Chair of NCAA rules committee anticipates change to 30-second shot clock

Men's college basketball appears headed towards reducing its shot clock from 35 to 30 seconds, the chair of the NCAA rules committee told ESPN's Andy Katz on Monday.

"Now there's a real decent chance," Belmont coach Rick Byrd said. "It's pretty evident a lot more coaches are leaning that way. The opinion of coaches on the shot clock have moved significantly to reducing it from 35 to 30. And all indicators are pointing toward that."

The rules committee is scheduled to meet May 12-15 in Indianapolis, where it will review all relevant material on the matter from this past season.

"I think it's fair to say the buzz about the game is that scoring in the 50s can be ugly," Byrd said. "There's a lot of talk about it - more coverage than ever before. All of that has created acceptance from the coaches side."

The NIT, CBI and CIT tournaments all experimented with a 30-second shot clock in March.

"There's not a lot we can do unless we rewrite the rules," Byrd said. "There will be pressure to do something, and one of those things to do is to lower the shot clock to 30. I think that would improve the pace of play."

Byrd noted that teams have a tendency to waste 15 seconds before even making an attempt to score.

"There's a lot of inactivity in some coaches' approach to offense," Byrd said. "I do think the shot clock would help with that. There would be more flow."

There will also be discussion about potentially widening the lane and moving the 3-point line, according to Byrd. He believes those are less likely to be changed in time for this season because they involve changing the lines on the floor, and a number of college courts are already being redone in the spring.

"When you start talking about lines on the floor, there is almost always experimenting before they change it," Byrd said. "You can't go from no serious discussion in May to changing the width of the lane. These are rules for all divisions, junior colleges and NAIA. These need to be done well in advance."

However, Byrd does expect to see the block/charge arc moved from 3 to 4 feet, as it is in the NBA, noting that tape can be placed on the floor to mark off that arc, as it was during experimentation.

"I would say there is a great chance, 90 percent chance of that happening," Byrd said. "It's just common sense. It's harder now for a player to get in position to draw a charge. A whole lot of people don't like the block/charge situation."

He also said that the committee will discuss a possible change to the timeout rule, similar to the one already in place in women's basketball.

If coaches call a timeout within 30 seconds of a media timeout, that becomes the television timeout.

"You can have the last few minutes take 20 minutes," Byrd said. "It doesn't bother coaches but it does for those watching at home and in the arena. We need to try to get the games within two-hour windows."