University of Alabama head basketball coach Nate Oats said on Wednesday that he was “very much in favor” of the new rules adopted by the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel, including extending the 3-point line to the international distance and reducing the shot clock to 20 seconds after an offensive rebound.
“Any way to speed the game up, I am all about that,” Oats said. “Moving the 3-point line isn’t going to change what we do. It’s a way of spacing the floor and we like spacing. I’ve coached teams (at Buffalo) that have been on foreign tours so we played with the international line (22 feet, 1¾ inches) and it didn’t change anything. We’ll have guys who can shoot. John Petty can shoot. Alex Reese is a big who can shoot. So you widen the spacing on the floor and guys like Kira (Lewis) and Herb (Jones) have more room to drive.
“I think they will eventually change the lane where you can’t just put guys down there, or look at the NBA rule where you can have a 3-second call on defense and I’d be in favor of that.”
On the 20-second shot clock reset after an offensive rebound, Oats again noted that it would pick up the pace of play.
“That’s why I like it,” he said. “If we get an offensive rebound, we aren’t going to hold it for 20 seconds anyway. If the other team gets an offensive rebound, we don’t want them running off another 30 seconds.”
A third change approved by the NCAA panel would allow coaches to call live-ball timeouts in the last two minutes of the second half and the last two minutes of any overtime periods. Previously, coaches weren’t allowed to call any live-ball timeouts during the game.
“The way it was, that was stupid,” Oats said. “Coaches are the ones calling time out anyway. We just have to relay it into the player. We should be able to call them from the bench for the entire 40 minutes, but at least they have us two minutes back.”
The panel approved two other proposals: players will be assessed a technical foul should they use derogatory language about an opponent’s race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender, gender expression, gender identify, sexual orientation or disability. Also, in the last two minutes of the second half or the last two minutes of any overtime, instant replay review can be conducted if a basket interference or goaltending call has been made.
IN TEAM news, Oats confirmed that Alabama was now at a full roster of 13 players for the upcoming season with the addition of Villanova transfer Javohn Quinerly.
“We’re set,” he said. “We are just waiting to see about Javohn’s waiver as to whether he can play this year or not.”
Oats did not comment directly on the specifics of Quinerly’s request for a waiver of a year in residency, stating only “we think he has a good case.”
Sources have told Tidesports.com that the Quinerly family has based its hardship claim on what the Quinerlys say are false reports regarding Quinerly’s recruitment by Arizona assistant coach Book Richardson. The Quinerly appeal is expected to argue that no violation occurred in the recruitment but the matter created a negative environment that affected Quinerly’s play as a freshman at Villanova.
Reach Cecil Hurt at cecil@tidesports.com or via Twitter at @cecilhurt.
