It’s the same sport, but men’s and women’s college basketball have different rules.
With both the 2025 men’s and women’s NCAA Tournaments now underway, fans who are tuning in for the first time this season may notice the women’s side plays with a smaller ball, with more host sites for the women’s compared to the men’s.
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Almost everyone will notice one of the biggest differences between the men’s and women’s basketball: the formats of their respective games. Women’s college basketball plays four 10-minute quarters, while the men’s side plays two 20-minute halves.
Here’s what you need to know about the rule difference, why it was made and how it impacts the game:
How long are women’s basketball games?
While men’s and women’s basketball games are the same length (40 minutes), the way they get there differs. Women’s basketball has four 10-minute quarters, compared to two 20-minute halves for men’s basketball.
When did women’s college basketball start playing four quarters?
Women’s basketball was played with two halves leading up to 2014-2015. However, the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel approved that four 10-minute quarters would be used in the 2015-16 season and beyond. The NCAA Women’s Basketball Rule Committee recommended the change to enhance the game’s flow.
The rule was also endorsed by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association Board of Directors, before the rule’s ultimate approval. In a women’s basketball game, each quarter is 10 minutes, which equals 40 minutes, the same as two 20-minute halves in a men’s game. Halftime for a women’s game is 15 minutes.
The rule designation was partly made to eliminate the one-and-one free throws after seven team fouls, which are more prevalent in the men’s game. In the new format with four quarters, teams reach the bonus and shoot two free throws on the fifth team foul, similar to the NBA and WNBA. At the beginning of each quarter, the team fouls are reset.
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Why does men’s college basketball play two 20-minute halves?
When Dr. James Nasmith created the game in December 1891 in Springfield, Massachusetts, his original idea was two fifteen-minute halves, with a five-minute rest in between, which was included in his 13 rules for the sport. As the sport grew, more time was added and each half became 20 minutes in 1905.
A change was made in 1951 when college basketball and the NBA changed the format to four 10-minute quarters ― similar to what’s played in women’s college basketball. The NBA has since kept the format and made each quarter 12 minutes, resulting in a 48-minute game. The NCAA changed their format to two halves in 1954, three years after the change.
College coaches favored the change because they worried that a game could be stalled by one team holding the ball because of the lack of a shot clock. Legendary Kentucky coach Adolph Rupp did argue in favor of following the NBA’s four 12-minute quarters in 1955 but to no avail.
Rupp argued that the change could provide fans with a “real competitive game” rather than a “free throw fest.”
Will men’s college basketball switch over to quarters?
A move from the two-half system to four quarters to follow women’s college basketball, the NBA, the WNBA and FIBA was thought to be coming to men’s basketball after the NCAA saw how the experiment worked for the women’s side.
Yet the change never arrived. ESPN’s Jay Bilas argued for the four-quarter format to be introduced to men’s college basketball in 2022.
“Four quarters instead of two halves: Men’s college basketball is the only visible form of the game in the world that does not have quarters. It is not a question of remaining unique. Quarters provide more clock plays and allow team fouls to be reset after the first and third quarters. Moving to quarters will reduce the number of free throws on common fouls and will eliminate the one-and-one.
“A team will reach the bonus upon the fifth foul of a quarter, and two shots will be awarded upon every common foul thereafter. Some argue that the one-and-one is necessary, but I differ. The argument is that a player must ‘earn’ the second foul shot by making the first. That second shot was earned … by getting fouled. Remember, the foul limited the offensive team’s ability to get two or three points on the possession. This rule change, in my view, is necessary.”
Ken Pomeroy ― the creator of the KenPom rankings used in college basketball ― has also argued in favor of a four-quarter format.
How does four quarters vs two halves change the game?
A few differences between men’s and women’s college basketball are readily noticeable. One is how team fouls reset at the end of a half on the men’s side and after a quarter on the women’s side. The quarter breaks serve as a “media timeout” on the women’s side, but the men’s side has four media timeouts a half, which are spread out over four minutes of game action, usually at a stoppage of play.
In women’s college basketball, there were seven total media stoppages outside of team timeouts: four media timeouts midway through a quarter, the end of the first and third quarters, and at halftime.
On the men’s side, eight total media timeouts spread out over four minutes in halves and two halftimes, totaling 10 stoppages, once again outside the team timeouts.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Why women’s, men’s college basketball games use quarters, halves
