UConn exhibition game will feature some experimental rules

Storrs — With a schedule jam packed with his responsibilities as the head coach of the 10-time national champion UConn women’s basketball team and the U.S. women’ senior national team coach, it wouldn’t seem as if Geno Auriemma would have an abundance of free time on his hands.

However, there he was tabulating data in his quest to play at least one game with a lower rim.

With the blessing of Russ Davis, who will bring his NAIA powerhouse Vanguard University team into Gampel Pavilion today at 2 p.m. for the Huskies’ final preseason game, Auriemma began the process of having some experimental rules in place.

However, the only change he longed for the most was not approved by the NCAA. “I wanted to lower the basket, but I couldn’t get (approval),” Auriemma said. “A rough kind of estimate with the average height of a NBA team, what the average height of a men’s college team is and what the average height of a women’s college basketball team and we figured about four inches would be really good and not even tell anybody and see if they notice until the first time Stewie (Breanna Stewart) went up and dunked it. It wouldn’t even be about that, just play at the rim and I would just like to see what that looks like, but we are not doing that.”

What UConn and Vanguard will be doing is playing with a wider lane, a 24-second shot clock, an 8-second count to get the ball over midcourt, a deeper 3-point line and use of a men’s basketball in the place of the smaller ball used in women’s games.

During Auriemma’s time as the national team coach he has grown to appreciate how the game is played overseas. While he knows the process of getting rules changed is an arduous process, he figured he would get the ball rolling towards his dream of having basketball played with the same set of rules throughout the world.

“I was hoping that we would be able to do it in a lot of different places,” Auriemma said. “I know we have talked to other schools about doing it in their own ways in exhibition games.

“We need to look at it and see if I am wrong or I am right, or does it matter. If it doesn’t matter then don’t worry about it. If it matters it would be good to see on the court if it matters. Does it matter what kind of lane it is, how wide it is, does it matter how long the shot clock is? How long it takes you to get the ball over half court? If it doesn’t matter then let’s not change anything but along the way you can see that maybe it makes a little bit of difference, it is something to think about down the road. We wouldn’t have gotten to where we are right now if we hadn’t talked about it and experimented with some of the rules we have now.”

Auriemma is very much in favor of the move to four quarters this season and pushed for the 10-second count to get the ball over the half-court line, but he won’t stop pushing for more changes.

“I just have this vision of everybody playing the game the same way, they play soccer the same way,” Auriemma said. “I don’t think they play soccer different in Spain than they do in Germany or in the United States. They might have a little bit of different rules, but the goal is the same size last time I checked. The rules, being over there and watching how the game is played, it just goes, goes, goes and goes and how the players move, play off of each other, there isn’t a lot of pushing and shoving unnecessarily.

“Coaches, nobody wanted the 10-second backcourt. You have to understand how college coaches are, they are like dinosaurs, nobody wants to change. They want it to be the same forever once they find something they like and they are comfortable, the don’t want any changes. I am always figuring out how to tweak things to make them a little bit better.”

While the focus during the game may be on the experimental rules, before the game it will be about honoring a magical 2014-15 season as the national-championship banner will be unveiled and the players will receive their championship rings.