Change to Start of Men’s Basketball Practice Approved
The Division I Legislative Council has not had much to do over the last year or so as the Presidential Retreat agenda has taken over. No new proposals were submitted for the 2012-13 legislative cycle, at the request of the Board of Directors. But the abrupt halt to the 2011-12 legislative calendar meant the Legislative Council, Division I’s primary rule-making body, had plenty on the table. Including this proposal:
The Legislative Council this week amended and approved a long-tabled measure that will now allow men’s basketball teams to conduct 30 days of practice in the six weeks before their first regular-season game. Past practice has been in the roughly four weeks before the regular season.
The amendment was a minor one: moving the start date to 42 days or six weeks before the first game. This was to ensure that the start of practice would fall on a Friday for Midnight Madness events, rather than on a Sunday which it would have without the change.
Women’s basketball has had this rule for a couple of years. It basically moves the start of practice up two weeks, but requires two days off per week before the first game. This creates a period of acclimatization rather than the abrupt jump from 8 hours per week straight to 20 hours per week with just one day off.
The Legislative Council also adopted a proposal which allows practice to start at any time on the first permissible day rather than at 5:00 PM.
The Board of Directors must take action at its May 2 meeting to stop the proposals from being adopted. They are separate, so the Board could leave one alone but defeat or suspend the other. That is rare, but it is not known how the board will react to this move by the Legislative Council. My guess is the proposals get through the board and onto to the override period.
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