Clock

A game is two 20-minute halves. Halftime in the NCAA book is 15 minutes. Both coaches and the referee can agree to shorten it.

The clock stops on every whistle: fouls, violations, out of bounds, held balls, timeouts, and injuries. A made basket does not stop the clock until the last minute of the second half, and the last minute of every overtime. Then it stops.

If the horn sounds while a shot is in the air, the basket counts when the ball left the hand in time. With 0.3 seconds or less showing and the clock already stopped, a player cannot catch the ball and shoot. A tip can still score.

Overtime is 5 minutes, with a 1-minute break before each one. You stay at the same baskets. You play another overtime until somebody leads when a period ends.

Conference games use a stop clock. If a team leads by 20 or more at any point in the second half, the clock runs through fouls, out of bounds, violations, and made baskets, including the last minute. It still stops for timeouts and injuries. If the lead drops under 20, it goes back to a stop clock. That mercy rule is off in the postseason.

A non-conference game can use a running clock the whole way and still count as a league game.

Shot clock

Division I uses a 30-second shot clock. NCBBA turns that off. You can hold the ball. Two counts are still live, and the official counts them by hand.

• 10 seconds to get the ball into the frontcourt.
• 5 seconds while you are holding the ball and a defender is within 6 feet. Dribbling does not start that count. High school can count a dribbler. This league does not.
• 3 seconds in the lane while your team has the ball in the frontcourt. One foot back on the floor, or a foot in the air outside the lane, ends the count. A shot that hits the rim ends it too.

Fouls

Each player gets 5 fouls, then he is done for the game. He has 20 seconds to be replaced, then he sits on the bench. Team fouls reset at halftime.

• Fouls 1 through 6 in a half: the other team gets the ball, unless it was a shooting foul.
• Starting with foul 7: one-and-one. The second free throw happens only if the first one goes in.
• Starting with foul 10: two free throws, even if the first one misses.

A foul on a shot:

• Missed 2: two free throws.
• Made 2: the basket counts, plus one free throw.
• Missed 3: three free throws.
• Made 3: the basket counts, plus one free throw.

An offensive foul, while you have the ball or your team is passing it, is a personal foul and a team foul. The other team gets the ball. No free throws, even in the bonus. A loose-ball foul does shoot once the bonus is on.

A flagrant 1 is hard, unnecessary contact. Two free throws, and the other team keeps the ball. The player stays in. A flagrant 2 is severe contact. Same penalty, and he is ejected.

There is no restricted-area charge rule. Division I stops a help defender from planting inside the 4-foot arc under the basket to take a charge. NCBBA does not use that arc, and it does not have to be painted. A charge under the basket can be a foul when the defender had legal position.

Timeouts

Ignore the Division I television timeout sheet. NCBBA writes its own.

• Four 60-second timeouts.
• Two 30-second timeouts.
• They do not reset at halftime. Whatever is left goes to the second half.
• They can be used at any time.
• Each overtime adds one more 60-second timeout. Unused timeouts from regulation stay available, because overtime is an extension of the second half.

Only the players on the court come onto the floor during a 30-second timeout. The bench can come out on a 60-second timeout.

Ejections

Two technical fouls eject a player. One flagrant 2 ejects him. Fighting ejects him. He leaves right away. If he does not leave peacefully, that is one extra game on top of anything else.

The ejection already ends his night. These are the games after that:

• No extra game. Uniform problem, or foul language.
• One extra game. Arguing a call, two technicals, a flagrant 2, or riding the other bench.
• Three extra games. A threat, or physical contact with a player, coach, or official.

A coach is anyone on the bench who is not in uniform, including a player listed as the acting head coach on the lineup card. A coach thrown out for a threat or for contact also sits three more games. A coach thrown out for arguing, language, two technicals, or bench talk does not sit an extra game.

An ejection after the final horn does not cost the next game unless the reason already carries a suspension. A suspension that is not finished this season starts next season.

Email an ejection report to the regional director and the commissioner within 72 hours. Miss that and the team is on probation for the rest of the season. The league can add more games after it reads the report.

Uniforms

These have to match the rest of the team: the jersey, the base color of the shorts, and the color of an undershirt sleeve that shows.

These do not have to match: trim on the shorts, socks, shoes, headbands, armbands, and shooting sleeves.

• You do not need a home set and an away set. The visitor wears a different color only if the team actually has one.
• Any jersey number is legal, including 6, 7, 8, 9, and the 60s through 99. Division I bans a lot of those. Colin’s 6 and Luke’s 8 are fine here.
• A sponsor on the uniform needs league approval of the sponsor and the artwork first. Send it to info@collclubsports.com before it is printed.

If a player does not match, the official has to let him fix it. If he cannot, he is ejected from that game only.

Still illegal under the Division I book: jewelry, headphones, gloves, and anything hard that can cut someone. A religious head covering is allowed when it is fastened and the referee accepts it. Knee braces have to be covered. Long fingernails are illegal. An undershirt has to be close to the jersey color, and the sleeves cannot be cut off. Tights under the shorts can be the shorts color, black, white, or beige, and teammates wear the same color.

Game day

Ten minutes before tip, hand the scorer a lineup card. It needs the head coach’s name, plus first name, last name, and number for the starters and every substitute. Only players on that card can play. If nobody is listed as head coach, the person who hands in the card is the head coach, even if he is a player.

The home team brings the officials, a scorer, a timer, and the ball. Officials have to be certified at the high school, NCAA, NJCAA, or NAIA level. The league ball is a Rawlings Contour. A game can start with one approved official. If none are there 15 minutes after the scheduled tip, the home team forfeits.

The 3-point line is the college line, 22 feet 1¾ inches, when that line is on the floor. If it is not, you play the 20-foot 9-inch line. Only if that line is missing do you use 19 feet 9 inches.

Source: the 2026–27 NCBBA men’s rules and the NCAA men’s rules that book adopts. This is a team summary, not the league’s rule book.