Column: How to make men’s college basketball even better

There’s a reason why the NCAA Tournament draws so many eyes in March. It’s the only place you can see Fairleigh Dickinson — a university I would have bet you made up before I heard about them a couple of weeks ago — bring down Purdue, a mighty member of the Big 10 conference. College basketball is incredibly entertaining and brings people together around the country and even the world. I love how the sport is now, but it could be better. Here are three things that could easily be implemented to vastly improve the game.

1. Adopt the Elam Ending

It’s time to get rid of late game fouling. It’s chop– py, it slows down the pace of the game and it’s a completely different type of basketball than what’s played throughout the game. The solution is the way scoring worked when we played basketball on the blacktop behind school growing up — set a target score.

My proposal is to adopt the Elam Ending. Basically, during the under four minute media timeout, the target score is set at seven points higher than the leading team’s score. The game clock would turn off and the teams would play until one of them hit that score or surpassed it.

This target score ending has already been utilized in the NBA All-Star Game, overtime in the NBA G League and The Basketball Tournament.

Under the Elam Ending, defenders could focus on trying to force turnovers and playing the same solid defense they practice instead of rushing over to tap someone on a full-court press.

Additionally, this would eliminate some hostilities where players would get upset about a team scoring late when they’re up because of the shot clock. Instead, the offense still needs to score to reach the target score to win.

One concern under this system was the scenario where defenses would foul in the bonus when the offense needed a 3-pointer to win and the defense was within a basket. The Basketball Tournament resolved this by giving offenses one free throw and possession when a defender committed a non-shooting foul in the Elam Ending when the team was in the bonus.

2. Allow Redshirts to Play in 10 Games

In college football, student-athletes are allowed to play four games or roughly a third of the season while keeping their redshirt intact so they don’t utilize one of their years of eligibility. I think a similar rule for college basketball should be instituted, especially because the roster size is smaller.

There’s no reason why these young athletes shouldn’t be allowed to get some experience in garbage time or step up when a teammate is injured. Let them play a third of the season, roughly 10 games. Think about how much Isaac Johnson and Mason Falslev could have helped USU at certain moments this season.

3. Changes in Eligibility

Ken Pomeroy, the inventor of KenPom metrics, has argued a few times this season that the NCAA should keep five years of eligibility for student-athletes, a temporary change meant to provide an extra opportunity for athletes who played during the canceled/altered coronavirus seasons.

“Also, renewing my call to make 5-year eligibility permanent,” Pomeroy tweeted on March 15. “More talent to go around this season = more parity than ever = best product ever. 2P% and FT% at historic highs, TO% at historic lows. Room for sensational freshmen and old talented dudes. Do the right thing, NCAA.”

I agree. Beyond the talent on the court, allowing student-athletes to get a master’s degree paid for by a scholarship would keep up with degree inflation.

Additionally, the NCAA has announced they are making changes to the waivers they issue to transfers. They say a coaching change is no longer a valid reason for a waiver to allow a transfer immediate eligibility on their second transfer. That is unfair to the student-athlete. They were sold a pitch from a coach about their program, which has significantly changed because they will have a new coach. Allowing those two-time transfers gives student-athletes a bit of power in a system that uses their talents for massive TV revenues for their school, conference and the NCAA.

Featured image by Phil Weber from the USU-Missouri NCAA Tournament game on March 16.