The 2023–24 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began on November 6, 2023. The regular season ended on March 17, 2024, with the 2024 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament beginning with the First Four on March 19 and ending with the championship game at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, on April 8.
Rule changes On May 5, 2023, the NCAA Basketball Rules Committee proposed a suite of rule changes for the 2023–24 season. These changes were approved by the Playing Rules Oversight Panel during its June 8 conference call. A defender near the basket must be in position to draw a charge before the offensive player plants his foot to jump during a field goal attempt. If the defender arrives after the shooter has planted his foot, the officials are to call a blocking foul if contact occurs. Prerecorded or live video can be transmitted to the bench area during the game, on an optional basis. This had been an experimental rule since 2021–22, but is now permanent. Officials will be able to review basket interference or goaltending calls during the next media timeout to ensure the call's accuracy, as long as they were made during play. Review is immediate if a foul is called on a shot that ended with basket interference or goaltending. Non-student bench personnel will be allowed to serve as peacekeepers in any altercation. If a coach requests a review of an out-of-bounds play in the last two minutes, that team will be charged a timeout if the challenge is unsuccessful. The shot clock will reset to 20 seconds for all offensive rebounds when the original shot has touched the rim. If a player is called for a foul, and replay officials see that the foul is the direct result of a flagrant foul against the player who was originally charged with the foul, officials can rescind the foul on the victim of the flagrant foul. A timeout can be granted when a player has possession of the ball while airborne. A player will be disqualified if he commits three flagrant 1 fouls in a game, regardless of his overall foul count. Red and amber lights can now be placed on the backboard. Schools will no longer have to apply for a waiver to allow players to use religious headwear that is safe for competition. All jersey numbers from "0" to "99," including "00," will be allowed, although with the restriction that teams are allowed to use "0" or "00," but not both at the same time. It is the first time that players are allowed to wear the digits "6" through "9" on their uniforms since those digits were prohibited prior to the 1957–58 season as a means of simplifying referees' hand signals to the scorer's table after calling a foul. Conferences will be allowed to continue using an experimental rule that allows for media timeouts to be taken at the first dead ball after the 17-, 14-, 11-, 8-, and 4-minute marks of the second half. This rule may also be used in the 2024 NIT, subject to approval by the NCAA's NIT board. Also, subject to NIT board approval, the free-throw lane may be widened to 16 feet in the 2024 NIT.
Season headlines March 8, 2023 Jim Boeheim retired as head coach at Syracuse after 47 seasons, ending with the Orange missing the 2023 NCAA tournament for only the 11th time in his coaching history. He finished his career at Syracuse with a 1,015–441 record; his 1,015 wins were 6th all time in NCAA history at the time of his retirement. He also led Syracuse to one national title, five Final Fours, ten Big East regular-season titles, and five Big East tournament titles, and he was Big East coach of the year four times and the 2010 Naismith, AP, NABC, Henry Iba and Sporting News coach of the year. Boeheim was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2005, and the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006. May 10 – The Northeast Conference (NEC) announced that Le Moyne would start a transition from Division II and join the conference on July 1. May 12 – The Ohio Valley Conference announced that Western Illinois would join from the Summit League effective July 1. May 24 – George Washington University announced that it would change its nickname from Colonials to Revolutionaries. July 20 – The Colonial Athletic Association announced it had changed its name to Coastal Athletic Association. July 27 – The Big 12 Conference announced that Colorado would rejoin the conference in 2024, after 13 seasons in the Pac-12 Conference. August 4 The Big Ten Conference announced that Oregon and Washington would leave the Pac-12 to join the Big Ten in 2024. The Big 12 announced that Arizona, Arizona State, and Utah would leave the Pac-12 to join the Big 12 in 2024. September 1 – The Atlantic Coast Conference announced that California, SMU, and Stanford would join the conference in 2024. California and Stanford left the Pac-12, and SMU left the American Athletic Conference. September 6 – The ASUN Conference began to once again refer to itself by its former name, Atlantic Sun Conference, while still using ASUN as its official abbreviation. September 8 – The ASUN announced that the University of West Georgia would transition from Division II and be admitted as a full member of the conference, effective July 1, 2024. September 27 – The Grand Sierra Resort, the city of Reno, Nevada, and the University of Nevada, Reno jointly announced that the casino resort planned a 10-year, $1-billion-plus expansion. As part of the project, the resort would build a new arena for the Nevada men's basketball team. The university's current arena, the Lawlor Events Center, will continue to be the home of Nevada women's basketball, The new 10,000-seat venue is tentatively set to open in 2026. October 4 – The Division I Council announced changes to the transfer window for all sports. In men's and women's basketball, the transfer portal now opens on the day after Selection Sunday and remains open for 45 days, down from the previous 