By Elizabeth Kelly
Imagine that instead of Maryland winning the NCAA women''s college basketball championship this season in overtime that the following scenario took place. With 25 seconds left on the clock, Duke is up three with the ball under Maryland''s basket. Maryland has no more timeouts and does not want to foul because it would put Duke in double bonus, thus giving them two foul shots. Maryland''s only choice is to try and force a turnover with their full court press. Duke inbounds the ball, and immediately Maryland begins to execute a perfect press. The Duke players seem confused and panicked, however, they are able to offset these jitters because they know they have the entire shot clock to get the ball over half court.
Unfortunately for Maryland, women''s college basketball does not have a 10-second back-court violation, which has created mix feelings among coaches, players and fans. Amidst the discussion the NCAA women''s rules and regulations committee is debating whether or not to implement a 10-second violation rule when they meet in May.
BYU head coach Jeff Judkins was surprised by the rule when he came to coach the BYU women''s basketball team. He is a former men''s college and NBA basketball player and previously worked as an assistant coach at the University of Utah. He was used to playing with and coaching with a 10-second backcourt violation.
'I didn''t like the rule at all when I got into women''s basketball, coming from men''s basketball,' Judkins said. 'However, now I really kind of like the rule because with a 30-second shot clock you cannot waste time in the backcourt. You do don''t have as much time to score once you get over the mid-court line if you waste time in the backcourt.'
A 10-second back court violation is achievable by full-court pressing the opposing team in the backcourt, or under the defenses basket, in hopes of holding them in the backcourt for at least 10 seconds. If the defense can hold the offense in the backcourt for more than 10 seconds the referees will blow their whistle, signaling a 10-second back court violation and the defense is awarded the ball.
Men''s college basketball has a 10-second violation and so does high school girls and boy''s basketball. The NBA and WNBA also have a backcourt violation but they only have eight seconds to get the ball across half court. That leaves NCAA women''s basketball as the only competitive league that does not have a timed violation for excessive possession in the backcourt.
Coach Sam Provenza of the Grand Junction, Colo. high school girl''s basketball team thinks that there no longer exists such a dramatic difference between women''s college basketball and men''s basketball, thus he feels that the rules should be universal.
'High school rules are the same for boys or girls and they are trying to keep the rules universal at the Pro level,' Provenza said. 'It makes sense to do the same at the college level because the skill level continues to increase in the women''s game so that the need for equalizing rules, like the no 10-second rule, is no longer needed.'
The 10-second backcourt violation traces its history back to the 1969-70 season, when women''s basketball experimented with a 30-second shot clock for the first time. Women''s basketball had never had a shot clock before that time. In the 1970-71 season the NCAA committee voted on and agreed to implement a 30-second shot clock in women''s basketball with the desired outcome of speeding up the game. The committee did not think that a 10-second backcourt violation was needed because the 30-second shot clock would be sufficient.
Many coaches, such as the assistant coach of the women''s basketball team at Utah Valley State College Chris Boettcher, believe that the women''s game needed to be accelerated in the early stages of women''s basketball.
'I believe when they started using a 30-second shot clock they thought it would help speed the game up and it was not necessary to have a 10-second shot clock,' Boettcher said. 'I believe that they wanted to stop teams from being able to stall and to help speed up the game, because it was much slower than the men''s game.'
In the late 1960''s women''s basketball was a slower game and stalling in the backcourt was a tactic frequently used by teams to run out the clock at the end of the game.
The women''s shot clock is only 30 seconds compared to the men''s 35; therefore, women cannot afford to spend excess time in the backcourt because they will not have as much time to score once they set up their offense. For this reason, the Athletic Director at University of Colorado at Colorado Springs and veteran coach of 28-years Steve Kirkham decided on a defensive strategy that fit the women''s game and lack of a 10-second rule.
'We would run the press just to milk the clock,' Kirkham said. 'We would run a full-court press so they wouldn''t have as much time when they got down the floor.'
Although Kirkham formed a strategy to combat not having a 10-second call, fans of the game, like Ashley Myers, 22, a junior from Carmel, Ind., majoring in public relations, believe that the defense is at a disadvantage.
'I think it makes the women''s game a lot different than the men''s game,' Myers said. 'If you cannot press to get the 10-second call, then you loose the advantage of causing them to make a turnover and there is no point in pressing.'
Even though Myers would like to see a 10-second backcourt rule, BYU guard Jennie Keele doesn''t think having a violation for being in the backcourt would make a big difference.
'It doesn''t matter to me,' Keele said. 'Typically you cannot hold them back there for 10-seconds anyway. I don''t have a preference, because I am used to it the way it is.'
The NCAA has had many people like Myers send in letters and petitions requesting that women''s college basketball have the same rules as the men. Because of all the inquiries and requests, the rules and regulations committee decided to post a survey, asking people whether or not the 10-second rule and 35-second shot clock should be implemented into the women''s game. The survey can be accessed through the NCAA''s website until May 1, 2006.
The rules and regulation committee meets every year to discuss changes that need to be made in the women''s game. They also hold three conference calls during the women''s basketball season to make sure things are running smoothly.
In May the committee will meet together and, because of the high response in favor of the 10-second violation on the survey, they will discuss the possibility of putting in a 10-second backcourt violation rule. Barbara Jacobs, the NCAA Secretary Rules Editor says that the survey results have sparked interest in the 12 member committee.
'We have been surveying for the past three years,' Jacobs said. 'It is a long process to make rule changes, but through the survey the 10-second call is gaining a lot of support. There has not been a lot of support for changing to a 35-second shot clock so we are not looking at changing to 35 seconds but will possibly change the 10 second rule.'
If the committee decides to change the rules next season, then Maryland will not be stuck in a bind the next time they face Duke in the same situation and fans like Grant Swenson, 24, a senior from Grand Junction, Colo., majoring in ... will like women''s basketball more.
'I don''t like the rule,' Swenson said. 'I think that the game would be a lot more exciting, entertaining and intense, if they could trap in the backcourt and get a violation called. I think they should change the rule to make women''s basketball more like the guys game.'