March Madness: NCAA women's basketball unsportsmanlike and disqualifying foul rules, explained

If you’re watching the 2024 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament, which begins this week, you may be wondering why you don’t hear the term “flagrant foul,” as you would in the men’s game.

There’s a simple reason for it: The rule doesn’t exist on the women’s side.

While the flagrant foul system originally applied to both men’s and women’s basketball when it was adopted in 2011-12, the women’s game abandoned it in 2017-18 to adopt the system used by FIBA, which features “unsportsmanlike” and “disqualifying” fouls.

The effect is the same, however. An unsportsmanlike foul is assessed when officials deem there was excessive or severe contact, such as an elbow being thrown. Committing a contact technical foul during a dead ball also falls under the unsportsmanlike category, unlike in the men’s game.

Like with a flagrant 1 foul, an unsportsmanlike call results in a pair of free throws and possession of the ball for the other side.

There are also disqualifying fouls which, like flagrant 2s, are called when there is an even more severe infraction. In addition to the penalties of an unsportsmanlike foul, it results in the automatic ejection of the offender.

Hopefully, we see a clean tournament with minimal excessive fouls, but if you see an unsportsmanlike or disqualifying foul called, you’ll understand the difference.