As early as December — barely a month into the college basketball season — the stats were already damning the college basketball season as likely to be one of the slowest. Sure enough, it came to pass.
Everyone has their favorite reasons. Lack of skill by incoming players — which goes in several directions. To the pernicious effect of AAU basketball in this era and all the societal blame that follows. Or that it necessitates coaches of those particular teams to slow the game down to give them a better chance to compete.
The increased emphasis on defense, coupled with the rising trend of statistical analysis and film scouting to have players in better position.