BleedGopher
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per Bilas:
Well, we have a fire in college basketball, and it is spreading to the rest of our house. It is officiating. Not individual officials but the officiating of the game.
College basketball's officiating problem is getting worse. Several years ago, the administrators of the game made great strides to reduce overt physicality and allow offenses to have freedom of movement without being fouled. But, some five years ago, scoring had reached an all-time low and the games were suffering as a result. A lot of work was done to ameliorate the problem, to have the games called by the rules as written. As a result of the work done in that area, the game got significantly better.
Well, all those gains have been given back and we now have hockey games in the major conferences, not basketball games. It is, in a word, depressing. This season, freedom of movement does not exist and the college game more closely resembles the NBA in the 1990s, a physical slugfest and fistfight every night.
Turn on any major conference game, and you will see arm bars on ball handlers not in the post, handchecking, bumping and chucking of cutters, illegally riding cutters and screeners off of their paths, and overt physicality in the post area, including a lack of enforcement of verticality on shooters. Whatever you see on the floor in major conferences this season is not basketball and would not be allowed in the NBA or FIBA. Hell, it would not be allowed in the NFL on wide receivers. It is wrong and needs to be seriously addressed. Coaches are confounded and complaining, and so are the bloviating gasbags who announce the games.
The most damning data point? Fouls called are at an all-time low this season. Given how ridiculously physical this game has become, that is impossible. Officials are either missing the fouls committed or ignoring them. And it is clearly the latter. Individual officials cannot and should not be blamed, as they are just doing what their bosses are allowing them to do. The fault lies with the administration of the game.
The product we see on the floor is the responsibility of NCAA national coordinator of officials J.D. Collins, the conference supervisors of officials, the conference commissioners and the rules and competition committees. (Disclosure: I am a member of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Competition Committee.) This is not said lightly, but changes should be considered if this clear problem is not fixed. The conference commissioners should order their supervisors to crack down on officials to call the games according to the rules as written and interpreted. If they do not, the supervisors should be subject to replacement with people who will properly do the job.
The competition is great and perhaps has never been better. The players are incredibly athletic and skilled. But the officiating sucks. Coaches are teaching players to foul because they know the officials will not call it, and those coaches would be rank idiots if they did not adjust by teaching players to "defend" according to how the games are called. But they are not teaching defense, they are teaching fouling because the officials will not call clear fouls.
www.espn.com
Go Gophers!!
Well, we have a fire in college basketball, and it is spreading to the rest of our house. It is officiating. Not individual officials but the officiating of the game.
College basketball's officiating problem is getting worse. Several years ago, the administrators of the game made great strides to reduce overt physicality and allow offenses to have freedom of movement without being fouled. But, some five years ago, scoring had reached an all-time low and the games were suffering as a result. A lot of work was done to ameliorate the problem, to have the games called by the rules as written. As a result of the work done in that area, the game got significantly better.
Well, all those gains have been given back and we now have hockey games in the major conferences, not basketball games. It is, in a word, depressing. This season, freedom of movement does not exist and the college game more closely resembles the NBA in the 1990s, a physical slugfest and fistfight every night.
Turn on any major conference game, and you will see arm bars on ball handlers not in the post, handchecking, bumping and chucking of cutters, illegally riding cutters and screeners off of their paths, and overt physicality in the post area, including a lack of enforcement of verticality on shooters. Whatever you see on the floor in major conferences this season is not basketball and would not be allowed in the NBA or FIBA. Hell, it would not be allowed in the NFL on wide receivers. It is wrong and needs to be seriously addressed. Coaches are confounded and complaining, and so are the bloviating gasbags who announce the games.
The most damning data point? Fouls called are at an all-time low this season. Given how ridiculously physical this game has become, that is impossible. Officials are either missing the fouls committed or ignoring them. And it is clearly the latter. Individual officials cannot and should not be blamed, as they are just doing what their bosses are allowing them to do. The fault lies with the administration of the game.
The product we see on the floor is the responsibility of NCAA national coordinator of officials J.D. Collins, the conference supervisors of officials, the conference commissioners and the rules and competition committees. (Disclosure: I am a member of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Competition Committee.) This is not said lightly, but changes should be considered if this clear problem is not fixed. The conference commissioners should order their supervisors to crack down on officials to call the games according to the rules as written and interpreted. If they do not, the supervisors should be subject to replacement with people who will properly do the job.
The competition is great and perhaps has never been better. The players are incredibly athletic and skilled. But the officiating sucks. Coaches are teaching players to foul because they know the officials will not call it, and those coaches would be rank idiots if they did not adjust by teaching players to "defend" according to how the games are called. But they are not teaching defense, they are teaching fouling because the officials will not call clear fouls.
Bilas: Updated 1-68 rankings and the emergency that is college basketball officiating
We're less than a month from Selection Sunday, and The Bilastrator has once again spoken.
Go Gophers!!
