The 2018–19 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began on November 6, 2018. The first tournament was the 2K Sports Classic and the season concluded with the Final Four at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on April 8, 2019. Practices officially began on September 28, 2018. The season saw Zion Williamson dominate Player of the Year honors and media attention, while Virginia won its first NCAA Championship. The NCAA Championship Game between Virginia and Texas Tech would mark the final NCAA game with a 20-foot 9 inch three-point shot line, as it moved out to the FIBA standard of 22 feet and 2 inches the following year.
Rule changes On February 22, 2019, the NCAA announced a set of experimental rules that it would use in the 2019 National Invitation Tournament.
The following rules were also used in the 2018 NIT: The three-point line was moved to the FIBA standard of . When the arc approached the sideline, it changed to a line parallel to and from the sideline. The free-throw lane was widened from the current college standard of 12 feet to the NBA standard of 16 feet. After an offensive rebound, the shot clock was reset to 20 seconds instead of the current NCAA standard of 30.
A set of rules relating to free throws that had been used in the 2017 NIT was used again in the 2019 edition, with one modification: Team foul counts, for purposes of determining bonus free throws, were reset to zero at the 10-minute mark of each half, effectively dividing the game into quarters for that purpose. The "one-and-one" was eliminated. All bonus free throw situations resulted in two free throws for the non-fouled team. This mirrored current practice in NCAA women's basketball, which has been played in quarters since the 2015–16 season. Teams entered the bonus upon the fifth team foul in each 10-minute segment. The team foul count was reset to zero at the start of any overtime period. Teams entered the bonus upon the fourth team foul in an overtime period. In a completely new feature, the NCAA adopted the NBA's bonus rule regarding team fouls in the last two minutes of any period. Teams entered the bonus on the second team foul in the last two minutes of a ten-minute segment or overtime period, regardless of the total team foul count at that point of the period.
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Season headlines May 23, 2018 – The NCAA announced its Academic Progress Rate (APR) sanctions for the 2018–19 school year. A total of nine programs in eight sports were declared ineligible for postseason play due to failure to meet the required APR benchmark, including the following Division I men's basketball team: Alabama A&M May 29 – Conference USA announced a new men's basketball scheduling format that took effect with the 2018–19 season. The league now plays an 18-game schedule formatted as follows: During the first 14 games of the conference season, each team plays its designated travel partner home-and-home, and single games against every other team. At this point, teams are placed into three groups based on their conference standings through 14 games, with the top five teams in one group, the next five in a second group, and the bottom four teams in the final group. Teams play within their grouping for the final four games of the conference season, with home and away games determined by a preset formula. Each team will be locked into a seed for the C-USA tournament that corresponds to its group. For example, teams in the top group will be assured the top five seeds. The specific seedings will be determined by conference record across the full league schedule. June 4 – The Sun Belt Conference announced a new men's basketball scheduling format similar to that announced by Conference USA the previous week. Effective with the 2019–20 season, the league was to have played a 20-game schedule formatted as follows: The conference would split into East and West Divisions for scheduling purposes, though this split would not affect overall league standings. East: Appalachian State, Coastal Carolina, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, South Alabama, Troy West: Arkansas State, Little Rock, Louisiana, Louisiana–Monroe, Texas State, UT Arlington For the first 16 games of the conference season, each team would play home-and-home against other divisional members and single games against teams in the other division. After 16 conference games, teams would be divided into four "pods" based on their conference standings at that time. The top three teams would be assigned to Pod A, the next three to Pod B, and so on through Pod D for the bottom three teams. The final four games for each team would be home-and-homes against the other two teams in that pod. Each team would be locked into a seed for the Sun Belt tournament that corresponds to its pod. For example, teams in Pod A would be assured the top three seeds. Unlike the C-USA system, the specific seed would be based strictly on standings in the final four conference games—not overall conference record. A year later, the conference announced that it would place almost all of these changes on hold. The only part of the plan that was implemented on the original schedule was expansion of the conference schedule to 20 games. June 18 – Purdue University Fort Wayne (PFW), which was set to begin operation on July 1 following the dissolution of Indiana University – Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW), announced that the athletic program that it would inherit from IPFW, previously known as the Fort Wayne Mastodons, would become the Purdue Fort Wayne Mastodons. PFW also changed its colors from IPFW's former blue and silver scheme to the old gold and black used by its new parent institution. August 8 – In response to the sport's ongoing corruption scandal, the NCAA announced a suite of major changes to its rules governing college basketball: Certain high school players and college players with remaining eligibility will now be allowed to