The NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel approved new rules this offseason to tweak the men’s basketball rules and then also approved rules to drastically change the gameplay setup for women’s basketball. Both are designed to improve the flow of the game and to increase potential for scoring.

The biggest change on the women’s side is the move to four ten-minute quarters, away from the two 20-minute halves that the sport has used since its inception.

“I think it’s awesome, I think it’s a great move,” DePaul women’s basketball head coach Doug Bruno said. “College basketball is the only league anywhere to play two halves instead of four quarters and it’s going to make the game go faster by having four different bonus periods.”

Under the new rules, each team will be allowed five fouls each quarter before the other team is given two free throws. This moves away from a team receiving one free throw and a bonus for seven fouls and two free throws for ten each half.

Another rule introduced for the 2015-16 season will be the ability to advance the ball on a timeout. If a team receives possession of the ball in the backcourt with less than 59.9 seconds to go in the fourth quarter, the ball will be inbounded at the 28-foot marker in the front court.

“That should be a good rule for the fans,” Bruno said. “It’s going to add more drama to the end of a game, more potential to score at the end of the game. I think that rules a bit overrated actually in the NBA but at the same time I think it’s a real good fan’s rule.”

On the men’s side, the shot clock will be lowered from 35 seconds each possession to 30 seconds, which gives teams six less seconds to shoot the ball before facing a shot clock violation. The NBA and FIBA both use a 24-second shot clock.

“I think the 30 second shot clock we used when I was at Tulsa in the NIT, it’ll take some time and a lot of practices,” DePaul head men’s basketball coach Dave Leitao said. “It’ll speed up the game and will speed up your decision making from your guard play. We’ll have to be more poignant when we read situations.”

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Another change was expanding the restricted area in the paint from a three-foot arc to a four-foot arc, making it less likely for a defender to draw a charge in the paint.

“I’m not as concerned about the block charge arc, I think that’s an easier adjustment,” Leitao said. “They’ve done experimental rules with that so I think that’s good.”

Full list of changes

Men’s Basketball

• Shot clock reduction to 30 seconds from 35 seconds
• Reduction of one team timeout in the second half, only three timeouts will carry over from the first half.
• The coach can no longer call a timeout while the ball is live.
• Teams will need to advance the ball past the half-court line in ten seconds with few exceptions.
• Disqualified players will need to be replaced within fifteen seconds, down from 20 seconds previously.
• Expansion of the block/charge arc to four feet.
• Officials now have the ability to penalize players who fake fouls if officials see this occur in a flagrant foul review.
• Officials can review potential shot clock violations on made field goals.
• Class-B technical fouls (hanging on the rim, delaying the resumption of the game) are now only one-shot technicals.
• The elimination of the five-second closely guarded rule when a player is dribbling.
• Players can now dunk during pregame and halftime sessions without receiving a technical foul at the start of the half.

Women’s basketball

• Games will now be played in four, 10-minute quarters instead of two, twenty-minute halves.
• Teams will reach the bonus on the fifth foul of each quarter, which will reset to zero at the end of each quarter. Fourth quarter fouls will carry over into any overtime periods.
• Elimination of the one and the bonus shot, all bonus fouls will result in two free throws.
• Teams who receive possession in the backcourt can call a timeout with less than 59.9 seconds to go in the fourth quarter and the ball will be inbounded at the 28-foot mark.
• Teams will not receive a reset on ten seconds in the backcourt in the event of a deflected ball, an out-of-bounds call, a jump-ball in which the offensive team receives possession or when a technical foul is called on the offensive team in the backcourt.
• Defenders are now allowed 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.
• Bands and amplified music can be played during any dead ball situation.