NCAA Rules Committee Cracks Down to Put an End to Basketball Fights

College players who are involved in fights during games will risk losing their eligibility for the rest of the season under get-tough measures announced Wednesday by the National Collegiate Athletic Assn.

“We’re interested in minimizing the ugly scenes; one ugly scene is too many as far as I’m concerned,” Ed Steitz, secretary-editor of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Rules Committee, said at a news conference. “We cannot afford to let anything mar this great game of college basketball.”

Steitz said after the committee’s two-day meeting that players suspended for “being involved in fighting” could not appeal.

Fights made headlines throughout the past season. There were none during the NCAA tournament after NCAA Executive Director Dick Schultz warned that any player fighting would be suspended for the rest of the tournament.

The new policy specifies that a player involved in a fight will be ejected from the game and placed on probation.

“The second time that individual is involved in a fight during the season, he will be ejected from the game and suspended from participation in his team’s next game,” Steitz said. “If that player is involved in a third fight during the season, he will be suspended for the remainder of the season. If available, and deemed necessary, television monitors may be used to determine those individuals involved in a fight.”