Jay Bilas suggests multiple rule changes to college basketball during Florida vs. Alabama

When it comes to delivering his opinions on the college basketball landscape, ESPN’s Jay Bilas hasn’t been shy about tackling important issues. It’s a big reason for his rise to prominence over the past few decades. And on Wednesday evening, in the Florida–Alabama game, he made the case for college basketball to switch to four quarters instead of two halves.

Bilas was asked if college basketball, if you could make it like the NBA, advance it to half court to save time. “Yes, I would absolutely like to see that. But that’s one where there’s a lot of resistance to that among the college basketball traditionalists. They think you have to earn that real estate. I’m not one of them,” Bilas explained.

“But I think that reasonable minds can differ on that. But I don’t think it’s gonna be changed anytime soon. The rules that need to change. We need to go to quarters. And we’re the only basketball game played in the world that doesn’t have quarters. Men’s college basketball,” Bilas continued.

“The reason I would like it is you can reset team fouls at the end of the first and third quarters. It’s just a smart thing to do. And we have to change the replay rule. Make it like the NBA. Give each team one challenge. If they get their first one right, they keep it. One more and then that’s it. The referees, it’s not their fault. It’s the rule, they spend more time watching TV than they do officiating the game,” Bilas finished.

It’s certainly not surprising to see Bilas talk about officials going to the monitor too much. That’s been one of the top complaints for college basketball fans for the past few years. He often leads the way in discussion about rules and changes to the game, so it’ll be interesting to see if any of his desired changes are implemented in the near future.