Paint it in or keep it out. (AP)
Here's to hoping this is a decision that will stick forever.

The NCAA has something called a "Playing Rules Oversight Panel," and on Tuesday, that panel put into legislation something that the sport's needed for years: restrictions for what kind of decals are allowable on the court. In recent years, players have been slipping and sliding, ripping up ligaments or tweaking ankles, all because of some cheap advertisements on the court were written into the contracts and helping fund the games being held.

The on-court stickers weren't completely sticking, or were way too slippery.

Now the sticker ads will have to be straight-up painted into the floor if they're to be part of the playing surface. Anything short of that has to be some new-age technology that makes the surface of the sticker completely negligible from the surface of the maple.

What's impressive about the decision is, there was real urgency to this. Normally rule-changes come in odd-numbered years; this overhaul to the rulebook was outside standard offseason protocol for the NCAA. As it should have been, being that players' well-being was at stake.

So now, whomever is hosting these early-season tournaments/events will be responsible for making sure the logos/ads are in line with the rules. And if not? The zebras have the right to suspend the games. (I doubt this would ever happen, though.)

In other news that was recently discussed in Indianapolis, expect more regulation/technical fouls from the officials next year if coaches or players become unruly on the bench. That means salty language, histrionics that indicate objection, continued whining, inquisitions or backhanded comments that an official could be on the take, etc. All of these things relate back to good sportsmanship, which the sport has had plenty of, but the demand for debates and melodramatic reactions by coaches have become more frequent and in some cases completely, hysterically uncalled for.

Also, the officials aren't without increased supervision. There's been a lot of inconsistency with what's a block, what's a charge, and in general, college basketball's become all too physical and inconsistent in the paint. Going forward, the stripes will be watched more carefully in an effort to make play cleaner and with less room for interpretation in and around the paint. With the new charge circle put in, this adjustment period was to be expected.