NCAA to regulate 'incessant flopping' under basket

2009-10-30T16:30:05-04:00

2009-10-29T10:06:10-04:00

2009-10-30T16:30:05-04:00

mjs034

Las Vegas 904916

13 Hey, when you drive the basket and get hit, it is either a block, or a charge, or if no advantage is gained over the player driving the basket, it is not a foul. What is the problem? It is up to the official to make that judgment. 7478099

2009-10-30T13:44:12-04:00

radioguy620

Fruita 492733

12 Hmmm..... suddenly, a portion of the basketball court is off-limits to defenders. I don't like it...I can see it expanding to what the NBA does...yuck... 7475458

2009-10-30T12:18:46-04:00

samit21

Columbus 417574

11 In terms of the college rule change, I think it's ridiculous that such a change is even necessary. If the defensive player disrupts the offensive player through contact, and the contact is not a foul on the offensive player, there must be a foul called. That said, Northside's initial comment was in response to somebody who claimed that all officials completely miss the charge/block call and can't get any calls right. I'm not an official at any level, but it seems like a pretty ridiculous claim to make. Basketball officiating, in my opinion, is pretty bad in comparison to NFL and MLB, but, I don't think they miss an inordinate number of calls considering how many sets of eyes you have on a court at once, and the pace of the action. 7473569

2009-10-30T12:14:18-04:00

zeeba

Ypsilanti 632458

10 Seems that if a defender can establish position under the basket before the offensive player gets there, charging should be called. He can't pass off anymore? Tough. The lane wasn't as open as he thought. His option is to pull up and shoot or veer off. This wouldn't be a problem if the refs called traveling the way it's supposed to be called, instead of allowing players to carry the ball for 2-3 steps when attacking the rim. 7473467

2009-10-30T12:03:04-04:00

riprose

chicago 436445

9 As a program director for a youth basketball league this battle about refs is plain dumb. The rule for a charge is the rule for a charge. It does not matter what age you are. The difference is whether or not it is called or how it is called in the league, so the apples and oranges analogy does not really work. Unless, northside you are referring to they are both fruit but different taste(which would be the ref's personal interptation) but for some reason I believe you are making the analogy as two different things. 7473264

2009-10-30T11:45:58-04:00

Northside

Columbus 840943

8 Hussien, you are just proving that you are an ignorant ****. Complete moron and waste of time. 7472756

2009-10-30T11:27:59-04:00

HusseinObamaBinLaden

New York 904686

7 Hint- Not a soul on here believes for one second you're D-1 or above. So let it go junior. The longer you pretend you know what you're talking about, the sillier you look. Hush now. The grownups are trying to have a discussion. We're done with you. 7472260

2009-10-30T11:19:09-04:00

Northside

Columbus 840943

6 Hey Hussein, your just proving my point, you know nothing about officiating and have no idea what level I officiate. Hint - It ain't youth leagues. 7472024

2009-10-30T11:15:20-04:00

HusseinObamaBinLaden

New York 904686

5 dude, northside, youth league, middle school, intramural officiating doesn't count when talking about D1 or NBA officiating. it's apples and oranges. or better yet, Oxford vs. special ed. you have a 0% chance of knowing what the percentage of correct calls at that level is. you should stop posting and embarrassing yourself. 7471905

2009-10-30T10:49:43-04:00

Northside

Columbus 840943

4 "They'll never get the charge/blocking call right.... " I'm assuming you mean the officials will never get the call right? Let me guess, you aren't an official. Well, I am, and you know what, that call is called correctly 99% of the time. You have no idea what the rules detail about that call - it is just not a judgment call. Typical uneducated fan who thinks he knows more than the officals. 7471230

