The 2015–16 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began on November 13. The first tournament was the 2K Sports Classic and ended with the Final Four in Houston April 2–4. Practices officially began on October 2.
Rule changes
The following rule changes were proposed by the NCAA Men's Rules Committee for the 2015–16 season,[1][2] and officially approved by the NCAA Men's Playing Rules Oversight Panel:[3]
Reducing the shot clock from 35 to 30 seconds (same as the women's game).
Providing offensive players the same verticality protections as defensive players.
Extending the restricted-area arc from 3 feet to 4 feet from the basket.
Reducing the number of team timeouts from 5 to 4, with a limit of no more than 3 timeouts in the second half.
Ending the practice of coaches calling timeouts from the bench in live-ball situations.
Tightening the 10-second backcourt rule, under which the offensive team has 10 seconds to advance the ball from the backcourt to the frontcourt. The following situations, all of which resulted in a reset of the 10-second count under previous rules, no longer reset the count:
The defense deflects the ball out of bounds.
A held ball situation in the offensive backcourt in which the possession arrow favors the offense.
A technical foul against the offensive team during possession in its own backcourt.
Eliminating the five-second "closely-guarded" rule while the ball is being dribbled.
Allowing for technical fouls to be called on players who are determined to have faked a foul while reviewing for a flagrant foul.
Allow video replay of shot-clock violations throughout the game. Previously, this type of review was limited to only the final 2:00 of the game and in overtime.
"Class B" technical fouls, such as hanging on the rim and delay of game, now result in one free throw by the non-violating team instead of the previous two.
Requiring that a timeout taken 30 seconds or less before a scheduled media timeout break (which are at 16:00, 12:00, 8:00, and 4:00 of each half) become the media timeout. This particular change had been made in NCAA women's basketball effective with the 2013–14 season.
Stricter enforcement of resumption of play after timeouts, and reducing from 20 seconds to 15 seconds the time allowed to replace a disqualified (fouled out) player. Teams will receive a delay-of-game warning after the first violation, and a Class B technical foul for each subsequent violation.
Dunking will be allowed during team warmups and halftime.
An experimental rule allowing players six personal fouls instead of five will be used in all national postseason tournaments except for the NCAA tournament.
Season headlines
May 27 – The NCAA announced its Academic Progress Rate (APR) sanctions for the 2015–16 school year. A total of 21 programs in 9 sports were declared ineligible for postseason play due to failure to meet the required APR benchmark, including the following four Division I men's basketball teams:[4]
June 29 – Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan announced he would retire at the end of the 2015–16 season.[5]
August 13 – Ryan backed away from his previously announced retirement plans, saying that he was open to staying on beyond this season and that he would make his decision in the coming months.[6]
September 29 – The NCAA announced penalties against SMU following an investigation into a wide array of violations:[7]
The Mustangs were banned from postseason play for 2015–16.
Head coach Larry Brown was suspended for nine games.
SMU lost nine men's basketball scholarships from 2016–17 through 2018–19. Since the team had only 11 scholarship players for 2015–16, two short of the NCAA limit of 13, the two unused scholarships counted toward the penalty.
The men's basketball program was hit with three years' probation.
October 2 – Yahoo! Sports revealed that the University of Louisville was investigating allegations made in a soon-to-be-published book whose author, a self-described madam, claimed that she had been paid thousands of dollars by former Louisville graduate assistant and director of basketball operations Andre McGee to provide women to dance for and have sex with Cardinals players and recruits.[8]
December 15 – Bo Ryan announced his retirement after a win against Texas A&M–Corpus Christi, effective immediately, with associate head coach Greg Gard assuming the title of interim head coach.[10]
December 23 – The NCAA announced penalties against Hawaiʻi for significant violations of NCAA rules:[11][12]
Former head coach Gib Arnold, who had been fired shortly before the 2014–15 season, received a three-year show-cause penalty. An assistant involved in the violations received a two-year show-cause.
The Rainbow Warriors were banned from postseason play in 2016–17.
The team lost two scholarships in both 2016–17 and 2017–18; it had previously announced a reduction of one scholarship for each of those seasons.
