The men’s college basketball 3-point line is being pushed back next season to the international distance of 22 feet, 1 ¾ inches, the NCAA announced Wednesday.
The rule change was approved by the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel. It will go into effect next season for Division I, but will wait until 2020-21 for Divisions II and III.
“After gathering information over the last two seasons, we feel it’s time to make the change,” Colorado coach Tad Boyle, the committee chair, said when the proposal was made in early May. “Freedom of movement in the game remains important, and we feel this will open up the game. We believe this will remove some of the congestion on the way to the basket.”
The current 3-point line is 20 feet, 9 inches; it was moved back from 19 feet, 9 inches prior to the 2008-09 season.
According to the committee, moving the 3-point line back will clear the lane for more drives to the rim, make 3-point shots more challenging and therefore less prevalent, and improve offensive spacing.
The Playing Rules Oversight Panel also approved resetting the shot clock to 20 seconds after an offensive rebound.
Three other proposals were also approved:
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Players being assessed technical fouls for using derogatory language about an opponent’s race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation or disability;
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Allowing coaches to call live-ball timeouts in the last two minutes of the second half and overtime;
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Conducting instant replay review for goaltending or basket interference calls in the final two minutes of the second half and overtime.
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