Rules committee approves use of charge circle for Division I hoops

[jfsolo]

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=6595290

Its about time, I think its needs to be in high school as well.

[TheBrothers24]

Re: Rules committee approves use of charge circle for Division I hoops

Thank you!

No more of those BS calls they give to players when they are standing underneath the freaking basket. Took them long enough

[p_rushing]

Re: Rules committee approves use of charge circle for Division I hoops

Duke has to find another way to win now. Ha ha, maybe they are lobbying for special exemption in all their games.

[CanonRebelz]

Re: Rules committee approves use of charge circle for Division I hoops

Duke has to find another way to win now. Ha ha, maybe they are lobbying for special exemption in all their games.

ha ha good one. Perhaps they'll just try to flop all over the floor now.

[jasontoddwhitt]

Re: Rules committee approves use of charge circle for Division I hoops

It's about time. But then it takes college basketball 5-10 years to have a meeting to decide on a rule change.

I'd like to see it in high school basketball as well, but I think they need to concentrate on getting all states to adopt a shot clock first. Even a 45 second one would be nice.

[BJNT]

Re: Rules committee approves use of charge circle for Division I hoops

Awesome. Now all they need to do is go with the jump ball in tie up situations instead of the possesion arrow.

[rockchisler]

Re: Rules committee approves use of charge circle for Division I hoops

Snuck that lil rule on us..Nice..But you know it takes awhile for new rule changes when the heads of these commitees are 50, 60, 70 years old..Old people hate change......Thats why nothing ever gets done..

[phenom1990]

Re: Rules committee approves use of charge circle for Division I hoops

It's a good thing they put this in because having a ref trying to imagine where the circle was and make the call, just makes a referee's job harder for no reason.

[IlliniM1ke]

Re: Rules committee approves use of charge circle for Division I hoops

It's about time. But then it takes college basketball 5-10 years to have a meeting to decide on a rule change.

I'd like to see it in high school basketball as well, but I think they need to concentrate on getting all states to adopt a shot clock first. Even a 45 second one would be nice.

High school absolutely needs to adopt a shot clock, watching the 2006 Illinois state championship game where the final score was 31-29 in OT, and Derrick Rose was the star player for the winning team but all they did all game was dribble around and eat clock, horribly boring brand of basketball to watch especially since Simeon would have killed the other team had the coach just told Rose to go wild, the other team surprisingly enough wasn't dribbling around wasting clock nearly as much as Simeon was and they were definitely worse talent wise, Simeon's grind it out and just control clock style let them hang around.

Back on topic, glad to see the NCAA is adding the charge circle finally.

[simgamer0005]

Re: Rules committee approves use of charge circle for Division I hoops

I'd like to share an article with the community and would like to try to interpret this as best i can. maybe you guys can help.

http://www.courierpress.com/news/2011/jun/28/30pt-hed1-10-inches-p/

This article is about a belief that "the “hardest call” in basketball will be a little easier for officials now that the NCAA has approved the addition of an arc three feet from the basket, marking the area on the court in which a defender cannot draw a charge".

Here is a quote from the article :

"The rule is you can't take charges right under the basket and sometimes (a defender is) probably not aware where the bucket is. When there is a line, I think they'll have a better chance of knowing how close they are," said Jim Crews.

I am having trouble digesting this statement. for however many years that there has been college basketball, there has never been a no-charge zone marked on the court to "make it easier" for referees to do their job. Frankly, I think this no-charge zone is a slap in the face to NCAA referees, who after a tremendous college basketball season, continued to call charges near the basket despite the "invisible no-charge zone" enacted after the '08-'09 season. Why were these charges called? Simply, because they were the right calls, and they didn't need a no-charge zone on the court to tell them that. Why are you trying to make defenders aware of where the bucket is? Why? How are you supposed to play defense and make decisions out there when you have to worry about a no-charge zone? Please someone tell me. As a defender, you are concerned with the other team. You have a general sense of where the basket is. The basket isn't moving. It's a stationary object. As a defender, the important thing is contesting the shot. Where you are in relation to the basket may have nothing to do with you predicting opponents movements and trying to contest a shot. As a collegiate defender, you are not, I repeat, are not concerned with whether your feet are outside of a painted arc on the floor. you aren't thinking about this. you are thinking about defensive positioning always ready to either go up for a block, or standing your ground and trying to take a charge, depending on the situation, independent of a no-charge arc on the floor. If the 35-second shot clock is winding down, the opponent may get desperate and try to drive to the hole. If you are playing defense like a 1-3-1 or a 1-1-3. you may at times be under the basket. if someone is dribbling through the basket on the baseline, you may try to draw a charge under the basket. This is because part of the charm of ncaa basketball is the simple and pure nature of it. that's what's always differentiated it from the pros. it didn't have something like illegal defense back in the day and it certainly never had a no-charge zone. the idea of a no-charge zone changes the psychology of the game. the thought that in an economic crisis, our tax dollars are being spent to paint no-charge zones on college courts across the country is an absolute travesty.