As Mississippi State swingman Ravern Johnson drove by his defender and soared towards the basket, Washington Huskies center Jon Brockman slid across the lane and established position under the ring. The two players collided, Johnson missed the shot, Washington got the rebound, and no call was made by the official watching the play. The narrator's voice then intoned, "Call this play a blocking foul. You no longer have the option of passing on this play." That sequence, which occurred during the first round of the 2009 NCAA tournament, is included on the DVD that the NCAA sends out annually to referees explaining rules changes and points of emphasis for the coming season. The play involving Johnson and Brockman was used to illustrate what John Adams, the NCAA's coordinator of officials, said on the video "may be the most difficult officiating issue we have to deal with this season." He was referring to the new rule that requires refs to call a block on a secondary defender who attempts to take a charge under the basket. Many fans mistakenly believe that there has long been an explicit rule against taking a charge under the basket. The misconception existed because referees generally followed an unwritten rule that even if a defender established position, the play should result in a no-call –- sort of like the way baseball umpires treat the "neighborhood play" by allowing an infielder to get an early jump off second base while turning a double play. In May, the NCAA's men's basketball rules committee decided that a no-call in this situation wasn't good enough. It put in writing that an official must call a blocking foul. That rule will go into effect this season. "This change is a very good attempt at stopping the incessant flopping that's been going on for years," says Siena coach Fran McCaffrey, who joined the rules committee this month. "In the past, the ref wouldn't call anything. He'd say, 'Get up, you're flopping.' Meanwhile, a guy missed the shot because the defender disrupted him." Still, many coaches, McCaffrey included, believe the committee did not go far enough because it declined to put an arc on the floor to clearly delineate the new restricted area. At the ACC's media day this week, Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski called that decision (or non-decision) "a joke." There is also a strong sentiment among officials in favor of having an arc similar to the one the NBA uses. "It certainly would help the referee if we have a line painted," says John Clougherty, the ACC's officiating coordinator. "They have to referee a guy's feet but they're taking a guess on it. How accurate would they be if we had an imaginary three-point line?" It would seem obvious that if the committee members were going to pass this new rule that they would also put in the new line. So why didn't they? The biggest reason was they couldn't agree on just how big the arc should be. The new rule calls for the restricted area to extend from the front and sides of the rim to the backboard, which is approximately 24 inches by 18 inches. That is considerably smaller than the NBA's arc, which stretches eight feet in diameter. "The NBA wants the offense to have a huge advantage anywhere near the basket, but we didn't want to create that," says Charlotte coach Bobby Lutz, a member of the rules committee. By deciding not to establish a line right away, the committee left itself some wiggle room for next year. The members can see how the rule worked this season and then decide if they want to put a new line on the floor, and if so how big it should be. The second reason the committee balked was procedural. In 2003, the NCAA created the Playing Rules Oversight Panel (or PROP) to streamline the process by which rules get put into action. (I know, just what the NCAA needs: more bureaucracy.) These rules are now being implemented in two-year cycles, and since men's college basketball is beginning the first year of the new cycle, the NCAA is supposed to wait another year before putting major changes into effect. Ty Halpin, the NCAA's liaison to the rules committee, told me that if the rules committee felt strongly that there should be a line on the floor this season, it would have gotten done, but the more the members learned about this process at their meeting, the more it gave them pause. Some speculated that the committee was worried about the cost of requiring schools to add an arc, but Halpin told me that was not a factor. It's far less expensive to draw a new line than it is to move a line that already exists, as the committee required last year when it extended the three-point line. A bigger concern was the aesthetics of making such a drastic change. To put yet another line on an already cluttered court, the folks in that meeting would have had to be really committed to it. In the end, the committee erred on the side of caution. "The onus is on the coaches to teach our players to get out from under the basket. This rule is supposed to be a deterrent," says Notre Dame coach Mike Brey, who also sits on the rules committee. "Do we really need the line on the floor? We have to examine that. Maybe if we lessen those collisions, it will be enough." As Adams indicated on the DVD, this new rule will be a major topic of conversation during the season. If there is a lot of complaining from coaches and officials about the lack of an arc, you can expect there will be one in place next year. Check back in for more juicy tidbits from the NCAA's officiating DVD tomorrow, including how Adams wants his refs to officiate all those swinging elbows that became a rampant problem last season. Follow <a href="http://twitter.com/SethDavisHoops">Seth Davis on Twitter</a> or <a href="http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000401200701">click here to friend him on Facebook</a> http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/889/088/thumb/davis_seth.jpg 0 CT

Seth Davis Hoops

Ridgefield 889748 84001 As Mississippi State swingman Ravern Johnson drove by his defender and soared towards the basket, Washington Huskies center Jon Brockman slid across the lane and established position under the ring. The two players collided, Johnson missed the shot, Washington got the rebound, and no call was made by the official watching the play. The narrator's voice then intoned, "Call this play a blocking foul. You no longer have the option of passing on this play." That sequence, which occurred during the first round of the 2009 NCAA tournament, is included on the DVD that the NCAA sends out annually to referees explaining rules changes and points of emphasis for the coming season. The play involving Johnson and Brockman was used to illustrate what John Adams, the NCAA's coordinator of officials, said on the video "may be the most difficult officiating issue we have to deal with this season." He was referring to the new rule that requires refs to call a block on a secondary defender who attempts to take a charge under the basket.