January 13
The NCAA Division I council approved the following changes to its rules regarding declaration for the NBA draft:[13]
Declaration for the draft no longer results in automatic loss of college eligibility. As long as a player does not sign a contract with a professional team outside the NBA, or sign with an agent, he will retain college eligibility as long as he makes a timely withdrawal from the draft.
NCAA players now have until 10 days after the end of the NBA Draft Combine to withdraw from the draft. For 2016, the withdrawal date was May 25, about five weeks after the previous mid-April deadline.
NCAA players may participate in the draft combine, and are also allowed to attend one tryout per year with each NBA team without losing college eligibility.
NCAA players may now enter and withdraw from the draft multiple times without loss of eligibility. Previously, the NCAA treated a second declaration of draft eligibility as a permanent loss of college eligibility.
Missouri admitted to major NCAA violations dating to 2011. While the NCAA had yet to announce its findings, Missouri voluntarily imposed the following sanctions:[14]
All 23 of the Tigers' wins in the 2013–14 season were vacated.
The Tigers lost one scholarship in each of the next two seasons, and restrict recruiting in 2016–17.
February 6
Louisville self-imposed a 2016 postseason ban.
March 10
The Ivy League announced that it would institute men's and women's conference tournaments effective with the 2016–17 season. The top four teams in the regular-season standings qualify for each tournament. While the tournament winners receive automatic bids to the NCAA men's and women's tournaments, the official conference champions continue to be determined solely by regular-season results. The inaugural editions were held March 11–12, 2017 at the Palestra in Philadelphia.[15]
April 8 – The NCAA announced penalties against Southern Miss for a wide array of violations occurring during the tenure of former head coach Donnie Tyndall. The NCAA's findings indicated that mere weeks after Tyndall became head coach, he directed program staffers to complete fraudulent coursework so that several recruits would ostensibly be eligible to play. It was also found that Tyndall had arranged for cash payments to recruits, fabricated documents in an attempt to cover up the payments, and deleted emails relevant to the investigation.[16]
Tyndall received a 10-year show-cause, and even after it expires in 2026, he will be suspended for 50% of his next full season as an NCAA coach. Three of his assistants receive 8-year, 7-year, and 6-year penalties. At the time, Tyndall planned to appeal his penalty.
The NCAA accepted the school's self-imposed two-year postseason ban, but placed the Golden Eagles on three years' probation. All wins in which ineligible players participated were vacated, and the Golden Eagles lost four scholarships over the next three seasons.
January 26 – Virginia beats Wake Forest on a 9–1 run in the final fifteen seconds, including a buzzer beater three-point bank shot from Darius Thompson, in a comeback highly noted for its statistical improbability.[31][32][33]
February 1 – Duke's streak of 167 appearances in the AP Poll ended as the 5th longest streak of all time.[34]
February 5 – Yale's Brandon Sherrod, who entered the Bulldogs' game against Columbia one shy of the Division I record of 26 consecutive field goals made, makes his first five field goal attempts in Yale's 86–72 win to set a new record of 30.[35]
March 16 – In BYU's 97–79 victory over UAB in the first round of the NIT, Collinsworth posts his sixth triple-double of the season, tying his own single-season record from last season and extending his NCAA career record to 12.[38]
Conference membership changes
After a tumultuous four years in which over 80 Division I schools moved to new conferences—some more than once—only two schools joined new conferences as full members for 2015–16:
Following UAB's decision to drop football at the end of the 2014 season, its future membership in Conference USA (C-USA) beyond 2014–15 was initially uncertain, as league bylaws require all member schools to either sponsor FBS football or be committed to establishing an FBS program. Due to ongoing efforts by boosters and other supporters to raise funds to bring UAB football back, C-USA indicated that UAB would be allowed to remain in the league for the 2015–16 season, but not beyond that time unless football was reinstated.[41] On June 1, 2015, UAB initially announced that the football program would be reinstated in 2016,[42] later pushing back the return of football to 2017; this was sufficient to satisfy C-USA, which announced that it would keep UAB as a member.[43]
The 2015–16 season was the last for Coastal Carolina in the Big South Conference. On September 1, 2015, the university and the Sun Belt Conference jointly announced that the Chanticleers would join the Sun Belt in July 2016, initially as a non-football member. The football team will join the Sun Belt in 2017, the second year of its transition from FCS to FBS football.[44]
The Ole Miss Rebels also opened a new arena, but unlike Omaha, the move was from one campus venue to another. Tad Smith Coliseum, home to the Rebels since 1966, was replaced by The Pavilion at Ole Miss. The new arena, with a capacity of 9,500, opened on January 7, with the Rebels defeating Alabama 74–66.[46]
Thirty-one athletic conferences each end their regular seasons with a single-elimination tournament. The team with the best regular-season record in each conference is given the number one seed in each tournament, with tiebreakers used as needed in the case of ties for the top seeding. All conferences also recognize regular-season champions, with co-championships being awarded in the case of ties. The winners of these tournaments receive automatic invitations to the 2016 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament. For the final time, the Ivy League did not hold a conference tournament, instead giving its automatic invitation to its regular season champion.
