Associated Press: College basketball 'is brutal to watch right now'

[BleedGopher]

per the article:

In case you haven't noticed — and how could you not? — scoring hasn't been this low since at least 1982, and one has to go all the way back to the early 1950s to find another season that beats this one for offensive ineptitude. Field-goal percentages are at 1960s levels. Three-point shooting has never been this bad since the long-range line was added in the 1980s.

Which brings us to a few of the changes that are needed ASAP to get the game back on track:

— Consolidate the referees under one sanctioning body. It's vital that everyone be held to the same standard. For instance, if hand-checking is going to be a point of emphasis, then everyone should get the memo, regardless of what league they're playing in. At the very least, Bilas said, the major conferences should come together on this issue.

— Follow the rule book. A bunch of new regulations aren't needed; there's plenty of things that aren't being called already. No one wants see the game become nothing more than a free-throw contest, and it may take a year or two for the message to sink in. But it will.

— Reduce the 35-second shot clock. This is more of a step to show the fans that college basketball is serious about addressing its problems, and likely would have less impact than the first two steps. But going with the NBA's 24-second clock or, at the very least, the 30-second clock already used in the women's game would undoubtedly create more possessions.

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/college-basketball-brutal-watch-right-now

Go Gophers!!

 

[station19]

So how does a 24 second shot clock reduce the number of fouls and increase shooting percentages? If it's more possessions you want why not go to a 5 second shot clock.

 

[westcoastgopher11]

I do like the 30 second shot clock but independent of the concerns about the game being "brutal to watch".

 

[Ski U Mah Gopher]

Widen the lane. Making the bigger guys post further away can lead to more movement into the lane by the guards.

Move the charge circle to the NBA distance. Once again, better for the offense if the defender has to be set further out.

 

[SDGopherFan]

shot clock needs to change

it's brutal to watch a team cross the half court line and just pass and kill clock until there's 7 seconds left and then quick shoot or get fouled, I'm all for lowering it to 24 seconds, I think this would help greatly. That and stop calling so many charges, I hate that call, it ruins the viewing of college basketball.

 

[GophersInIowa]

Get rid of the charge circle all together if you ask me. Refs are too busy looking at that now instead of looking to see if it's an actual charge or not.

 

[WILLBGOPHER]

Don't let the defender clutch and grab -hand check- players on the perimeter (like the NBA). How can players drive and create when the defense is always mugging them. This alone would increase creativity in scoring, and triple Wisconsin's losses every year. IMO, Bo is the best at teaching and implementing this strategy.

 

[Buttcheeks McGaffigan]

More fantasy than reality. Put in place a go pro out of high school or stay in college for three years.

 

[ruppertflywheel]

I commented on this in one of BGA1's posts. The has turned into football on hardwood. They've quit calling the body foul on a blocked shot. You can hammer the guy now, but if you block the shot clean they don't call it on you. Play inside the post for position is brutal. Niftiness has left the game because of the physical play. Changes need to be made.

 

[Dr.Don]

Go to 5 referees. The first 52,505 applicants whose resumes are received will first interview for jobs with BleedGopher, GopherLady, Selection Sunday, Bobby Knight, and Jim Souhan. Those who pass through that first round, 1000 of them, will then meet and interview with Jim Calhoun, Shaka Smart, and Joel Maturi. The third and final step will be for those who get through step two, all 25 of them, will then meet with and interview with station19, mnsports255, and dpodoll, who will in turn recommend a group of 5. The step three members will then pass on the 5 who qualify will each get 2 college games per night with private jets to ship them from site to site. Once we have those 5 referees assigned, all other games will become scrimmages where each team will play 30 minutes on offense, followed by 30 minutes of defense, running time. These scrimmages will be refereed by members of the student bodies.

These 5 final referees will be licensed and bonded for $50 million each, and will be required to provide proof of citizenship as U.S. citizens.

I guy can dream, right?

