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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
Maybe I misuderstand, but I don't think Kaufman has really thought this one through. If you treat the center line as out of bounds when it has been crossed by the offense, then when the defense taps the ball back across it, the ball goes back to. . . the offense. It is, then, even less detrimental to them that it has been tapped out of their hands the either other option. Can someone please explain Kaufman's point to me.
Ian: I live in the Canadian Arctic without cable so you're providing all my Madness commentary.
Good God, that sounds awful.
I don't mean that you live in the Canadian Arctic. I mean that I'm providing all of your March Madness commentary. Beware! I'm making it all up!
Glenn A.: Between all of the "TV timeouts" and the other hundred or so they get now it makes the last 2 minutes of a game take what feels like 6 hours to complete.
Feels like? It does. I have a graphic representation of that that I'll mention tomorrow.
Michael Porcaro: There will always be that segment of the population that will never embrace women’s basketball, like ESPN Radio’s odious Colin Cowherd, but they need to close the gap between wheat and the chaff before the women’s tournament becomes a serious topic of sports conversation.
I agree and have written as much in the past. I think the women's game is at the stage now where the Tournament should be 32 teams, though they could stretch it to 48 without hurting anybody. It's at a roughly similar stage to where the men's game was when the Tournament began to expand beyond 16 teams. In those days, the gap was still huge between the top teams and those below, say 50, but the era of UCLA dominance was closing. That's where women's basketball is now, with the chokehold of Tennessee/UConn loosening.
Cory Boone: I like the creativity of the penalty-box idea, but it's too derivative for my taste.
mintosh: Maybe I misuderstand, but I don't think Kaufman has really thought this one through. If you treat the center line as out of bounds when it has been crossed by the offense, then when the defense taps the ball back across it, the ball goes back to. . . the offense. It is, then, even less detrimental to them that it has been tapped out of their hands the either other option. Can someone please explain Kaufman's point to me.
It's just an end line for the offense. What I mean is, if the ball goes back over the center line, it's a backcourt violation, whoever touched it last.
And I think I end up saying this every year too. But it has been a great tournament all the way around, and I think that's due to parity that is being created by the drain of talent away from college by the NBA. Remember when Carmelo carried Syracuse into the finals as a freshmen? We could have possibly been watching that this year or last with people like Sebastian Telefair, but we aren't. Packer is a blowhard, but he's a student of the old System (80's mentality of the NCAA Tourny being a lengthened version of ACC vs Big East). I think he dislikes the fact that established teams are becoming the victims of teams from 'lesser' conferences in the Tournament, either in selection or the tournament itself.
On the timeout issue, I do agree with you that it breaks the flow of the game, which at times ruins the mood for fans. But it's a necessity for the game -- timeouts can prevent leads turning into blow outs. In this spectrum, do we rather see games go interrupted or possibly stay more interesting through closer scores.
I'd rather reward players for hustling out of bounds to call a time out then see them throw the ball at an opponents groin as well.
-Alec
For my money, the best calling going on isn't on TV at all, but on CBS radio, where you can hear John Thompson Jr. giving fabulous (and sometimes hilarious) analysis. I heard him call the first Georgetown game, and you wouldn't even have known he had a dog in that hunt until it was over. If CBS could just stick with one game at a time (yeah, I know this is not possible), I'd turn the sound off and turn on the AM radio.
King wrote: "So once again, the college coaching strategy is clear: You should risk falling farther behind to avoid a guy getting his third foul in the 20th minute, but not the 21st. That doesn't make sense to me."
Is the practice some kind of safety check, keeping the player out of the refs' conversation during halftime? What do refs do during the break--while teams are given second-half strategy and attempts at inspirational speeches, maybe the refs are saying, "Keep an eye on number 99--he already has three fouls" and therefore might foul out sooner because he's being watched. Or perhaps the refs instead just drink their Gatorade and tune in to ESPN2. I'd rather see more foul-outs and more chances for others on the team to play, but then if foul-outs came sooner, the NCAA would increase the number of fouls allowed.
In contrast to Packer admitting that he erred in complaining about small conference bids(however, dubious his reasoning), Dick Vitale, who was just as vocal in protest, went on without a hint of irony the other day about how great it is to watch the "little guys beat the big guys" because that's "what it's all about." Give me a break.
Timeouts have always been aggravatingin basketball, but the new rule that I really can't handle is where coaches are allowed to call timeouts from the sidelines. Referees should not have to monitor coaches so as to grant timeouts in the middle of action. The level of confusion as plays develop at a fast pace with coaches hollering for timeouts while their players are oblivious is ridiculous.
CBS's coverage has been generally good, but would it kill them to cut over to another game rather than a commercial every now and then? You get back from a commercial, there's a foul and another timeout in about 5 seconds of action, and while there is less than a minute left on another game that would be nice to look in on, I have to listen to that friggin' shrimp song from Applebee's one more time.
Finally, great point on the foul trouble benching. I always thought I was missing something but now feel vindicated.
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