Sunday, March 5, 2017

The Distressing Reality Behind the Rule Changes

After a long and arduous journey, the regular season is officially over. This means it's time for people to start talking about these ridiculous rule changes that they want implemented. While not all are bad ideas, in fact I like some, they lead college basketball down a dangerous path.

Here's the rule I'm talking about: Resetting team fouls every ten minutes in a half. In principle, this is an excellent idea. Too many times we see games marred by excessive whistles and free throws, and this is a decent attempt to combat that. When you look closer, however, you will realize that the limit is four fouls per 10 minute segment, so really this rule will not make a difference. Along with this rule, the NCAA has decided to get rid of 1-and-1s and make every foul a two shot penalty. This will take suspense away from the game as it devalues free throw shooting. We will see though, as the NIT will be implementing this new rule in this year's version.

I'm worried about this rule because it signals that a 4-quarter game is coming, in fact it's inevitable. The women made the switch a few seasons ago, and I expect the men to do the same, much to my disappointment. The half system is what makes college basketball unique, and I don't want that to go away. The game also feels as one cohesive event rather than  segmented parts.  If it ain't broke don't fix it. College basketball has been great for a while now, so why go changing everything?

No comments:

Post a Comment