INDIANAPOLIS — The National Federation of State High School Associations is changing its rules for basketball games in the 2023-2024 season. Beginning next year, high school teams will shoot two free throws for common fouls when in the bonus, as opposed to the long-standing one-and-one scenario when a team exceeded the allotted number of fouls in the half.

The change to Rule 4-8-1 will also set new foul limits each quarter for awarding the bonus free throw.

The new rules were approved by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) at an annual meeting for the Basketball Rules Committee April 24-26 in Indianapolis. The recommendations were then approved by the NFHS Board of Directors.

Another change is that teams will reach the bonus when their opponent commits five fouls in each quarter, however, team fouls will reset at the end of each quarter.

Previously, teams were awarded the one-and-one bonus when their opponents committed seven fouls in a half and two foul shots when 10 fouls were committed each half.

“The rules committee studied data that showed higher injury rates on rebounding situations and saw this as an opportunity to reduce opportunities for rough play during rebounds,” said Lindsey Atkinson, NFHS Director of Sports and liaison to the Basketball Rules Committee.

The throw-in procedure for front-court violations was also addressed and simplified during the committee meeting last month.

When the ball is in team control of the offensive team’s frontcourt, and the defense commits a violation, a common foul prior to the bonus, or the ball becomes dead, the corresponding throw-in by the offensive team will be at one of the four designated spots, determined by the location of the “infraction”. The one exception is when the defensive team causes a ball to be out of bounds, the throw-in shall be the spot where the ball went out of bounds.

There were several other changes made during the NFHS Basketball Rules Committee annual meeting, such as clarification of styles of uniforms worn by teammates. If you’d like to read more on all the approved rules, you can head to the NFHS website.