After the NCAA tournament field was announced, the NCAA invited 32 teams to participate in the National Invitation Tournament. The tournament began on March 15, 2016 with all games prior to the semifinals were played on campus sites.
After the NCAA tournament field was announced, 8 teams were invited to participate in the first ever Vegas 16 Tournament. The tournament began on March 28, 2016 with all 8 teams playing in the opening round. The semifinals was played on March 29, and the Championship game on March 30. All games were played at Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.
The ninth College Basketball Invitational (CBI) Tournament began on March 15, 2016. This tournament featured 16 teams who were left out of the NCAA tournament and NIT.
The eighth CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament began on March 14 and ended with that championship game on March 29. This tournament places an emphasis on selecting successful teams from "mid-major" conferences who were left out of the NCAA tournament and NIT. 26 teams participated in this tournament.
Baron announced his immediate retirement on May 20, 2016,[114] with Chattanooga assistant coach and former Buffalo head Coach Witherspoon succeeding him.[115]
Dickenman announced his retirement from his alma mater after 20 seasons on February 18, effective at the end of the season.[116] Central Connecticut hired Buffalo assistant Marshall, a former UConn star and NBA player.[117]
Cormier was fired after 6 seasons into his 2nd stint as Dartmouth head coach.[122] David McLaughlin is named as the new HC of the Dartmouth Big Green after being at Northeastern.[123]
Detroit cleaned out its program after the season, starting with McCallum and two of his assistants.[128]Michigan assistant Bacari Alexander returns to his alma mater to become the head coach the Titans.[129]
On March 7, 2016, following the end of Drexel's season, Flint was fired as head basketball coach after 15 seasons with the team.[130] Spiker was hired from Army.[112]
Despite leading the Colonials to the NIT title, Lonergan was fired on September 16 amid a university investigation into alleged verbal and emotional abuse of players.[131] GW promoted assistant Joseph on an interim basis[132] and removed the "interim" tag after the 2016–17 season, signing him to a 5-year contract.[133]
Gregory was fired after missing the NCAA tournament in all five of his seasons at Georgia Tech.[134] Memphis head coach Pastner was ultimately hired.[135]
On March 14, 2016, Brady "mutually parted ways" with the Dukes as after eight seasons and one NCAA appearance. JMU's athletic director cited declining attendance and poor performances in the CAA tournament.[138] Former JMU player and Bowling Green assistant Rowe was named the new head coach.[139]
Beard left after a single season to take the UNLV job,[140] though he would later move to Texas Tech.[141] Assistant coach Flanigan was elevated to the head coaching role.[142]
Menzies left after 9 seasons for the Rebels of UNLV HC job.[146] After being the Associate HC of the Aggies, Paul Weir now will take the reins of the HC of the Aggies.[147]
Alexander resigned on January 29 to pursue other opportunities within North Carolina A&T's athletics department.[151] Alexander compiled an overall record of 43–80 during his 3+ years as North Carolina A&T's head coach, including a 5–17 mark in 2015–16 at the time of his resignation.[151] Joyner had the interim tag removed on March 7 to become the next full-time head coach.[152]
Pacific fired Verlin on March 3, along with assistant Dwight Young. Both had been suspended since December amid an NCAA investigation into alleged academic misconduct.[157] The Tigers hired Memphis assistant Stoudamire, better known for his 13 seasons as an NBA player.[158]
Reveno was fired after 10 seasons and an overall 140–178 record, finishing with a 12–20 season in 2015–16.[161] The Pilots hired one of their city's basketball icons in Porter, a longtime star for the Portland Trail Blazers who later had extensive NBA coaching experience.[162]
