Five-Second Rule Revived For College Basketball

Hoping to jazz up offensive play, the NCAA decided Tuesday to reinstate college basketball’s 5-second rule which was dropped four seasons ago.

Under the rule, an offensive player may not dribble the ball more than 5 seconds if a defender is within 6 feet of him. The offensive player must shoot or pass or be called for a turnover.

After the rule was abandoned, the number of shots declined as guards protecting a lead would dribble away most of the 35 seconds on the shot clock.

“The concern has been that the flow of the game hasn’t been as good and the game doesn’t look as good,” said Larry Keating, chairman of the men’s basketball rules committee.

During the two-day meeting, the committee also voted to require most preseason tournaments next year to use a 40-second shot clock, instead of 35 seconds. If successful, the 40-second shot clock could become permanent for the 1998-99 season.

In other action, the committee voted to allow conferences to experiment with changing the held-ball rule, making it an automatic turnover instead of awarding alternate possession.

This will be strictly up to the conferences whether to try or not.

In another change, coaches, not just players, will be allowed to call timeouts.