On May 5, 2023, the NCAA Basketball Rules Committee proposed a suite of rule changes for the 2023–24 season. These changes were approved by the Playing Rules Oversight Panel during its June 8 conference call.[1][2]
A defender near the basket must be in position to draw a charge before the offensive player plants his foot to jump during a field goal attempt. If the defender arrives after the shooter has planted his foot, the officials are to call a blocking foul if contact occurs.
Prerecorded or live video can be transmitted to the bench area during the game, on an optional basis. This had been an experimental rule since 2021–22, but is now permanent.
Officials will be able to review basket interference or goaltending calls during the next media timeout to ensure the call's accuracy, as long as they were made during play. Review is immediate if a foul is called on a shot that ended with basket interference or goaltending.
Non-student bench personnel will be allowed to serve as peacekeepers in any altercation.
If a coach requests a review of an out-of-bounds play in the last two minutes, that team will be charged a timeout if the challenge is unsuccessful.
The shot clock will reset to 20 seconds for all offensive rebounds when the original shot has touched the rim.
If a player is called for a foul, and replay officials see that the foul is the direct result of a flagrant foul against the player who was originally charged with the foul, officials can rescind the foul on the victim of the flagrant foul.
A timeout can be granted when a player has possession of the ball while airborne.
A player will be disqualified if he commits three flagrant 1 fouls in a game, regardless of his overall foul count.
Red and amber lights can now be placed on the backboard.
Schools will no longer have to apply for a waiver to allow players to use religious headwear that is safe for competition.
All jersey numbers from 0–99 will be allowed. Previously, player numbers could only include digits from 0 to 5.
Conferences will be allowed to continue using an experimental rule that allows for media timeouts to be taken at the first dead ball after the 17-, 14-, 11-, 8-, and 4-minute marks of the second half. This rule may also be used in the 2024 NIT, subject to approval by the NCAA's NIT board.
Also, subject to NIT board approval, the free-throw lane may be widened to 16 feet in the 2024 NIT.
September 6 – The ASUN Conference began to once again refer to itself by its former name, Atlantic Sun Conference, while still using ASUN as its official abbreviation.[14]
September 8 – The Atlantic Sun Conference announced that the University of West Georgia will transition from Division II and be admitted as a full member of the conference, effective July 1, 2024.[15][16][17]
October 4 – The Division I Council announced changes to the transfer window for all sports. In men's and women's basketball, the transfer portal now opens on the day after Selection Sunday and remains open for 45 days, down from the previous 60.[20]
October 27 – The NCAA announced that conference regular season champions that do not win their conference tournaments or are not selected for the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, will no longer receive an automatic bid to the NIT. The NIT will now guarantee two teams, based on the NET Rankings from each of the six major conferences: ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC. The top two teams in the NET Rankings that do not qualify for the NCAA tournament from each conference regardless of their record, will be selected for the NIT. The twelve teams that are automatically selected will be guaranteed the ability to host a game for the first round. After the twelve teams have been selected, the NIT selection committee will select the twenty best teams that are available to participate in the NIT. Based on the selection committee's rankings, four of the twenty teams will be selected as one of the sixteen first round hosts and the NIT selection will defer to the first four teams out of the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament.[23]
December 20 – The two schools left behind in the mass exodus from the Pac-12, Oregon State and Washington State, were reported to be nearing a deal with the West Coast Conference (WCC) for affiliate membership in multiple sports, including men's and women's basketball. The arrangement, expected to be voted on by WCC member presidents in the coming days, would run for two years (through 2025–26), during which time the so-called "Pac-2" would be eligible for WCC championships and could represent the conference in NCAA championship events.[26][27]
December 22 – The reported deal between the "Pac-2" and the WCC became official, with Oregon State and Washington State joining as affiliate members in all non-football sports apart from baseball through 2025–26.[28]
February 29 – The Mid-American Conference (MAC) announced that UMass, currently a member of the Atlantic 10 Conference, would join the MAC for all sports starting July 1, 2025.[29] This confirmed prior reporting by multiple media outlets, with The Athletic being the first to break the news.[30][31]
March 5 – The Dartmouth men's basketball team voted to unionize in an unprecedented step toward forming the first labor union for college athletes.[32] The National Labor Relations Board supervised the election inside of in the school’s human resources offices as the players voted 13–2 to join Service Employees International Union Local 560, which already represents some Dartmouth workers.[32]
December 21 — Elijah Pepper became the leading scorer in UC Davis program history. Scoring 21 points in an 80–57 win over UC Merced, Pepper passed Audwin Thomas, whose program record had stood since 1979.[61]
February 10 — Marques Warrick became the leading scorer in Northern Kentucky program history. Scoring 22 points in a 79–67 win over Detroit Mercy, Warrick passed Drew McDonald's record of 2,066, set in 2019.[62]
February 22 — Northwestern fifth-year senior Boo Buie surpassed John Shurna (2,038 points) as the school's all-time leading scorer in a 76–62 win over Michigan.[64][65] Shurna's record had stood since 2012.[64]
The 2023−24 season is the last for 18 Division I schools in their current conferences and one Division II school in its current conference before reclassification to Division I. It is also Chicago State's last season as a Division I independent.[66]
In addition to the above changes, the Indiana University and Purdue University systems will split IUPUI into separate IU- and Purdue-affiliated institutions at the end of the 2023–24 academic year, a move similar to the two systems' dissolution of their joint Fort Wayne campus in 2018. The IUPUI athletic program will be transferred to the new IU Indianapolis, maintaining IUPUI's memberships in Division I and the Horizon League.[67]
^ abThe Pac-12 will continue to technically exist through at least 2025–26, with Oregon State and Washington State as the only members unless more schools join in the interim.
