2015 NCAA Tournament thread

It's not really that germane to this particular topic, but I'd like to see them eliminate both elements of late-game time manipulation:

- Assess a tech if there's any interference in getting the ball to the out-of-bounds passer
- Don't allow the "roll the ball up the court to save time" move

 

Those were great days when you made a bucket and were called for the charge -- but the bucket still counted.

 

About that second one: I always thought the five-second count is ongoing until the ball is touched inbounds, but I've seen teams in this year's tournament let the ball roll almost to halfcourt and I would swear it took more than a five count to get there.

 

Geno is only about the billionth person to say this about the men's game this year. The idea that the women's game is better or more balanced is nonsense, but it is unquestionable that men's college basketball is on a downward path, and it is easy to argue that it is the worst it has ever been. Seth Davis wrote about it midseason. The Pac-12 is offering up radical solutions like moving the tournament to a May end so it would get a more visible start after football. There's a crisis for sure.

For me the solution would be to severely restrict timeouts. Each team gets five timeouts, and usually both teams use most or all. And that doesn't include the eight you get for TV. Do we really need coaches bringing guys to the bench to talk it over 18 times times in a 40-minute game?

 

Maddening.

 

Yes, when they put in the "media" timeouts -- I always resent the PA saying that when I'm covering a game for a print outlet, 'cause I sure as hell didn't call it -- they should have drastically cut down on each team's timeouts. Or made all discretionary timeouts 20 seconds -- just enough to stop the clock, say a word or two and and make a substitution. Or at least make every called timeout replace the next scheduled "media" timeout.

 

Discretionary timeouts are also TV timeouts in the sense they allow for more commercials. They'll never be touched.

 

The best is when a coach calls a timeout 22 seconds before the TV timeout.

 

1) That's supposed to be a delay of game warning on first offense, and a technical afterward. Automatic. I don't know why the coaches of running teams don't bitch like hell the very first time anybody tries it; I see teams do it a dozen times or more in a game and nothing is called.

2) I would love to see some team with a really lightning-fast PG, if the opponent tries the 'roll-it-in' bullshit, come bursting up and pick the ball off them clean.

I believe the rule has been changed so that the 5-second count is off when the inbounds passer releases the ball. I do know that 20 years ago or so when I was coaching, the trigger was the ball being touched inbounds, so you had to tell your inbounds passer if the pass was a long one they had to get rid of it on the count of 3 -- and if nobody was open at 3, just fire it hard off the defenders' legs.

 

They should also nix the pseudo time out when a player fouls out of a game. Really, coach, one of your guys had four fouls a moment a go and when he picked up his fifth, you were so woefully prepared that you had to huddle up with your team to talk about it for a minute?

 

I feel a rant coming on.

I hate when people blame charging calls as if fault lies with the rule itself, instead of the players. There's nothing wrong with the rule, there's no reason a defender who's established position needs to accommodate the offensive player, the way basketball was conceived is that the guy with the ball is the one who's supposed to pass off or pull up when there's a defender in front of him.

But, unfortunately, that's NOT the way players learn to play today, as hardly any of today's players develop the necessary mid-range skills to avoid charging situations. Instead the mentality today is that whenever you start driving you have take it all the way to the rim which inevitably forces the refs to blow the whistle, and then people wonder why there are so damn many charging calls today. The reason is simple: today's players charge too fucking much.

Watch some old games and see how great guards from 80s like Johnny Dawkins and Isiah Thomas played and that difference will jump out to you. Those guys had developed unstoppable little mid-range moves where they would stop on a dime and go straight up with a deadly 5 to 10 foot pull up jumper or floater off the drive. That is mostly a lost art. Hardly anybody does that nowadays, instead they just keep barreling forward regardless of whether a defender's in front of them or not.

It's a trend that began with the introduction of the 3 point shot and gets worse every year. Skill development is focused on shooting three pointers and driving to the hoop, but with scant attention to developing short mid-range moves in between. Much is made of the way today kids play year round, but the truth is that summertime ain't spent doing the hours and hours of drills needed to develop a new skill, instead it's spent playing the glorified pickup ball that is the AAU circuit, which only reinforces the shoot outside or drive and nothing else mentality. Anyone who wants to know why there are so many charges today should look there first, rather than at the rules or refs.

There, rant over.

 

The media time outs are going nowhere. Too much ad revenue.

As far as team time outs: Cut them down from a total of five at 1:00 each (loosely timed with up to 60 seconds bumper time on each end) to four -- two 60-second and two 15-second -- STRICTLY TIMED.