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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
I like some of the suggestions vis-a-vis the timeout, primarily because I hate dragging out the game, and giving television all those extra commercials.
I would be in favor of eliminating the backcourt violation altogether. After all, the whole point in to score a basket, which is almost impossible from the backcourt. And with a shot clock, there is no incentive to use the entire court as a stalling technique, since stalling is restricted to 35 seconds anyway.
Packer and Nance are OK, just as the rest of them are. In this day and age, basketball is primarily a game of individual athletic accomplishment, so the announcers are irrelevant. They almost never tell the viewer anything they haven't seen on the screen, and can intuitively understand.
Note to King. There is basketball, then there is women's basketball. Because the are only marginally related, they should never be discussed in the same article.
Agree with the fuss about the timeouts. Make the rule more simple and more elegant. Timeouts can only be called by a player if he is in bounds and in control of the ball. Timeouts can only be called from the bench if the ref can hear the call.
For Lute and co., that's just tough luck - as a practical matter on loud courts, the bench should be allowed to call a timeout in case the players can't be heard as long as the ball is in their possession and under their control. Which includes jump shots in action - how can a shot on goal be in play if it was not under control as a field goal attempt? The tautological truth of this sentence says more about the English language than it does about the rules of basketball. Arizona got unlucky.
The first rule change should be the possesion arrow. Talk about arbitrary and talk about simple and elegant solutions to avoiding penalizing good defense. Puhleeze. As much as I despise ACC snobs like Vitale and Packer, Dickie "that's delivery pizza Baby" V is right aobut the possesion arrow: It needs to go.
As to half-court violations, it's good where it stands now. As a a fan of the full-court press and zone defense, any change to the half-court rule would make casualties of both. But in case there is a change, one should be willing to introduce a sixth-man on the court as a place-kicker.
Although Nantz is a bit of a bore, its nothing compared to Musberger. He is one of the most obnoxious and grating people ever to speak into a microphone--h$ll give me Clark Kellog over Brent
King, first off I agree with you when you say this is a great sporting event that seems to deliver every year. What I disagree with is that the second round or the "beat down round" was any different this year than previous years.
Recent history shows us that there is usually 3-5 higher seeded teams that make the Sweet 16. In fact, every year since 1997 has yielded either 3, 4 or 5 teams seeded 7 or higher to reach this round.
This may happen every year but it seems that media folk like you are fawning over the underdogs this year more than past years.
Like I said, it's still a great tourney but just not a oh-my-gosh-i've-never-seen-anything-like-it tourney. This happens every year.
There is NOTHING cooler in all of sports announcing than Bill Raftery at the beginning of each game going, "and the ______ start the game MANTOMAN!" Makes my day everytime. True, I'm easy to please, but there is something so awesome about it. Love his game vocab as well, "kiss off the glass," "Lace the nylon," "Scintillating marksmanship," etc makes him one announcer that I have to turn the volume up for.
Verne Lundquist is a great partner as well. Much better than Dick Vitale's BS hyperactivity or Nantz and Packer S------ off the front runners. The only other good basketball guys are Bill Walton and Kevin "No regard for life or limb" Harlan.
Many people in the thread have complained about the number of timeouts each team has at the end of the game. I'm not certain I see the problem. Currently for a televised game, each team gets four 30-second timeouts and one 60-second timeout per game. Only 3 of the 30-second time outs may be transfered to the second half. This means that at the maximum, there can be only five minutes of timeouts in the final four minutes of game time, but it's usually no more than half that.
The thing that really slows down the end of the game is foul shots created when the trailing team fouls to try to get the ball back. The simple solution? Give the team the option not to take the shots.
Once you're in the double-bonus, allow the fouled team to choose to either:
A) Shoot the two shots.
B) Reset the shot clock. Position an inbound passer on the sideline just behind half-court. Offensive players can be anywhere on the court. Defensive are required to be on the offensive side of half-court. Defensive players cannot cross half-court until an inbounds offensive player controls the ball.
Given option B, the offense may inbound pass to an undefended player in the backcourt and then waste a couple precious seconds as the defenders run to him, or (if they're trailing) they may pass the ball into a defended offensive zone for a chance at a quick three-pointer.
This eliminates the need to intentionally foul at the end of the game to get the ball back, because you won't get it back. You will continue to play agressively, however, because you will be required to cleanly steal the ball in order to get it back.
...but the wrong sport.
Is there any event that so consistently lives up to its reputation as the NCAA Tournament?
The NCAA Mens' Ice Hockey Tournament provides even more excitement. This is true even if you don't recognize that hockey is inherently a better game. Eight of the last sixteen finals have gone into overtime, and the sudden death nature of hockey overtime is really intense.
That does not include the 2004 Denver victory over Maine, which was a one goal game, where Denver spent the last minute and a half of the game two men shorthanded, and main skating with a 6-3 advantage.
Then there are the non-final games. St Lawrence and BU played four overtimes in a 2000 quarterfinal. Maine and Michigan played three OTs in a 1996 semifinal that featured Blaine Allison making two impossible saves on Michigan breakaways in extra time.
Also, there's only one timeout per team per game, and no incentive to foul, so the last minute of the game almost never takes more than three minutes to play. And, Billy Packer is nowhere to be found, though Tom Sagissor gives him a run for his money.
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
Once seen as a lunatic fringe, reactionary anti-women groups are courting respectability
Salon headlines in your mailbox
