First in Line

 

written by STEVE ULRICH your must-read briefing on what's driving the day in NCAA Division III

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TOP STORY 1. First In Line Later today, Georgia governor Brian Kemp will sign into law a name, image and likeness bill that has an effective date of July 1, 2021. Georgia will join Alabama, Florida, Mississippi and New Mexico as states with NIL laws. Arizona will join the party on July 23. Tennessee's NIL law will take effect on January 1, 2022, while three states begin at the end of 2022 - Michigan (December 31), California (January 1) and Colorado (January 1). Two others - Maryland and South Carolina - have bills sitting on their Governor’s desk awaiting approval.  "The introduction of NIL to the college scene has created a striking side effect: a cascade of activity in an untapped space. As July 1 nears, companies (like) Icon Source are bursting onto the scene, offering an array of NIL-centric products and services to schools and athletes alike. These NIL companies are jockeying to land lucrative school partnerships and are one-upping each other to attract college athletes. For institutions, these platforms serve as both an oversight and regulatory system, educating their athletes on NIL and tracking their NIL endeavors for compliance purposes. For athletes, they represent much of what a sports agent or an agency does: help build a brand (on social media, specifically), market that brand and arrange for NIL events," says Ross Dellenger of Sports Illustrated" >> Be Smart: “It’s going to be a little chaotic for a time,” says Oliver Luck, a former college administrator and NCAA executive. “The next three or four months, it’s the most uncertain time in the history of college athletics.” Division III Institutions Affected (7/1/21) Alabama: Birmingham-Southern, Huntingdon Georgia: Agnes Scott, Berry, Covenant, Emory, LaGrange, Oglethorpe, Piedmont, Wesleyan Mississippi: Belhaven, Millsaps >> Read More >> Legislative Map and Language

BASKETBALL 2. Changes on the Horizon?   Matt Norlander of CBSSports posted possible rule changes that could be considered by the NCAA Men's Basketball Rules Committee for the 2021-22 season.  As coaches know ... these surveys do provide some insight into what the rules committee may be thinking ... but they are far from indicating that changes are on the horizon. That said ...  — Widen the lane to 16 feet — Reset team fouls at the 10:00 minute mark of each half and begin double bonus on the 5th team foul of each 10-minute segment. This would eliminate the one-and-one free throw. — Allow laptops, tablets, or similar devices in the bench area for coaching purposes. — Adopt a modified six-foul rule with the following provisions: A player may not commit more than three personal/technical fouls in any one half. Penalty – disqualification. A player may commit three personal/technical fouls in the first half and three in the second half. In this case, the player is allowed six fouls before being disqualified. A player may commit two personal/technical fouls in the first half and would be disqualified on his fourth personal/technical in the second half. Total – six fouls. A player may commit zero or one personal/technical fouls in the first half and would be disqualified on the player’s fourth personal/technical in the second half. See #1. — Award possession of the ball to the defense when they create a held ball situation. — Limit the number of timeouts that may be called by any one team in the last two minutes of the second period or of any overtime period to two. — In the last two minutes of the second period or of any overtime period, allow instant replay review of potential shot-clock violations when the shot is unsuccessful. — Eliminate the ten-second backcourt rule. — Permit the use of Instant Replay on all basket interference/goaltending calls throughout the game, but only when a call has been made by an official. — Permit a team to decline free throws in the last two minutes of the last period or of any overtime period and elect possession of the ball for a throw-in instead. — Eliminate offensive basket interference after the ball hits the ring or flange. Would make the rule consistent with the FIBA rule. — Adjust the traveling rule to allow a player to take two steps after lifting his pivot foot which would make moves such as the spin move, Euro-step and step-back shot legal. — Eliminate the five second closely guarded rule. >> Huh: Wait, the Euro-step isn't legal? Then why ... never mind.

