The day after the Virginia football team was clobbered by Georgia Tech, I made the trip to Greensboro, N.C. for the men's basketball ACC media day. Prior to team interviews, I attended the annual Commissioner's Forum, where this year's rule changes were announced by John Clougherty, ACC coordinator of basketball officials.
Usually, such changes, passed down by the NCAA Rules Committee, from year to year are minor. But not this time around.
Rule change: The "Imaginary Box"
The NBA implemented a no-charge zone under the basket a few years ago, and the NCAA is now following suit - sort of. New this year is an imaginary box under the basket where, if a defender attempts to take a charge, the call will automatically be a blocking foul. The area will be a box, the dimensions of which are the width of the backboard (24 inches) and the distance from the backboard to the rim (18 inches). There are no lines on the court denoting this region, though - officials will simply determine if a defender is in the zone.
The most humorous part of this rule for me was that many players didn't know about it. Clougherty said Sunday that the ACC had only visited six of the 12 schools to explain the new rule changes at that point. Miami was one such school - here is one exchange I had with Malcolm Grant and James Dews of the Hurricanes.
Me: "I guess you probably know what the rule changes are."
Grant: "I've heard something about celebration."
Me: "Well, the big one is that they have a box for where you can't take a charge."
Dews: "Oh, really?"
I took out a pen and paper, drew a diagram of the basket, drew in the box and explained what it meant. They looked at me, dumbfounded.
"Wow," Dews said. "That's gonna be tough."
By the time I had finished interviewing players, I had drawn out this no-charge area three times. The season starts in fewer than three weeks. Does anyone else see something wrong with that?\nThat aside, I'll group my reaction with that of the players and coaches because they are the same: Good idea, but why no line?
Clougherty said the rule must be in place for two years before a line can be painted in, mostly because of budgetary reasons. Other than that, the idea is good. The rule has worked in the NBA - it forces defenders to step up and take a charge early, rather than defenders (like Greg Paulus) stepping in under the basket and taking a charge at the last minute.
Point of emphasis: Unsportsmanlike conduct
Have you noticed how often excessive celebration is flagged in football? The same is going to happen in basketball.
Clougherty said any celebration of a good play that "embarrasses your opponent" will result in a technical foul. Such actions include (but are not limited to): pointing a finger at an opposing player, taunting, obscene gestures, standing over somebody after dunking and "muscling up" after a dunk.
Again, my reaction and that of the players are the same: Let them play, for goodness sake. Some of the excessive celebration penalties that are being called in football these days are absurd - Jameel Sewell got one for pointing to the sky. As one fan aptly called it, it's the "What-would-Tim-Duncan-do rule." The only problem is that not everyone is as demure as Duncan.
"When somebody gets dunked on, are you just gonna keep your emotions in?" Maryland guard Greivis Vasquez said. "People aren't supposed to say anything? It's going to be silly."
Point of emphasis: Distracting the free-throw shooter
Apparently, this has always been a rule but it's never been enforced.
After a free-throw shooter gets the ball from the referee, players and coaches will not be allowed to distract the shooter in any way. If a player's hands are down, they must stay down; if they're up, they must stay up. No more yelling, "Box out!" as a player shoots or having the point guard yell out plays from the three-point line. Do any of that and it's the equivalent of a lane violation - on a miss, the shooter gets another shot.
This rule has a good intent but there is some gray area. If Virginia coach Tony Bennett happens to be occupied when the opposing team lines up for free throws, what is he supposed to do if he honestly wants to call out instructions? Act it out on the sideline? During the shooting motion, I understand, but Clougherty said that it's as the player gets ready to shoot - i.e., after he gets the ball. I think that's taking it a bit far.
"You've got to understand, people have been playing this way for 50, 60 years," N.C. State guard Farnold Degand said. "It's going to take a while to get used to."
Rule change: If a player is awarded free throws on a "common foul" (i.e., not flagrant or intentional) but is unable to shoot free throws because he was hurt on the play, then the opposing coach will choose the shooter from the remaining four players on the floor. The rule used to be that the coach of the injured player would choose any other player on the floor or on the bench, which will still apply to flagrant and intentional fouls.
The overall verdict? Rules that directly influence game play - i.e., box under the basket, emphasis on three seconds - are good ideas if they pan out, though I'm not so sure that an imaginary box will do less harm than good. The crackdown on sportsmanship though, is absurd. Don't muscle up after a dunk? Give me a break.
We've seen what is happening in football; players are getting flagged for small celebrations. Now, the NCAA is trying to do the same thing with basketball, and the players know it.
D'Andre Bell of Georgia Tech had the best response when I asked him about these rules.
"If it's not broken," he said, "don't break it."
That pretty much summed up every player's reaction to rule changes that relate more to the image of the game than to the substance of it. After all, you can only clean up the image of the game so much before it has no image at all.
"That kind of stuff is what helps college basketball," Virginia Tech guard Malcolm Delaney said. "If you change that, that's basically taking away one of the aspects of the game"
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