A lot of the talk after last night’s Championship game was
about the officiating. No, really it’s
about how bad it was. I think that is
great because this conversation has been a long time coming and is desperately
needed.
Yet any conversation about any topic starts with the
premises and these are mine:
1)
The best basketball is fast basketball. Speed kills I like to say in business and in
sport.
2)
Officials are not charged with being fair. They are charged with: Keeping the game safe
and enforcing the rules so that a fair contest occurs.
3)
In the words of Bill Russell, Basketball is not
a collision game, but it is a contact game.
4)
The speed of the players has made many of the
officials obsolete. IE the officials are
too slow and too old.
5)
Officials are major factors in the outcomes of
games and fans, players, coaches and journalists need to understand that and in
fact support it. The idea of, “let the
players decide” eventually devolves into the ideas such as…well that was a foul for the last 38
minutes plus every game ever played before (Yes, that is you Digger), but not
the last two minutes of this game or if we commit so many fouls then the refs
will only call the worst ( Yes, that is you Coach Pitino) and we gain a huge
advantage or well number 4 has four fouls so give his fifth to the nearest guy
on the floor wearing the same uniform (Yes,
John Thompson we both know what game I am talking about) with less than 4
fouls. ..
Now last night’s game was so badly officiated that, perversely,
it was almost fair, but don’t believe it. There were collisions not called,
officials couldn’t keep up, and officials did affect the outcome with bad calls
that affected Burke and a mysterious placement of a foul on someone not named
Hancock.
Enough, here are my suggestions. Enjoy. Rip them apart.
Old Rules That Need
to Be Enforced
1)
Call the walks.
Call all of them.
2)
Call three seconds. The line is part of the lane, if your big toe
is on the line you are in the lane.
3)
Call carries.
Lexington’s own Tim Hardaway had an unstoppable crossover at UTEP and in
the NBA. However, for all his speed and
quickness the move was unstoppable because he carried the ball on everyone
single one of them.
4)
Call double dribbles. For years I have complained that decades ago
the rule was: if the ball hits your hand and then hits the floor that is your
dribble. There was none of this passing
to oneself or knocking down a pass, picking it up and then dribbling. Or fumbling the ball across the lane like
someone for Michigan did last night. The
play looked like a fumblerooski.
5)
This is a modification of an old rule, except
for shooting fouls make the first ten fouls one and ones. However, from eleven
fouls on the team that was fouled has the option of shooting two or taking the
ball out of bounds.
6)
A hand check on the ball is a foul. The NBA cleaned it up, so can the NCAA.
7)
Bring back the jump ball after tie ups.
Not Old Rules, but
Not Really New Rules
1)
You cannot tie up someone from behind or the
side with one arm. That is a foul. Call it.
2)
End most of the diving onto the floor, first one
from each team is fine, the second one from either team is a foul. (Why am I thinking of Duke?)
3)
While five seconds doesn’t start when the ball
goes through the net, it starts a couple seconds or so later. Start the counts sooner. None of this sashaying to the ball, fondling
it, looking at the spelling (So that is how you spell Wilson?) checking the
label and then beginning to get ready to inbound it. I don’t know what the rule should be, but
would be fine with the fourth official having another clock that he starts when
the ball goes through the net.
4)
Stop allowing timeouts when lying on the floor
or otherwise under duress. You want a
timeout take one, but take it before you dribble into or pass into trouble.
Reward the defense for their effort.
5)
A shirt or shorts tug is a foul. Any questions?
6)
This flagrant foul rule has gotten out of
hand. Personally I think the structure of
the rule and the penalties are about right, but need tweaking. A player has to be as responsible for his
head as another player is for his elbow. (I can’t help it if you are shorter
than me and when I pivot my elbow hits you in the head. )
7)
Stop allowing coaches to have huddles out on the
floor. The floor gets wet and time is
wasted setting up chairs, taking down chairs and cleaning up. You have a bench, use it. If this means a row of seats behind the bench
has to be removed, so be it.
8)
When a timeout is called, a clock starts. When the clock expires, a horn blows and the
ball is ready for play. First warning is for fifteen seconds left and
the second warning is: five seconds
starts and the ball can go into play. Whether
both teams are on the floor or not.
New Stuff
1)
Basketball needs to change the rotation of
officials. These guys cannot keep
up. I suggest the NCAA experiment with a
soccer type rotation where there is a “center” who officiates the game between
the fouls lines. Then there are two “linesmen”
that officiate below the foul line.
Unlike in soccer the center would not run a diagonal, but would stay on
one side of the floor which means the “linesmen” would both be on the other
side.
a.
To be clear I don’t know if this is a good idea,
but think it should be looked at.
b.
I am certain that the game at each of the floor
would be more consistently officiated during a half.
2)
Consider going a step further and assign not
only areas of the floor to each official, but as in hockey certain things they
can and cannot call. EG Say the center
ref calls fouls between the foul lines and the “linesmen” call the fouls below
the foul line. Or say that the linesman
at the opposite end has responsibility for goal tending calls. He has the best view.
a.
Again, I don’t know exactly what the rule should
be, but something needs to change.
3)
Go to the World rule on turnovers. Other team grabs the ball and inbounds from
the nearest sideline without an official needing to touch it. This speeds up the play and reduces the
opportunity for whining. Get up, get
going, and shut up.
4)
Go to a four quarter system in the college
game. End these “official” timeouts on
the fours. Make the break between the 1st
and 2nd and 3rd and 4th quarters a three or
four minute break. This will give time
for players to recover and for TV to sell stuff without these silly situations
where a timeout was called at say 8:02 and four seconds later there is another
because of the 8 minute “official” timeout.
5)
Then force coaches to use their timeouts or lose
them. TV will want stoppages during the
quarter, so give each team five TO’s, but on a use it or lose it basis. You don’t call one in Q1, you lose it. Don’t call one in Q2, you lose it. In essence
each team has a timeout for each of the first three quarters and two for the
fourth quarter. In this situation all TO’s
would be full TO’s and the thirty second timeout is history.
Other Stuff
1)
I really don’t know what to do about the block
charge other than to say the more of a collision it is, the more likely it is a
charge. The NBA works, but there are several
related rules that help it work.
2)
Or get rid of the dunk and many of the problems
go away.
Just the thoughts of an old guy from the Dark and Bloody
Ground, have fun discussing them. Or
not.
