The NCAA announced a significant rule change for men’s college basketball on Tuesday.
The sport will be moving to a challenge system in 2025-26. Coaches will now be able to challenge certain calls if they disagree with an official’s on-floor decision. Eligible plays include out-of-bounds calls, basket interference/goaltending and whether or not a defender was in the restricted area.
This should result in significantly-fewer reviews across a typical college basketball game. In the past, officials would take time to go to the monitor to review any close out-of-bounds decision in the final minutes of a game. Under this rule set, a questionable call will only be reviewed if a team decides to use a challenge.
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If a team is successful on its first challenge, it will have one more to use at some point later in the game. If a challenge is unsuccessful, that team will not have the opportunity to challenge again. Additionally, teams must have a timeout remaining in order to challenge a call.
In the final 2 minutes of the game and overtime, officials can still initiate a review of goaltending and restricted area plays. However, an out-of-bounds call can only be reviewed via a coach’s challenge.
Spenser is a news editor for Saturday Down South and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.
