Katz's Corner: Is It Finally Time to Cut Men's Basketball In Half?

Change is the word of choice in college sports and especially in men’s basketball.

Could the men’s game finally be ready to move to its most drastic alternation by moving from two halves to four quarters?

Maybe. 

The men’s basketball rules committee wrapped up its annual meeting last week with a strong directive to take a serious deep dive into the ramifications of going to four quarters. 

This is not a rules change year but 2027 will be and that’s why there is a real sense this could be a year to see if it can be done, should be done and how it would be executed. 

Men’s college basketball is the only form of basketball that doesn’t use the quarter system.

High school basketball. Check.

Women’s basketball at all levels. Check

FIBA. Check.

The NBA and WNBA. Check.

Men’s college basketball in Divisions I, II and III? Nope. 

The issue will be commercials. Yes. When and how to input commercials — the financial train that drives the sport — is the major issue for whether or not to do this change from two 20-minute halves to four 10-minute quarters. 

The rules committee sent out a charge to all conferences to make sure they discuss this issue at their league meetings this month. 

The second phase will be to take that information and get with the National Association of Basketball Coaches leadership and see what they want to do about this issue.

And then, most importantly, the rules committee will communicate with all broadcast partners of the sport — notably CBS, TNT, ESPN, Fox and NBC. 

“We need to find out what are the pitfalls and hurdles that have to be addressed,’’ said Paul Brazeau, the chair of the Division I men’s basketball rules committee and the senior vice president of basketball for the ACC. 

This year’s transfer portal was packed with players who opted for starter’s minutes (and an NIL payday) over a power conference program. We rank the best.

One of the main issues to figure out would be timeouts. The NBA has an extra timeout in the second and fourth quarter, but NBA quarters are two minutes longer for a total of 48 game minutes.

The women’s game has a media timeout at the five-minute mark of each quarter in addition to the quarter/halftime breaks. But the women’s game doesn’t usually have as much commercial inventory as the men’s game. 

Would the men’s game have their two timeouts per quarter at the seven mark and the 3:30 mark in addition to the end of quarter breaks? Could they go a little bit longer in each quarter break to squeeze in a 30-second spot. 

“We have to dig down and get granular with this,’’ said Brazeau. 

The games were already tweaked with who could call for reviews to ensure that the games didn’t drag with replays to push the games beyond two hours. But trying to get the games two hours or less may be impossible if the game goes to four quarters. 

The question that will be tossed to the network partners is does it make more sense to budget in 2:15 per game and stagger a double or triple header on the networks? That could solve the issue of fewer games being joined in progress. 

If the rules committee were to adopt this a year from now then it would go to the men’s basketball oversight committee for an official vote. 

The odds of it going in for 2027-28 are unlikely if it were endorsed but still doable. There could be a need for more of a runway for all stakeholders before the move is made officially. But there is still a long way to go to even get to that point. 

The financial reasons will be decisive in making the move — if it occurs. But if Division I decides to do this then expect D2 and D3 to follow. 

Five things to consider:

1. Will be very interesting to see what happens with the announced Michigan-Duke game on Dec. 21 on Amazon prime. The issue for the Big Ten and its network partners (Fox, CBS and NBC) is that the game is in the Big Ten footprint of New York. Duke’s games against Gonzaga (Detroit) and UConn (Las Vegas) aren’t an issue since those two cities aren’t in the conference footprint of the ACC, Pac-12 or Big East, respectively. But ESPN had to let Duke do this with a promise of multiple games they could schedule and control in the next two seasons. If Michigan still plays this game then I would expect the Wolverines to allow Fox (which has first choice with the Big Ten) to get something similar and set up a made-for-TV natural-site game in the future. 

1. The men’s basketball committee will seek a second opening round site to pair with Dayton. I would love to see it be Albuquerque. And it’s not just because I spent the first five years of my career covering games at the Pit. Albuquerque, like Dayton, would support NCAA Tournament games that don’t involve their home team. That has to be a must for the committee in choosing a second site. The Pit history (see 1983 for starters) with the NCAA Tournament should mean something in this process. 
2. Great to see Trey Kauffman-Renn play himself from the G League combine to the NBA Draft combine in Chicago. Kaufmann-Renn was consistently overshadowed and undervalued nationally. He has a high basketball IQ, can board, pass and score. I won’t be shocked to see him pop in the second round. 
3. Juke Harris should get the headlines on the Tennessee transfer portal list but the addition of Tyler Lundblade could be just as important. Harris, out of Wake Forest, is a baller but Lundblade is a sharp shooter. Expect the Belmont transfer to be the consistent 3-point shooter the Vols needed to answer any scoring droughts. 
4. Love that Kentucky coach Mark Pope took questions on social media. Pope has the most scrutinized job in the sport. And he’s always an engaging personality. Fans may not like all his answers but kudos to him for being willing to answer the questions. The call-in radio show is a thing of the past in most places. Doing this on social media is the new world way to be accessible to fans.