Austin Peay left the on-campus Winfield Dunn Center for the new F&M Bank Arena in downtown Clarksville, Tennessee after 49 seasons. The new arena opened on July 15, 2023. The first basketball event in the new arena was a joint practice by the Peay men's and women's teams on October 26, 2023.[68][69] This was followed by an 82–43 exhibition win against Tennessee Tech on November 1. The first official games were a men's and women's doubleheader on January 6, with the men defeating NAIALife University 90–72 in the second game.[70][71][72]
Vermont was originally slated to open the new Tarrant Event Center, the replacement for Patrick Gym, in 2021. However, the new arena has since been placed on indefinite hold. Construction was initially halted by COVID-19. With the Tarrant Center being part of a much larger upgrade of UVM's athletic and recreation facilities, UVM chose to prioritize a new student recreation center. Construction of the Tarrant Center is now being hampered by increased borrowing costs.[77]
An upset is a victory by an underdog team. In the context of NCAA Division I men's basketball, this generally constitutes an unranked team defeating a team currently ranked in the top 25. This list will highlight those upsets of ranked teams by unranked teams as well as upsets of No. 1 teams. Rankings are from the AP poll. Bold type indicates winning teams in "true road games"—i.e., those played on an opponent's home court (including secondary homes). Italics type indicates winning teams in an early season tournament (or event). Early season tournaments are tournaments played in the early season. Events are the tournaments with the same teams in it every year (even rivalry games).
Michigan State was the first AP preseason top-5 team to lose its home opener to an unranked team since Kentucky lost to Western Kentucky in 2001. In an aside, JMU assistant Matt Bucklin is the nephew of MSU head coach Tom Izzo.[82]
Irvine's win over USC made it their second consecutive year with an upset over a ranked Pac-12 team, having beat the Oregon Ducks in the previous season.
This was UNCW's first-ever win over a ranked team on the road. It was also Seahawks head coach Takayo Siddle's second win over a ranked Kentucky team at Rupp Arena; in 2007, he played in Gardner–Webb's early-season upset of the Wildcats.[83]
With Purdue’s loss it is only the eighth time No. 1 & No. 2 lost on the same night in AP poll history. Also, it is Nebraska's first win over a No. 1 team since 1982.
This was Kentucky's third straight home loss—a first during the Wildcats' tenure at Rupp Arena (1976–present), and the first time for the program since 1966–67, when the Wildcats played at Memorial Coliseum.[84]
In addition to the above listed upsets in which an unranked team defeated a ranked team, there have been five non-Division I teams that defeated a Division I team so far this season. Bold type indicates winning teams in "true road games"—i.e., those played on an opponent's home court (including secondary homes).
Each of the 32 Division I athletic conferences will end its regular season with a single-elimination tournament. The team with the best regular-season record in each conference receives the number one seed in each tournament, with tiebreakers used as needed in the case of ties for the top seeding. Unless otherwise noted, the winners of these tournaments will receive automatic invitations to the 2024 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament.
The NCAA Tournament will tip off on March 19, 2024, with the First Four in Dayton, Ohio, and will conclude on April 8 at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. A total of 68 teams will enter the tournament. Thirty-two of the teams will earn an automatic bids by winning their conference tournaments. The remaining 36 teams are granted "at-large" bids, which are extended by the NCAA Selection Committee.
Per the NCAA, an upset occurs "when the losing team in an NCAA tournament game was seeded at least two seed lines better than the winning team."[112] The 2024 tournament has zero upsets so far, with TBD in the first round, TBD in the second round, and TBD in the Sweet Sixteen, TBD in the Elite Eight, TBD in the Final Four and TBD in the national championship game.
