower defensive box.

The NCAA admitted in its ruling that the original concept of the restricted area didn’t work as intended. Crashes at the basket didn’t decrease significantly, so the specs are changing. Defenders will have more room to play, but won’t get to take charges beneath the basket. The NCAA also noted that, though court markings will remain the same, this elimination of the confusing “lower defensive box” should lend itself to better calls from the referees.

Rule change: To permit, but not require, amber lights on the shot clock and/or an amber strip at the top of the backboard only to signal the end of a shot-clock period.

This rule, though a simple one and not a requirement, is only meant to aid officials working games at places dealing with this type of equipment. The NCAA noted in its rationale that this will “provide another visual tool for officials to recognize when a shot-clock violation has occurred.”

Rule change: To require officials to use the game clock to administer the 10-second backcourt count when the shot clock is not visible.

Easy enough. Everybody knows the backcourt rule, and this is just a means to ensure the call is — or isn’t — made accurately.

Rule change: To permit, but not require, a conference to establish an off-site facility to assist and facilitate replay reviews by officials, also known as collaborative replay.

Officials might not always deem it necessary to phone a friend to confer with other officials regarding a replay review, but it’s now allowed if they do. And, notably, this rule has already existed in men’s college basketball; it now applies to both sports.

Important upcoming UK dates

Nov. 1: Exhibition game vs. Kentucky State in Rupp Arena, 11 a.m.

Nov. 7: Regular season and home opener vs. East Tennessee State at Transylvania University, 7 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)

What you missed during Kentucky’s women’s basketball offseason: A complete timeline.

‘It’s a new day.’ Five takeaways from Kentucky women’s basketball’s media day.

Five takeaways from Kentucky’s first women’s basketball practice of 2023-24

Kentucky women to visit NCAA champ LSU, play South Carolina twice. See the full schedule.