 

[station19]

I commented on this in one of BGA1's posts. The has turned into football on hardwood. They've quit calling the body foul on a blocked shot. You can hammer the guy now, but if you block the shot clean they don't call it on you. Play inside the post for position is brutal. Niftiness has left the game because of the physical play. Changes need to be made.

+19

 

[scher215]

Widen the lane. Making the bigger guys post further away can lead to more movement into the lane by the guards.

Move the charge circle to the NBA distance. Once again, better for the offense if the defender has to be set further out.

Usually don't see people suggest this, but I like it. The NBA is easier to run offense and post up with a bigger more spread out floor.

Also would like to see the 30 second shot clock.

If you really want more offense, get rid of the hand checking that was mentioned and add in an illegal defense call. No more extreme sagging and crowding the lane to the extreme and less reliance on zone defense (sorry Syracuse)

Personally, I love the NBA for its scoring. I prefer the NBA to college slightly, so the more changes they make to make the game more like the NBA is all good with me! I enjoy the atmosphere in college way more, love going to the games and love the Gophers more than any NBA team, but the style of play and talent is what I much prefer about the NBA.

 

[scher215]

Don't let the defender clutch and grab -hand check- players on the perimeter (like the NBA). How can players drive and create when the defense is always mugging them. This alone would increase creativity in scoring, and triple Wisconsin's losses every year. IMO, Bo is the best at teaching and implementing this strategy.

The NBA doesn't let you hand check. In the Jordan era, you absolutely could. Today not so much.

 

[tikited]

We might never get a shot off with a 25 or 30 second shot clock.

 

[bleedsmaroonandgold]

I actually prefer more physical play. I'm one of those believers that everything in competitive sports should be earned with blood, sweat, and bruises.

 

[Dr.Don]

I actually prefer more physical play. I'm one of those believers that everything in competitive sports should be earned with blood, sweat, and bruises.

In my next life I am gonna come back as a basketball coach and my team will learn to play the game with boxing gloves. And the cage around the playing floor will make a comeback for the safety of the fans.

 

[mnsportsgeek]

I actually prefer college basketball over the NCAA due to the teams actually needing to work to score. If I wanted to watch teams walk on defense and give each other open looks all night i'd watch the NBA... or the ACC

 

[Winasota Gopher]

If you call Indiana vs Michigan State brutal, I don't want to talk to you.

I would argue college basketball is fantastic right now, outside the occassional Wisconsin Or ND style burn game when they aren't shooting well.

 

[mnsportsgeek]

If you call Indiana vs Michigan State brutal, I don't want to talk to you.

I would argue college basketball is fantastic right now, outside the occassional Wisconsin Or ND style burn game when they aren't shooting well.

Agreed. The atmosphere. The competition level. The desire to win. Where do you get that in the regular season anywhere else? In any other sport that doesn't involve a pigskin?

Doesn't exist.

 

[ruppertflywheel]

If you call Indiana vs Michigan State brutal, I don't want to talk to you.

I would argue college basketball is fantastic right now, outside the occassional Wisconsin Or ND style burn game when they aren't shooting well.

Hmm...how old are you?

 

[Winasota Gopher]

Hmm...how old are you?

28

 

[scher215]

Just wanted to pass this along as I felt it was somewhat relevant to the discussion of rules and offense in the NBA and (kind of) how it compares to college.

This is from an interview former Lakers and Bulls coach Phil Jackson did with SI. He talks a bit about getting the ball into the post, coaching an offense (Which is a huge point of discussion here), and how rules impact style of play (also mentions the shot clock) - What struck me were his comments about the rules affecting post play in the NBA, and you compare that to NCAA basketball and you see why guards matter so much more in college:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/nba/news/20130219/phil-jackson-los-angeles-lakers-dwight-howard/

SI: You've been away from the game for two years. Do things change quickly in the league?

