Originally posted by runt#69:
Originally posted by mj2k10:
Originally posted by Lob2Davis:
Originally posted by KyCatFan:
It seems like more and more games are turning into ugly games because of teams surrounding the paint area and then playing rugby if the ball gets in there. Would widening the lane improve the play in the paint? Of course that would benefit teams like us.
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No, what I'm tired of is all the gnat-attention spanned fans trying to turn college basketball into whatever that detritus is that they play in the NBA.
And what people with little knowledge don't seem to understand is that college basketball now is NOTHING like it was historically. It's a completely different game.
With the exception of last season, when scoring rose because of the early-season emphasis on freedom of movement, college basketball scoring is at its lowest point in over 60 years, and has been at that level for at least the last 5 years. Lower than the stall-ball era of the early 80's, lower than any time since the very early 50's. FG attempts are at an all-time low. FT attempts (and fouls called) are at an all-time low. And all of that is in spite of the extra points you get for 3 point shots, which artificially inflates scores in comparison to those before the 3 point line.
If the game that is being played now has almost no relationship stylistically to what came before it, at what point do the things that allegedly separate it from the NBA cease to matter? I say it's when, as another poster accurately described it in another thread, the game devolves into something that looks like "pigs fighting in the mud".
It's not like this is unprecedented in sports. Coaches and players find ways to gain an edge. Baseball in the late 60's saw pitchers dominate to a ridiculous degree. The rules changed. Football in the 70's saw passing become incredibly difficult. The rules changed. College basketball in the early to mid 80's saw stall tactics make the game unbearable to watch. The rules changed. Something needs to change in college basketball now, because it's not even close to the game it used to be.
This post was edited on 1/18 3:00 AM by mj2k10
@mj2k : while I agree with everything you've said here (well said, well done) I return to the original post's question about zone defenses...
No, I don't mind zone defenses as it is a part of strategy coaches can use, we don't need to change the rules disallowing zone defenses. The problem is in what mj2k has pointed out. And why is this the case?
It's very simple. It lies in the officiating.
Statistically, the same number of fouls ARE being called. It's virtually the same as in years past. The problem is that coaches have realized that they can have their lesser talented teams hack and grab and slap and foul and the refs will not call everything that needs to be called. So it mucks the game up, and hence, we have a huge dropoff in offensive production.
If the officials called the games properly, all this unnecessary, over the top (and illegal) contact would end. It would be a painful process to get the game back to a more free flowing sport, but it would eventually get thru to coaches and players. The flopping? Let's end it. All that contact away from the ball on screens and rubs? let's clean that up while we're at it.
They really need to reign in the overly physical play and get the message across, imo.