After the NCAA Tournament field is announced, the National Invitation Tournament will invited 32 teams to participate, reducing the field's size from 40. Eight teams are given automatic bids for winning their conference regular seasons, and 24 other teams were also invited. The Tournament will take place in Indianapolis, IN at the Hinkle Fieldhouse.[113]
Grasso, who had been on a leave of absence from Bryant since September, with the school providing no more information as to why, announced his resignation on November 13, 2023 after 5 seasons. Bulldogs associate head coach Phil Martelli Jr., who was named acting head coach during Grasso's initial leave, was set to continue in that role for the rest of the season[114] until 2 days later when he was officially named the new head coach of the program.[115]
Radebaugh announced his resignation from Charleston Southern on November 30, 2023 after 18+ seasons. He left as the school's longest tenured head coach as well as the program's winnigest coach with 228 wins. Buccaneers associate head coach and former star player Nimley was named interim head coach for the rest of the season.[118] On March 4, 2024, Nimley was officially named the new head coach of Charleston Southern.[119]
Ellis announced his retirement from coaching on December 6, 2023 after 49 seasons, the last 17 spent at Coastal Carolina. The 78-year-old retired as the program's winningest head coach with 297 wins, and his 831 career NCAA D1 wins puts him in 9th all time. Longtime Chanticleers assistant coach Moss was named interim head coach for the remainder of the season.[120] On March 11, 2024, the school hired Western Carolina head coach Gray for the position.[121]
Stubblefield was fired on January 22, 2024 after a 3–15 start to the season. Stubblefield finished his career at DePaul with a 28–54 record and no NCAA tournament appearances in 2½ seasons. Former Marist and James Madison head coach Matt Brady, who was serving as Special Assistant to the Head Coach, was announced as the Blue Demons' interim head coach for the remainder of the season.[122]
Detroit Mercy and Davis mutually agreed to part ways on March 7, 2024, after 6 seasons, in which the Titans went 60–119 overall, including a 1–31 record this season.[123]
Young, who was set to begin his 5th season as Fairfield head coach, announced he was stepping down on October 16, 2023, just 3 weeks before the team's season opener at Boston College. Stags assistant coach Casey was named interim head coach for the season.[124]
Holtmann was fired on February 14, 2024 in the middle of his 7th season as Ohio State head coach following a 14–11 start, a 4–10 start in conference play, and a streak of 15 consecutive losses in road games. His overall record with the Buckeyes was 137–85. Associate head coach Diebler was named interim head coach for the rest of the season.[132]
After the first 9 games of his 11th season as Old Dominion head coach, Jeff Jones initally stepped away from the team for the rest of the season for health reasons after suffering a heart attack on December 20, 2023. Monarchs assistant coach Donohue was named interim head coach for the rest of the season after Jones had to take treatment for prostate cancer again.[133] On February 26, 2024, Jones officially announced his retirement.[134] On March 1, Maryland assistant and former ODU player Mike Jones was hired as the new head coach.[135]
Perry was reassigned as men's head basketball coach to other duties for the University of Pacific on March 4, 2024 after 3 seasons. Tigers Associate head coach Newman will serve as the interim head coach through the remainder of the season.[136]
^"FOUNDING CLASS MEMBERS". Archived from the original on March 14, 2016. Retrieved April 5, 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
^"No. 13 Colorado State stops UNM in MW opener". reuters.com. Reuters. January 3, 2024. Retrieved January 3, 2024. Fifth-year senior Isaiah Stevens finished with 18 points and eight assists for the Rams, giving him 2,017 career points.
^Story, Mark (January 21, 2024). "Five things you need to know from No. 8 Kentucky's 105-96 win over Georgia". kentucky.com. Lexington Herald-Leader. Retrieved January 24, 2024. A milestone for Antonio Reeves. The UK super senior entered Saturday's game with 1,993 career points and needed eight points to go over 2,000 in his college career. He took care of business quickly, scoring 14 in the first half.
^"Men's Basketball Falls in Overtime at Providence". gocreighton.com. Creighton Bluejays. February 7, 2024. Retrieved February 8, 2024. Creighton senior Baylor Scheierman became the first men's player in NCAA Division I history to surpass 2,000 career points, 1,000 rebounds, 500 assists and 300 three-pointers, but it wasn't enough as Providence topped No. 19 Creighton in overtime at Amica Mutual Pavilion for the second straight year, 91-87.
^"Hawkeyes make history to beat Penn St". timesrepublican.com. Times-Republican. February 28, 2024. Retrieved February 29, 2024. Graduate transfer Ben Krikke tallied seven points to eclipse 2,000 for his career after bringing 1,596 points from his four years at Valparaiso.