Jackson: Not really. It's a mimic league. It has been for a long time. Coaches see something and say, "Oh, that's hard to defend. Maybe we'll run that." Screen-roll. Three-point shooters in the corner. Bigs that can roll and pop. San Antonio has a system, a way of doing things, and maybe a couple others. But most everybody runs that screen-roll.

SI: How does the game look to you? Similar from team to team?

Jackson: Yes. Basketball is a simple game. Your goal is penetration, get the ball close to the basket, and there are three ways to do that. Pass, dribble and offensive rebound.

The easiest one is -- or should be -- the pass. But the new rules allow you to throw more people at post-up players. NBA basketball is a big man's game, and in the past they protected that aspect of the game. Well, those rules went out the window and what they didn't do was consider this: If they're going to continue to allow zone defenses to work and shut down the paint, then they have to put six more seconds on the shot clock. A 30-second clock. But they're so attached to the idea of the 24-second clock that it doesn't happen.

SI: Did you bring it up when you were coaching?

Jackson: All the time, all the time. But general managers always dominated those competition committees. Anyway, it [allowing limited zones] has eliminated some of the post passing and made dribbling a major part of our game. As a result, I think people forgot that there are still ways you can get the ball inside rather than just standing there and throwing the ball in. You have to have a system that makes all things work. Pop [San Antonio's Gregg Popovich] has that.

SI: How would you describe that system?

Jackson: Popovich made significant growth 10 years ago or so after David Robinson left. It had been pretty stilted. You know, two big guys. A lot of stuff he does represents the triangle offense. They flow into it a different way. Strong-side triangle. Pinch-post action. Some of it may have come about because we were going at each other all the time in the playoffs and he had to defend against it.

SI: When you won three consecutive titles [2000-02] with Shaq and Kobe, you ran the triangle. But didn't you also get a lot of screen-rolls out of that?

Jackson: Yes, and it came naturally out of the offense. Or it might be a "special." We always had some of those.

SI: When you look at the Lakers now, considering that they've had a lot of personnel changes and injuries, what do you see?

Jackson: They just don't put the ball in the post. They'll use a screen-roll to get the guy in the post. But there's no consistent plan to do it. Yes, Kobe will go in there. But Dwight [Howard] just doesn't get any touches. They've basically eliminated his assets.

SI: But wouldn't his assets be rolling off the screen-roll, with either [Steve] Nash or Kobe?

Jackson: You want the ball 10 feet away from the basket. Throw it into the post, make them double-team and have everybody around to make shots. That's what Shaq could do. That's where you have the Robert Horrys, the Derek Fishers and the Rick Foxes sitting out there getting wide-open jumpers.

And just for fun, he offers an explanation as to, basically, the purpose of a basketball coach:

SI: A final obvious question: What do you miss about coaching?

Jackson: What you might expect. Being around the other coaches, being around the guys. It's what I talked about in my book [Eleven Rings]. Coaching is about, "How do I get these people to play at their peak level?" Yeah, the X's and O's mean something, but you can get people to do that. And a lot of those guys have been hired. The Lawrence Franks and the Frank Vogels. Mike Brown was one of those guys. That's not a knock. Those guys know how to coach the game.

But coaching is much more than that. It is a spiritual quest. And if it's not that, you don't have a challenge, you don't have a mission. Forming a brotherhood and trying to move it forward, that's the part that I miss.

 

[GopherRock]

Don't we always see an article like this about this time of year?

 

[station19]

Just wanted to pass this along as I felt it was somewhat relevant to the discussion of rules and offense in the NBA and (kind of) how it compares to college.