Rimm announced his resignation on January 27, effective immediately, with the Panthers at 1–18 on the season. Rimm had only two winning seasons in 10 seasons as head coach. Assistant Byron Smith was named interim head coach for the remainder of the season.[163] Prairie View removed the interim tag from Smith on March 13.[164]
Jordan was fired on March 10 after three seasons at his alma mater. Jordan compiled an overall record of 29–68, ending with a 7–25 overall record and a 1–15 Big Ten record in 2015–16.[165] The Scarlet Knights turned to Stony Brook coach Pikiell.[166]
Crews was fired on March 9 after four seasons. The Billikens made the NCAA tournament in each of Crews' first two seasons as head coach, but went 11–21 in each of the last two seasons.[167] SLU replaced Crews with newly departed Oklahoma State coach Ford.[168]
Walters was fired on March 9, following the West Coast Conference tournament, after eight seasons in charge. After a run of three postseason appearances in four seasons, the Dons finished under .500 in WCC play in both 2014–15 and 2015–16.[169] USF hired Columbia's Smith fresh off the Lions' CIT victory.[118]
Brown surprisingly stepped down as SMU coach on July 8, 2016 after 4 seasons. Jankovich, who had been hired along with Brown in 2012 as his top assistant and designated successor, was elevated to the top spot.[172]
Johnson was fired after four seasons, a 50–79 overall record at the school, and an 8–64 record in Big 12 play.[183] He was replaced by Pittsburgh head coach and former TCU player Dixon.[159]
Schroyer left his post to become assistant head coach at NC State.[184] Assistant Stewart was initially named interim head coach for the 2016–17 season[185] but had the interim tag removed before the start of the season on November 3, 2016, signing a 4-year contract with UT Martin.[186]
Smith left Texas Tech after 3 seasons for Memphis.[143] After leaving Little Rock for UNLV less than a month earlier, Beard left for Texas Tech, where he had served as an assistant from 2001 to 2011.[141]
Word of Conroy's impending firing came to him as he was coaching the Green Wave to an upset victory in the 2016 AAC tournament. The move was made official a few days later.[189] Former NBA coach Dunleavy was hired for his first college coaching job, after a six-year hiatus from coaching.[190]
Jones was fired on March 10 after six seasons. Although he compiled a 100–88 overall record, the Knights went 12–18 overall and 6–12 in American Athletic play this season.[192] Dawkins was hired fresh off his firing by Stanford.[193]
Rice was fired from his alma mater on January 10. Despite Rice's 98–54 record in four-plus seasons at UNLV, the Runnin' Rebels failed to make the postseason in either of the last two seasons, and an 0–3 start in Mountain West play was apparently the final straw for UNLV; top assistant Simon was named as interim head coach.[196] Following the season, Chris Beard was initially hired from Little Rock after leading the Trojans to NCAA tournament success,[140][197] but left less than a month later for Texas Tech.[141] NMSU head coach Menzies, a UNLV assistant during the Lon Kruger era, was hired to replace Beard.[198]
Thompson was fired on March 10 after 10 seasons. He had a 133–178 overall record, with the Roadrunners finishing this season 5–27 overall and 3–15 in Conference USA play. He was replaced by Oklahoma assistant Henson.[199][200]
Harper resigned on March 17, 2016 after three WKU players were suspended following a school disciplinary hearing,[203] eventually landing at Jacksonville State.[137] The Hilltoppers hired longtime Mississippi State head coach Stansbury from his then-current post as an assistant at Texas A&M.[204]
Ryan announced his retirement on December 15, 2015, effective immediately.[205] Top assistant Gard was named as interim head coach; Wisconsin removed the interim tag after the regular season, signing Gard to a 5-year contract.[206]
Despite making it into the finals of the Horizon League tournament, Donlon was fired on March 17 after 6 seasons at Wright State with a 109-93 career record.[207] The Raiders then hired Nagy away from South Dakota State.[173]
Shyatt announced his retirement after 5 seasons into his 2nd stint at Wyoming on March 21, 2016, turning the program over to top assistant Edwards.[208]