to make the “hardest call” in basketball "a little easier for officials"? Really? you think that's what it's going to do huh? make it easier by saying the calls you made last season were wrong and we won't let you make them again next season or any other season for that matter. because we say so. who is anyone to change the way referees are allowed to call a game? Why can't Duke try to draw charges? that's there bread and butta!if Duke can try to draw their usual charges, but if they are not called, or worse blocking fouls are called when they are set, and the other team wins, won't beating Duke feel cheapened? Duke setting charges made them great because it forced defenses to shoot jump shots, and you can't keep up with Duke if you can't shoot jump shots. Now the NCAA is saying Duke you can't do that anymore because we have this thing, you know this arc that we are going to paint. how do you just throwing decades of history, the absolute best things about the game down the drain then try to sell you on it? spending tax payer money to paint no-charge zones on courts across the country? is anyone alive anymore? how come only so few are outraged by this? the irony of it?

"It's safer for the offense, safer for the defense and it helps the officials, so it's a good step. It's not a big logistic thing in terms of painting floors, so it's not going to be a big expense, either."

It's safer for the offense? safer for the defense? you are taking away the benefit of defenders to stand their ground. how does that make it more safe? now you are giving offenses free will to run them over at any time if they are anywhere near the basket? now if you stand your ground close to the basket and an offensive player runs into you, it's an automatic blocking foul. how is that making it safer? you are forcing defenders who would normally set a charge or just simply stand their ground and force the defender to pass into a position where he has to jump up (near the basket going for a block) that could risk tall players to hitting their head on the backboard or the rim going up for a block in a situation where they would otherwise stand their ground and set a charge. as a defender, you have to make an instinctual calculation if you are going to jump up and block a shot near the basket. only the tallest and greatest players can do it. sometimes for a shorter player it's better to set the charge, sometimes the offensive player is driving to strong being over-aggressive, and the best thing to do is to stand your ground, draw the charge, and it's going on the other way.

this is a natural part of college basketball, the fact that every portion of the court can be defended and it's up to coaching philosophy and defensive positioning to push the right buttons at the right time. something like this takes all that away.

"it helps the officials, so it's a good step."

it does not help the officials. it is not a good step. it is an unsightly mark on a plain simple college basketball court and restricts the officials from doing their job properly. it doesn't help the officials because last season many charges were called near the basket and they were the right calls. now you are saying you can't make those calls. who are these elites to make a conference call and change the basic foundation of the game, at its core. it will do nothing but take the creative spirit out of officiating and playing the game and lead to an and-1 fest like the NBA. this is not what college basketball is about fellas. now is the time current coaches all over the country to for once come together and appeal this rule change before it is too late! very few speak up. like how urban meyer stood up against college football's clock rules, coaches now across the country must stand up in unison and oppose this ruling. for the sake of student athletes and the future of the game! we have one chance and it is now.

"It's not a big logistic thing in terms of painting floors, so it's not going to be a big expense, either"

these days, due to the fact that we have been in an economic crisis for many years, any expense is an expense we don't need, especially if it is something that does more harm than good and takes away part of the charm of the game. painting a no-charge zone is on a college basketball court is not a job that anyone should ever have. it is something that has never been and should never be.

"It's the hardest call, such a quick-hitting call. People don't think the guy can be moving, but really the defensive man can be moving and it still can be a charge," said Crews.

Actually, this is nothing more than an opinion about what he thinks a charge should be. every college basketball official has an individual unique philosophy on how charges should be called. some refs only call charges rarely, some frequently. some only away from the basket, and some referees call charges independent of the defenders position relative to the basket. these referees just use their instincts and their knowledge to make the right call. If a defender is set, and an offensive player runs into him, it's a charge and it's going the other way. it doesn't matter how close to the basket the defender is. it's not about that at all.

Crews said "people don't think the guy can be moving".

this is actually a debatable issue. some people are strict in saying the defender must be stationary upon contact to warrant a charge, while other officials are more lenient and call fouls based on severity of contact. this unique opinion on the matter has nothing to do with a no-charge zone, but rather the psychology of refereeing college basketball games. this is part of the fun of the game, knowing the variety of coaching and knowing that each game takes on a life of its own, administered by the officials at their discretion.