This is from an interview former Lakers and Bulls coach Phil Jackson did with SI. He talks a bit about getting the ball into the post, coaching an offense (Which is a huge point of discussion here), and how rules impact style of play (also mentions the shot clock) - What struck me were his comments about the rules affecting post play in the NBA, and you compare that to NCAA basketball and you see why guards matter so much more in college:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/nba/news/20130219/phil-jackson-los-angeles-lakers-dwight-howard/



And just for fun, he offers an explanation as to, basically, the purpose of a basketball coach:

Good read scher

This caught my eye:
"If they're going to continue to allow zone defenses to work and shut down the paint, then they have to put six more seconds on the shot clock. A 30-second clock. But they're so attached to the idea of the 24-second clock that it doesn't happen. "

One of the main things that separates college bb(actually fb also) from the pros is the different styles teams/coaches play and how they match up. Yes watching Wisky sucks but. Good defense, good ball movement and good shot selection can all be enjoyable to watch. The 24 second clock is one of the worst things about the nba, let's not go in that direction.

 

[scher215]

Good read scher

This caught my eye:
"If they're going to continue to allow zone defenses to work and shut down the paint, then they have to put six more seconds on the shot clock. A 30-second clock. But they're so attached to the idea of the 24-second clock that it doesn't happen. "

One of the main things that separates college bb(actually fb also) from the pros is the different styles teams/coaches play and how they match up. Yes watching Wisky sucks but. Good defense, good ball movement and good shot selection can all be enjoyable to watch. The 24 second clock is one of the worst things about the nba, let's not go in that direction.

Caught my eye as well. I noticed that and the portion about getting the ball in the post. Not only to score, but to pass!

I think his point too was, a zone makes it easier to pack the paint. And not even a 2-3 zone that kills the Gophers, but watch the Wisconsin game again and notice how much attention every Wisconsin defender away from the ball pays to the paint. They practically have 4 guys focused on the paint at all times. The NBA used to be very strict about not allowing this. As Jackson says, they are getting a little more lax on it. This ability to focus so much on the paint make it difficult to do straight post feeds or work and pass out of the middle or even drive into the lane which is pretty important to getting good shots and makes things especially more difficult when your three point shooting isn't that great.

I appreciate his comments about getting it into the post since so much of the Gopher offense relates to Trevor and many of our complaints are about not driving enough.

And in glad someone else found value in it as well as me, found it all interesting though!

 

[gopherbadgerman]

go to 4 on 4, that would really spread out the floor...

 

[station19]

Caught my eye as well. I noticed that and the portion about getting the ball in the post. Not only to score, but to pass!

I think his point too was, a zone makes it easier to pack the paint. And not even a 2-3 zone that kills the Gophers, but watch the Wisconsin game again and notice how much attention every Wisconsin defender away from the ball pays to the paint. They practically have 4 guys focused on the paint at all times. The NBA used to be very strict about not allowing this. As Jackson says, they are getting a little more lax on it. This ability to focus so much on the paint make it difficult to do straight post feeds or work and pass out of the middle or even drive into the lane which is pretty important to getting good shots and makes things especially more difficult when your three point shooting isn't that great.

I appreciate his comments about getting it into the post since so much of the Gopher offense relates to Trevor and many of our complaints are about not driving enough.

And in glad someone else found value in it as well as me, found it all interesting though!

I believe it went from illegal to legal.

If college bb goes to all run and gun, 24 second clock and no zone.....I'm out.

I did watch a full quarter of a T-wolves game once.....but that was it.

 

[scher215]

I believe it went from illegal to legal.

If college bb goes to all run and gun, 24 second clock and no zone.....I'm out.

I did watch a full quarter of a T-wolves game once.....but that was it.

Well there is your problem, you may as well have watched a 4th grade game instead of the Wolves!

 

[GophersInIowa]

go to 4 on 4, that would really spread out the floor...

Or after a player commits a foul, they have to go to a penalty box for 15 seconds and their team is down one player. The team with the advantage will want to speed things up on offense before the 5th defender comes back on the floor.

 

[station19]

go to 4 on 4, that would really spread out the floor...

Or after a player commits a foul, they have to go to a penalty box for 15 seconds and their team is down one player. The team with the advantage will want to speed things up on offense before the 5th defender comes back on the floor.

Got you both beat.

Have one player that can only be in the offensive end of the court.