Romar selected by USA to coach under-18 team
May 8, 2006
CBS SportsLine.com wire reports

SEATTLE — The USA Basketball has selected Washington coach Lorenzo Romar to lead the men’s Under-18 basketball team in this summer’s qualification tournament for the 2007 FIBA world championships.

Georgia Tech’s Paul Hewitt and Jerry Wainwright of DePaul will be Romar’s assistant coaches. The qualifying tournament runs from June 28-July 2 in San Antonio.

“Whenever I’ve gotten a chance to work with USA Basketball, I’ve always felt honored,” Romar said. “To represent the United States in the United States is going to be a first for me, and I anticipate it is going to be very special.”

Romar is 84-42 in four seasons with Washington, reaching the NCAA Tournament round of 16 the last two years.

He was an assistant to Tom Izzo at the 2003 Pan American Games, and an assistant under Rick Majerus at the 1997 Under-22 World Championship.

Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim is chair of the committee that chose the coaches. They will select the team from about 30 candidates during tryouts June 16-18 in San Antonio.

The qualifying tournament includes the U.S., Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Uruguay, Argentina, Bahamas, Canada and Puerto Rico. Four teams will qualify for the 2007 FIBA Under-19 World Championship.

The U.S. is 25-1 in Under-18 qualifiers. The American men won gold in 1990, 1994 and 1998. The U.S. won bronze in 2002.

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Violations when the ball has been intentionally kicked will no longer result in the reset of the shot clock to either 30 seconds (women) or 35 seconds (men). When the violation occurs with 15 or fewer seconds remaining, the shot clock will be set to 15 seconds. Otherwise, when the violation occurs with more than 15 seconds remaining, the shot clock shall not be reset.

“We thought the penalty was too severe for the violation,” Ronda Seagraves, Women’s Basketball Rules Committee chair and assistant athletics director at Southwestern University (Texas) said. “If a team is playing great defense and the shot clock is running down, it does not seem fair to completely reset it. This takes into account the defensive effort.”

The amount of time allowed to replace a disqualified player is reduced from 30 seconds to 20 seconds starting this season. The warning signal will be sounded with five seconds remaining in the 20-second period.

“The time to replace a disqualified player was never meant to be used as an additional timeout,” Larry Keating, Men’s Basketball Rules Committee chair and senior associate athletics director at the University of Kansas, said. “Twenty seconds will allow for coaches to make personnel changes, give instructions, and keep the game moving.”

Uniformity of uniforms has been addressed in the new rules. Head bands and wrist bands must be the same color as the dominant color of the game jersey and the same for all players choosing to wear these uniform extras. Only one logo, either one manufacturer’s logo or one institutional logo or mascot logo is allowed on these uniform extras.

The use of the monitor was expanded to allow officials to use the courtside television monitor to determine whether a foul committed at or near the expiration of time in the first half or second half (when it affects the outcome of the game) occurred before the reading of 0.00 on the game clock. After ruling that the foul was committed before the expiration of time, officials shall now be permitted to put time back on the clock when it is determined that time remained after the foul.

Previously, officials were allowed to use the official courtside television monitor to ascertain if a try for goal was attempted before the expiration of time, 0:00, at the end of the first half or at the end of the game or any extra period when it determines the outcome of the game. After ruling that the try for goal was successful, officials shall now be permitted to put time back on the clock when it is determined that time remained after the ball passed through the net.

“Officials were able to use the monitor to check if the shot beat the clock, but this allows them to correct the time, when applicable,” Keating said. “In many games, we have the ability to determine down to 10ths-of-a-second how much time should remain on the clock. We need to utilize it.”

The time frame to fix a timer’s mistake has been expanded. Previously, such a mistake was to be corrected only during the first dead ball after the game clock should have started or stopped or once the ball is in play before the second live ball when the clock should have been running and while the ball is dead. Now, in both cases, the mistake may be fixed before the ball is touched inbounds or illegally out-of-bounds by a player.