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For fans who find themselves tapping their toes impatiently during college basketball games, they aren't alone.

Coaches also can get edgy thanks to the stop-and-start feel of the game, like when one of their players calls a timeout, and there's another media timeout seconds later.

"You'll see coaches who don't mess with timeouts anywhere near the media timeouts, but their players will call one, then you play 15 seconds between two-minute timeouts," Utah coach Larry Krystkowiak said, his voice rising with exasperation. "It really can kill the flow of the game."

The NCAA is addressing some of these issues this offseason by tweaking some rules that it hopes will spice up games and ramp up scoring.

The Men's Basketball Rules Committee released a number of suggestions last Friday that are up for approval next month: shorter shot clocks, a bigger restricted area under the basket, new timeout guidelines and a renewed emphasis on officiating to allow offenses more freedom of movement.

By and large, in-state college coaches welcome the proposed changes, which they say can help make for more action and fewer collisions on the court.

Will it mean more shootouts? Hard to say.

"The changes are good, but I don't know what effect it will have on scoring," Utah State coach Tim Duryea said. "We knew these were coming, and we've made a few adjustments."

The most talked-about rule change, which is expected to be approved, is reducing the shot clock from 35 seconds to 30 seconds. Besides closing the gap toward the NBA's 24-second clock, the powers that be in college basketball hope teams will be encouraged to pick up the pace and reverse a recent downward slope in scoring.

Last season, BYU averaged 14.6 seconds per possession on offense, the quickest team in the nation to get a shot off. The Cougars are enthused that the rules will force opponents to play their style.

"You see coaches around the country play in the styles they've been instilled with, and Coach [Dave] Rose has always been most comfortable playing fast and on the attack," said Terry Nashif, a BYU assistant. "Obviously the rule won't affect our offense as much, but it will force other offenses to play faster."

There's likely going to be some different strategies on defense: Weber State's Randy Rahe said he is looking to install more pressure to limit the time opposing teams can run their half court offense.

But the shot clock change might not have the greatest impact on the game: Coaches are eager to see better enforcement of rules restricting fouls in the post and off the ball. The NCAA set forth some areas of emphasis two seasons ago that have since been rolled back.

Utah State's cutters in its offense, Duryea offered, often struggle with running into unlawful screens or other obstacles that prevent plays from coming to fruition. For Krystkowiak, watching center Jakob Poeltl get hammered in the post has been a frustration. Every coach would like to see the physicality taken down a notch in some respect.

"In our post plays, it's always really rough in there," Krystkowiak said. "I know it's hard to always judge a foul in the moment, but a lot of times we go back to the tape and see our guy getting clobbered. They need to enforce some of the rules they have on the books."

Many of the other changes have been met with a murmur of approval.

Most would like to see the pauses in the game reduced, and coaches don't have a problem with fewer timeouts. A universally applauded change is any called timeout within 30 seconds of a media timeout (which is every four minutes of game time) will automatically become the media timeout.

Said Krystkowiak: "I'd like to see our guys fight through some things occasionally rather than call timeout."

The emphasis on speeding up the game makes some critics skeptical that basketball is shifting more in favor of better athletes than more skilled players. Conditioning, length and speed would seem to help a team adjust better to the proposed rule changes.

But with more possessions in games, and more opportunities to make play, coaches in the state say there's always room for the guys who can shoot and pass.

"It comes down to you have a shorter amount of time to make those plays and score," Rahe said. "It's always good to have athletes, but you better have guys who can shoot it, or else that floor is going to get awfully cramped."

kgoon@sltrib.com Twitter: @kylegoon —

Proposed NCAA men's rule changes

The NCAA Men's Basketball Rules Committee announced proposals and officiating guidelines for the upcoming season, which the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel will review on June 8. Highlights:

• Reduced shot clock from 35 seconds to 30 seconds

• Larger restricted area arc from 3 feet to 4 feet under the basket

• More emphasis on calling fouls for illegal screens, physical post play and contact against off-the-ball cutters

• One fewer second half timeout, and coaches unable to call live ball timeouts

• Timeout called within 30 seconds of a scheduled media timeout will become the media timeout

• Eliminating 5-second closely guarded rule

• Eliminating prohibition on dunking in warmups

• Experimenting with 6 player fouls in the 2016 postseason, NIT Tournament