Time Out!

[Jay R]

Originally Posted by Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.

Long before the NCAA added a Women's Committee to the Basketball Rules Committee, women's college (both jr. college and college) basketball was played using the Basketball Rules as written by the National Association of Girls and Women in Sports (NAGWS). And while NAGWS Basketball Rules were primarily taken from the NBCUSC (National Basketball Committee of the United States and Canada, the ancestor of the NFHS and NCAA Rules Committees) Basketball Rules, it also adopted many FIBA Rules, i.e.: (1) a five second count only while holding that ball (which still exists in today's women's rules) and (2) no ten second backcourt count (FIBA has since adopted a ten second backcourt count which has since been changed to an eight second backcourt count).

The one rule that has been a constant in women's college basketball has been that coaches as well as players may request a timeout, in fact it as always been the same rule that was adopted by the NFHS and NCAA Men's committees a few years back. While NAGWS did not adopt the FIBA timeout request rule, it took the NBCUSC concept of players requesting timeouts and also allowed head coaches to request timeouts. And that is the rule that we still have today in women's college basketbal and has been added to boys'/girls' high school and men's college basketball.

MTD, Sr.

Thanks Mark. I've been officiating (FIBA rules mostly) for the last 10 years. It's neat to see how some of these things evolve over time.