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SWIMMING 3.  Unlimited Swims? by Jared Anderson, SwimSwam   "One rule change proposal before the NCAA Swimming & Diving Rules Committee would allow athletes to compete in an unlimited number of events in dual meets. The rule change would specifically affect dual meets, double-duals, triangular meets and quadrangular meets. The rule notably does not apply to invitationals, or to the NCAA Championships. The NCAA goes through a rule change process every other year. This year, the Rules Committee will consider a number of rule changes that could go into effect as part of the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 rulebooks. Unlimited Events Current rules put limits on how many events each athlete can enter for dual meets. The rule change would lift those limitations, allowing coaches and swimmers to determine how many events a swimmer can compete in during a single meet. Bona Fide Competition NCAA rules requiring each school to compete in a minimum number of 'bona fide' competitions have caused some controversy among teams. One rule change would adjust the wording around USA Swimming or Diving events counting as bona fide competitions. Seeding/Lane Use Updates A couple of rule changes would allow meet organizers more leeway to use lanes as they see fit, based on the meet and facility. Specifically, one proposal would allow timed final relay events to be conducted in a different number of lanes than timed final individual events. Another proposal would allow meet organizers to use different seeding/lane assignment formats for individual and relay events." >> Continue Reading

NCAA 4. Regional Rankings Thursday Here are the top teams in each region in this week's regional rankings. Baseball C: Washington U. MA: Penn State Abington ME: Adrian MW: UW-Whitewater NE: Eastern Connecticut NY: Oswego State S: Salisbury W: Trinity, Texas >> Complete Rankings Lacrosse (M) Region 1: Tufts Region 2: RIT Region 3: Salisbury Region 4: Lynchburg Region 5: Illinois Wesleyan >> Complete Rankings Softball A: Birmingham-Southern C: DePauw E: TCNJ GL: Concordia, Wis. MW: St. Olaf NEng: Williams NE: St. John Fisher W: Belhaven >> Complete Rankings

SOFTBALL 5. TLU Back on Top This Week's NFCA Top 10 Texas Lutheran (8), 28-4 Virginia Wesleyan, 33-5-1 DePauw, 31-2 Moravian, 26-0 Birmingham-Southern, 29-5 Eastern Connecticut, 24-2 Belhaven, 30-8 East Texas Baptist, 26-5 Emory & Henry, 25-5 Berry, 25-8 11-15: Linfield, CNU, Salisbury, St. John Fisher, Wartburg 16-20: TCNJ, Randolph-Macon, Mount Union, St. Olaf, Concordia (Wis.) 21-25: Rowan, Rochester, St. Scholastica, Williams, George Fox >> New Kid: George Fox >> Movin' On Up: Moravian (+5) >> Chutes not Ladders: St. Scholastica (-6) >> Complete Poll

TRACK AND FIELD 6. La Crosse, Wartburg Atop Ratings This Week's USTFCCCA Women's Top 10 UW-La Crosse Ithaca Loras Johns Hopkins Geneseo UW-Eau Claire Tufts Nebraska Wesleyan Wartburg George Fox >> Notable: UW-La Crosse bolstered its position atop the National TFRI thanks to some strong efforts at the Wartburg Outdoor Friday Night Lights. The Eagles hit a national-leading mark in the 4×100 relay at 46.36, the third-fastest mark in the 4×400 relay at 3:46.66 and the third-fastest mark in the 100H from Emma Lawrence at 14.10. >> Complete Ranking   This Week's USTFCCCA Men's Top 10 Wartburg UW-La Crosse Rowan UW-Oshkosh John Carroll UW-Eau Claire UW-Stout Mount Union Loras UW-Whitewater >> Worth Noting: Wartburg is the No. 1 team during the outdoor season for the first time in program history. The Knights turned in a plethora of solid performances this past weekend that resulted in six new or improved national top-10 marks, including Dallas Wright at No. 2 in the 400 at 47.39 >> Complete Rankings

TRANSACTIONS 7.  Comings and Goings   CONCORDIA-CHICAGO - Andy Lambert named head football coach GETTYSBURG - Hank Janczyk announced his retirement as head men's lacrosse coach HEIDELBERG - Nick Spell named director of soccer and head men's coach. Madalynn McLaughlin named interim head women's soccer coach JOHN CARROLL - Alan Miciak named president KING'S - John Velsaco named head men's soccer coach LEBANON VALLEY - Amy Sokaitis resigned as head women's basketball coach NYU - Lauren Lopresi named assistant director of facilities and events OLIVET - Haley Hunnewell named athletic director RHODES - Rich Duncan named head football coach ST. JOSEPH'S, Maine - Added women's golf as varsity sport SUSQUEHANNA - Richan Gaskins named assistant football coach