60. October 23 – The AP released its preseason All-America team. Reigning national player of the year Zach Edey of Purdue was the only unanimous choice, joined by guard Tyler Kolek of Marquette, forward Kyle Filipowski of Duke, center Hunter Dickinson of Kansas, and center Armando Bacot of North Carolina. October 23 – The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) announced that Merrimack and Sacred Heart would join from the NEC in July 2024. October 27 – The NCAA announced that conference regular season champions that do not win their conference tournaments or are not selected for the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, will no longer receive an automatic bid to the NIT. The NIT will now guarantee two teams, based on the NET Rankings from each of the six major conferences: ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12, and SEC. The top two teams in the NET Rankings that do not qualify for the NCAA tournament from each conference regardless of their record, will be selected for the NIT. The twelve teams that are automatically selected will be guaranteed the ability to host a game for the first round. After the twelve teams have been selected, the NIT selection committee will select the twenty best teams that are available to participate in the NIT. Based on the selection committee's rankings, four of the twenty teams will be selected as one of the sixteen first round hosts and the NIT selection will defer to the first four teams out of the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. November 28 – Conference USA announced that Delaware would join from the Coastal Athletic Association in 2025. December 5 – The NEC announced that Chicago State would join from being the sole Independent in July 2024. December 20 – The two schools left behind in the mass exodus from the Pac-12, Oregon State and Washington State, were reported to be nearing a deal with the West Coast Conference (WCC) for affiliate membership in multiple sports, including men's and women's basketball. The arrangement, expected to be voted on by WCC member presidents in the coming days, would run for two years (through 2025–26), during which time the so-called "Pac-2" would be eligible for WCC championships and could represent the conference in NCAA championship events. December 22 – The reported deal between the "Pac-2" and the WCC became official, with Oregon State and Washington State joining as affiliate members in all non-football sports apart from baseball through 2025–26. February 29 – The Mid-American Conference (MAC) announced that UMass, currently a member of the Atlantic 10 Conference, would join the MAC for all sports starting July 1, 2025. This confirmed prior reporting by multiple media outlets, with The Athletic being the first to break the news. March 5 – The Dartmouth men's basketball team voted to unionize in an unprecedented step toward forming the first labor union for college athletes. The National Labor Relations Board supervised the election inside of in the school's human resources offices as the players voted 13–2 to join Service Employees International Union Local 560, which already represents some Dartmouth workers. March 25 – The Southland Conference announced that the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) would join from the Western Athletic Conference on July 1, 2024. April 4 – The NEC announced that Mercyhurst University, a member of the Division II Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference, would start a transition to Division I and join the NEC on July 1, 2024.
Milestones and records During the season, the following players reached the 2,000 career point milestone – Maryland guard Jahmir Young, North Carolina center Armando Bacot, Colorado State guard Isaiah Stevens, Rice guard Travis Evee, Kentucky guard Antonio Reeves, UC Davis guard Elijah Pepper, Hofstra guard Tyler Thomas, Purdue center Zach Edey, Northern Kentucky guard Marques Warrick, Kansas center Hunter Dickinson, Oklahoma State guard John-Michael Wright, Duquesne guard Dae Dae Grant, Creighton guard Baylor Scheierman, Wright State guard Trey Calvin, Denver guard Tommy Bruner, Clemson guard Joseph Girard III, Northwestern guard Boo Buie, George Washington guard James Bishop IV, Wright State guard Tanner Holden, Nevada guard Jarod Lucas, Illinois forward Marcus Domask, Seattle guard Cameron Tyson, Arizona guard Caleb Love, Iowa forward Ben Krikke, Xavier guard Quincy Olivari, Wyoming forward Sam Griffin, Michigan State guard Tyson Walker, Alabama guard Mark Sears, California guard Jalen Cone, USC guard Boogie Ellis, NC State guard DJ Horne, Illinois guard Terrence Shannon Jr., North Carolina guard R. J. Davis, NC State forward D. J. Burns Auburn forward/center Johni Broome, Ohio State forward Jamison Battle and UConn guard Tristen Newton. November 26 – La Salle coach Fran Dunphy won his 600th career game, an 81–62 win over Coppin State. Dunphy accumulated all of his career victories for Philadelphia Big 5 programs, having previously coached Penn and Temple. December 21 – Elijah Pepper became the leading scorer in UC Davis program history. Scoring 21 points in an 80–57 win over UC Merced, Pepper passed Audwin Thomas, whose program record had stood since 1979. February 10 – Marques Warrick became the leading scorer in Northern Kentucky program history. Scoring 22 points in a 79–67 win over Detroit Mercy, Warrick passed Drew McDonald's record of 2,066, set in 2019. February 19 – Texas fifth-year senior Max Abmas scored his 3,000th career point, becoming just the 12th player in Division I men's basketball history to reach the milestone. He scored eight points in a 62–56 win over Kansas State to finish the game with 3,001. February 22 – Northwestern fifth-year senior Boo Buie surpassed John Shurna (2,038 points) as the school's all-time leading scorer in a 76–62 win over Michigan. Shurna's record had stood since 2012.