WINONA, Minn. — When the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's and women's basketball teams take the court for the 2015-16 season, there will be some adjustments that will have to be made.
 
The NCAA has announced basketball playing rules changes recommended by the Men's and Women's Basketball Rules Committees and approved by the Playing Rules Oversight Panel. All changes will be incorporated into the rules book for the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons.
 
CHANGES TO THE WOMEN'S GAME:
 
To increase the flow of the game, women's games will no longer be played in halves, but will consist of four, 10-minute quarters with a 15-minute halftime intermission. Any overtime period will be five minutes in length with a one-minute intermission before each. Intermissions between the first and second and third and fourth periods will be 75 seconds or the length of an electronic media timeout for media games.
 
In conjunction with the move to a four-quarter format, each team will receive three 30-second timeouts and two 60-second timeouts. Four timeouts will carry over into the second half, and each team will receive one additional 30-second timeout. Any timeouts not used during the fourth quarter will carry over into any overtime periods.
 
Bonus free throws will begin with the fifth foul during each quarter. A team is awarded two free throws for each common foul, a change from the one-and-one format of the past.
  
The panel also approved a rule that allows teams to advance the ball to the frontcourt following a timeout immediately after a made basket in the last 59.9 seconds of the fourth quarter and any overtime periods. Teams also will be allowed to advance the ball to the frontcourt after securing the ball from a rebound or a change of possession. In these scenarios, the ball would be inbounded at the 28-foot mark on the side of the court where the scorer's table is located.

The committee made the initial recommendation because it felt this change would add more excitement to offensive possessions at the ends of games because teams would no longer be required to travel the length of the court after inbounding the ball.

The panel approved a new rule that allows defenders to place a forearm or an open hand with a bend in the elbow on an offensive post player with the ball whose back is to the basket.

CHANGES TO THE MEN'S GAME:
 
Two significant rules changes were made in the men's game in an attempt to increase the tempo of the game and reduce stoppages.
 
The shot clock will be shortened from 35 seconds to 30 seconds. In addition, the number of 30-second timeouts will be reduced from four to three, and only two, 30-second timeouts will be allowed to be carried over into the second half.
 
In correlation with the reduction of the shot clock, the five-second closely guarded rule for a player dribbling the ball will be eliminated.