College Basketball News: NIT to Experiment With Coach's Challenge in 2025 Tournament
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Those clamoring for change to college basketball's review policy will have their wish granted. Well, kind of, at least. The NIT has announced that it will experiment with coach's challenges for the 2025 tournament.
On Friday, the NIT announced the rules associated with the coach's challenge.
"To permit a head coach to appeal an official's ruling when there is a ruled out-of-bounds violation in the last two minutes of the second half or the last two minutes of any overtime period, but only when the ruling is against the head coach's team," the rule reads.
"When the original ruling is not changed after the instant replay review or the time frame to appeal has expired, the team requesting the appeal is charged with a 30-second or full timeout during a game using electronic media timeouts.
"Under this experimental rule, the officials voluntary use of Rule 11-2.1.e.1 would not be in effect. Officials are prohibited from voluntarily using replay to review which team caused the ball to be out of bounds during the last two minutes of the game.
"The number of appeals a head coach may make is unlimited. For any failed appeal, the team is charged a timeout. Teams may appeal even when they have no timeouts remaining; however, a failed appeal results in an administrative technical foul for an excessive timeout. The penalty for this technical foul is two free throws and the ball put back in play at the point of interruption."
Replays late in college basketball games can delay the game for minutes and eliminate any sort of rhythm or momentum. Currently, officials voluntary review plays throughout the course of a game, as coaches do not have challenges to use.
This would likely be a welcomed change to the sport and could speed the game up in terms of the review process. It's a rule the NBA adopted ahead of the 2019-20 season and has been a much more effective use of time.
Over the last several years, the NIT has experimented with potential changes to college basketball. One of the most notable experiments was with the shot clock in the 2015 tournament. At the time, college basketball operated with a 35-second shot clock. The NIT tried out with a 30-second shot clock, a rule that was changed shortly after it was deemed successful.
Could the adoption of a coach's challenge be the next major change in college basketball? We'll see how this works in the NIT this season.
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Dustin Schutte is the publisher of Purdue Boilermakers on SI and has spent more than a decade working in sports journalism. His career began in 2013, when he covered Big Ten football. He remained in that role for eight years before working at On SI to cover the Boilermakers. Dustin graduated from Manchester University in Indiana in 2010, where he played for the men's tennis team.
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