From today's college basketball column:
One of the reasons the NCAA basketball playing rules committee last month didn't recommend a painted arc to go along with the new "no charge" zone under the basket for "help" defenders was because it could have taken four years to institute a new painted line.
But when the Playing Rules Oversight Panel approved the roughly-24-inch no-charge area earlier this month, it did something smart: It opened the door to quicker implementation of a painted semicircle, if one is ever recommended and approved by the membership.
The Oversight Panel agreed that if the committee opts next summer to suggest that the no-charge zone be painted, the markings won't need to go through an experimental stage in 2010-11. That could allow arcs to be added in 2011-12, when the next rule book is printed, said Ty Halpin, the NCAA's associate director of playing rules administration.
The reason it could have taken up to four years had it been recommended this time around is that the NCAA rulebooks go through two-year cycles. Had the arc been an "experimental rule" next season, then had the Oversight Panel opted not to promptly approve it because of the cost of painting a new line on the court, it might not have made it to the floor until the 2013-14 rule book was ready to be printed.
The new rule is meant to curtail the increasingly physical play under the hoop. As I wrote about last month, it still likely won't solve the problem because without a painted arc in the designated area from the front of the backboard to the front of the rim, it will be difficult for officials to judge the boundaries of the no-charge area.
Robbi Pickeral has covered ACC sports for The News & Observer since 2003. She can be reached at 
