Flopping will be a technical foul in women's college basketball for the 2023-24 season
In women's college basketball, flopping will now have consequences.
The NCAA announced Thursday several rule changes coming to the women's game this upcoming season, with a big emphasis on penalizing flopping.
Under the new rules, a player who is ruled to have flopped will be issued a warning on their first offense. If the player flops again, they will be assessed a technical foul and will be given technical fouls on any subsequent flopping calls. Any flops after the first warning will be added to the team's foul count, but it will not count toward a player's five fouls that would result in an ejection.
The rule will be in place for Division I, II and III for the 2023-24 season.
"NCAA Women's Basketball Rules Committee members think the new rule is needed for the sport after receiving feedback from all three divisions about their concerns regarding flopping," the NCAA said.
Other women's college basketball rule changes
Another rule change for the 2023-24 season concerns the restricted-area arc being limited from four feet in the lane to the area directly underneath the basket, meaning players "cannot establish a legal guarding position directly underneath the basket."
Other rule changes include:
- Players are allowed to wear numbers 0-99.
- Schools do not have to submit a waiver for players to wear religious headwear, "provided it is safe for competition."
- The shot clock will reset to 20 seconds or the time remaining, whichever is greater, when there is a foul by the non-shooting team.
- New technical foul classification where technical fouls are assessed to the team and not an individual offender, like flopping and delay-of-game warnings.
- Officials can use replay at any point for off-ball scoring plays, which will be done at the next media timeout or stop in play.