With tipoff less than a week away, here are the key rules changes to know for 2025-26, ranked in order of how much I think they'll impact the game:
This is an incredibly stupid idea that I won't be surprised if it gets rescinded a month into this season. Just imagine this situation, it's close late in an important game with about a minute left and there's a seemingly close out-of-bounds call. The home team doesn't show it on the video board because the video obviously shows it's out on them. The visiting team, with absolutely no data to go on other than what they saw live, has to decide if it's worth risking their last time out to challenge this call. Or, worse, if they're out of timeouts, the call on the floor is going to stand, even if it's obviously wrong on video. Ridiculous.
The potential for this scenario is also so glaringly obvious (and common!) that it also seems absurdly dumb to challenge any other call at any other time. Especially because the officials can still use replay to review goaltending and restricted arc calls in the last two minutes.
You're thinking, but bobinator, you've been *****ing about how long reviews are taking in college basketball for years. Correct, I have, but this is the wrong fix. This is going to cost someone a game at some point this season.
This is mostly fine but I expect it will be wildly inconsistently called.
This is a good change. We can all agree there's a "definitely not on purpose," "definitely on purpose" and an "I can't tell but don't do that again" to these plays so having the middle option is good.
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1) Coach's challenges
The change: For the first time, coaches can challenge goaltending, out of bounds, or restricted area calls. You must have a timeout to challenge, if your challenge is successful you get another one, if it's not, you cannot challenge again. This is the only way that out-of-bounds calls can be reviewed.
This is an incredibly stupid idea that I won't be surprised if it gets rescinded a month into this season. Just imagine this situation, it's close late in an important game with about a minute left and there's a seemingly close out-of-bounds call. The home team doesn't show it on the video board because the video obviously shows it's out on them. The visiting team, with absolutely no data to go on other than what they saw live, has to decide if it's worth risking their last time out to challenge this call. Or, worse, if they're out of timeouts, the call on the floor is going to stand, even if it's obviously wrong on video. Ridiculous.
The potential for this scenario is also so glaringly obvious (and common!) that it also seems absurdly dumb to challenge any other call at any other time. Especially because the officials can still use replay to review goaltending and restricted arc calls in the last two minutes.
You're thinking, but bobinator, you've been *****ing about how long reviews are taking in college basketball for years. Correct, I have, but this is the wrong fix. This is going to cost someone a game at some point this season.
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2) Changes to continuation
The change: The rule now states "An offensive player who ends his dribble going toward the basket and absorbs contact from the defense will be permitted to pivot or complete the step the player is on and finish the field goal attempt."
This is mostly fine but I expect it will be wildly inconsistently called.
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3) You're not automatically ejected for semi-accidentally touching someones jewels
The change: Probably most famously in last year's Tech/Houston game, officials previously did not have an option to call "contact to the opponents groin" anything other than a common foul or a flagrant two, which would result in an ejection.
This is a good change. We can all agree there's a "definitely not on purpose," "definitely on purpose" and an "I can't tell but don't do that again" to these plays so having the middle option is good.