have formal relationships with agents while retaining college eligibility. These agents must be certified by the NCAA. College players can be represented if they have formally requested an evaluation of their NBA prospects from the league. Should the NBA change the age limit for the draft to once again allow players to be drafted directly from high school, the rule also allows for high school players to be represented, effective on the July 1 before their senior year, if USA Basketball has designated them as "elite senior prospects". However, these relationships will be allowed only during the draft process, and must be terminated if the player returns to school. Certain players who declare for the NBA draft but are not selected will be free to return to their former schools, as long as they have not signed professional contracts, or have not complied with NCAA rules for relationships with agents, in the meantime. However, this privilege is only extended to players who have requested NBA evaluation of their draft prospects and have been invited to the NBA Draft Combine. School presidents, chancellors, and athletics staff members are now contractually required to comply with all NCAA investigations. This effectively gives the NCAA subpoena power in its investigations, which it previously lacked. Presidents and chancellors are now personally accountable to the NCAA for athletic department compliance with NCAA rules. The NCAA and its Committee on Infractions can now use information obtained in outside investigations in its infractions process. Previously, the NCAA could not use such information. August 22 – The NCAA announced that effective immediately, the RPI will no longer be used in the selection process for the Division I men's tournament. It was replaced by the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET), which takes into account the following: Game results Strength of schedule Location (home, away, or neutral site) Scoring margin—Teams will receive no added credit for victory margins above 10 points. Additionally, overtime games will be assigned a scoring margin of 1 point, regardless of the actual score. Net offensive and defensive efficiency Quality of wins and losses—The NCAA will continue to use its "quadrant" system, introduced for last year's tournament selection process, to classify individual wins and losses. All games will be evaluated equally; there is no bonus or penalty for when a game is played within the season. The NET was adopted only for men's basketball. All other sports that use selection committees to determine NCAA tournament entries, including the Division I women's basketball tournament, continue to use their own versions of the RPI. September 10 – The Northeast Conference (NEC) announced that Merrimack College would start a transition from the NCAA Division II Northeast-10 Conference and join the NEC effective July 1, 2019. The Warriors will not be eligible for the NCAA tournament until becoming a full D-I member in 2023–24. September 28 – LSU player Wayde Sims, set to play his junior season for the Tigers, was killed in a shooting near the Southern University campus in Baton Rouge, home to both schools. October 3 – Long Island University announced that it would merge its two current athletic programs—the LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds, full members of the NEC, and the Division II LIU Post Pioneers—effective with the 2019–20 school year. The new program will compete under the LIU name with a new nickname and maintain LIU Brooklyn's Division I and NEC memberships. This change will have minimal effect on the existing LIU Brooklyn men's basketball program, as LIU has announced that the unified basketball team will be based at the Brooklyn campus. October 23 – The Associated Press preseason All-American team was released. Purdue guard Carsen Edwards was the leading vote-getter (63 votes). Joining him on the team were North Carolina forward Luke Maye (52 votes), Duke guard R. J. Barrett (50), Kansas forward Dedric Lawson (30), Wisconsin forward Ethan Happ (23) and Nevada forward Caleb Martin (23). January 11, 2019 – The Western Athletic Conference announced that Dixie State University would start a transition from Division II and join the conference in July 2020. January 19 – The last two undefeated teams lost. First, Michigan suffered a 54–64 point loss at Wisconsin. Later on in the day, Virginia lost on the road to Duke by the score of 72–70. February 13 – Florida A&M announces four athletic teams, including men's basketball, are ineligible for postseason play due to failure to meet the APR multi-year threshold. February 20 North Carolina's 88–72 upset of top-ranked Duke was overshadowed by a freak injury suffered by superstar Duke freshman Zion Williamson. On the Blue Devils' first possession of the game, Williamson's left shoe catastrophically failed, with the sole completely separating from the midsole. Williamson suffered a sprained right knee in the incident, and did not return to the game. The following day, the injury was confirmed to be minor; although Williamson was listed as day-to-day immediately after the injury, he did not return to action until the Blue Devils' ACC tournament opener on March 14. On his way home from a postgame meal after Syracuse's 69–49 upset of Louisville, Orange head coach Jim Boeheim was involved in a fatal car accident. A car crashed on Interstate 690 in Syracuse, and the occupants attempted to cross over to the median. Boeheim hit one of them while swerving to avoid those with disabilities vehicle, and the victim died in a local hospital. Neither driver involved in the incident was found to be impaired, and Syracuse's police chief initially indicated that no charges would be filed in the case. March 5 – Kansas was eliminated from the race for the Big 12 Conference regular-season title with an 81–68 loss at Oklahoma, ending the Jayhawks' streak of consecutive conference regular-season titles at a Division I men's record of 14.