"but really the defensive man can be moving and it still can be a charge"

really, that is a debatable issue. some referees will not call a charge unless the defender is stationary. that is the traditional rule. some referees may call a charge if the defender is finishing his move and decelerating, but that is unique to each official in the game as it's a split-second call. these lines by Jim Crews unfortunately are used to try to take people away from the idea of a no-charge zone and talk about the general charge / block relationship and how people interpret it. doesn't he realize that what he is trying to implement takes what he is saying out of the picture? Basically, he is saying we are going to end this debate about the "hardest call in the game" by doing something that prevents the decision from being made any more; at the expense of the game, at the expense of the officials, at the expense of your tax dollars, in difficult economic times? can you believe it?

"This gives it more of a concrete chance of that call being made correctly."

Concrete? But what good is something being concrete if it is incorrect? What if the correct call was a charge near the basket? What if that is the correct call? And you're solution is now making it impossible for the correct call to be made?

He goes on...

"You are either outside that thing or you are not outside of that thing."

What thing? This thing that you are creating? What was wrong with college basketball without the "thing"? What do we need you to sell us some "thing" for our college basketball? because the NBA has it? How does that have anything to do with the game of college basketball, the way the game has been played for decades upon decades? how can you swallow this and feel good about it?

"The refs still have to determine in the guy is set and so forth."

Yeah, it's not even like it's gunna be easy, like you said it was going to be. As you said, the refs are still gunna have to determine if the guy is set, only now you are telling them that not only can you not call what you want to call, what you've been calling, but now you have the added responsibility of taking into account this brand new painted arc on the floor rather then going with your gut like you are used to? and with the no-charge zone, there is a general sense that any contact within the no-charge arc automatically results in a blocking foul. at least that is the way it is in the NBA and i fear that with this change college basketball could become like that too, and it shouldn't because it never has been that way. it certainly wasn't like that this past season. how can you confidently play a 1-3-1 or a 1-1-3 zone in college basketball? standing your ground is part of the game!

"But now there will be a definite factor that will determine if the kid is in the right position or not and the official can focus on the contact."

I don't understand this guy's rationale. What was so wrong about the way college basketball is or was? why were referees making charging calls near the basket last year? That wasn't wrong. They were the right calls. The guy was set and the dude just ran him over. that's a charge. it didn't matter how close to the basket he was. in these charges that were called last season, the defender was defending something very real. the shooter was prevented from shooting at the basket because he collided with a stationary defender. the defender wasn't lost out in space. he was playing zone defense with help defense. it was a very real play. the charges served a purpose and it forced unique decision making by the players. sometimes there is flopping, but that's part of the game, and the referee doesn't need a no-charge zone to decide what is flopping and what is not.

He said the"definite factor" will determine "if the kid is in the right position or not and the official can focus on the contact."

Has this guy refereed a college basketball game before? isn't he giving the referees more things to worry about? he says this is the hardest call in the game, and he says the "official can focus on the contact". but that's inconsistent with "you are either outside that thing or you are not outside of that thing". What does this thing have anything to do with the fact of the matter? Let me get this straight, you are saying the referee now has to make an additional determination that he didn't previously have to, forced to look at the feet of the defender? doesn't he understand that as a referee, you can only have your eyes and focus on one thing at one time. and as he said, it's the hardest call in the game, but why would you want to make the hardest call in the game more compllicated? wouldn't the last thing you'd want be doing is giving something else for the referees to focus on and prohibit charging calls that have been made every season in the history of the game, all the while forcing college teams to alter their defensive and charging mentality? what about the charm of the game fella? what about the joy we as fans get from watching the game played in its purest, simpliest, and most unpredictable form?

"The NCAA's Playing Rules Oversight Panel approved the arc during a conference call last month to discuss rules changes."

During a conference call? Not even face to face with a handshake like old times? What has this come to? A conference call? They didn't even shake hands.

"the officials often had a tough time making the charge-block call on drives to the basket"

we know it's a difficult call! being a college basketball referee is not an easy job. but i can't imagine that referees would want to be prohibited from being able to make their own calls the way they normally do. the court looks so clean without a clumsy no charge zone. i wish you didn't paint one.

college basketball is a special game, and it shouldn't be mocked. the game involves defense and superior finesse athleticism and skill. anyone who loves college basketball knows that the game is great just the way it is and they know to leave well enough alone. i sure i hope there's at least few genuine college basketball fans out there who just have a gut feeling about this one. how about the referees themselves? take a stand and demand the right to call a charge independent of a no-charge zone? fans, teams, and coaches, protest the painting of any no-charge zones on your court so we can preserve what is great and right about the game of college basketball!

"The committee also decided to move the women's 3-point line back a foot, making it the same distance the men have used since the 2008-09 season - 20 feet, 9 inches."

This is something that should have happened with the men's change a few years ago. there should never have been two lines on the court. if only we could get all the good stuff at once. instead we have elitist conference calls calling all the shots. one good thing and one bad thing and they think that's satisfactory.

why can't we have one 3 point line for men and women and without a stupid no-charge zone? that's the way it ought to be.