[Viking_Guy]

One other thought on this-

I've always thought that, with respect to both the Stanford men under Monty and the Stanford women under Tara, that the way officiating changed in the NCAA tournament was always to the Cardinal's detriment.  Specifically, as the games go on, fewer and fewer fouls are called in "normal" situations - people fighting for position in the post, fighting for the rebound (does over the back even exist any more?) and bodying up by "pressing" defenders, in both full court and half court defenses (I still remember Kelley Suminski getting body-checked in a double team at halfcourt and getting called for over and back at the end of a Tennessee game).  What is called is clutching and grabbing on drives to the hoop, and the horrifically officiated block/charge continuum.  Stanford, mostly featuring teams of jump shooters and post players (for either coaching or recruiting reasons, as we can hash over ad nauseum), becomes progressively less effective as more contact is allowed to disrupt their offensive sets and bang on the post players.  My thought has always been that officials like the fouls to be really neat - one player fouling, one player being fouled, instead of the scrum that the lane becomes when Chiney or Griner is trying to operate inside; if three people foul one player, on whom is the foul called?  It confuzzles them.  Rebounding and posting up fouls trend very quickly down.

But it's the block/charge thing that's really got me frustrated.  Two examples, one each way, from the Baylor/Louisville game are illustrative.

The first is the more famous - the collapsing Cardinal call on Nae Nae Hayden with 16 seconds left in the game, that drew the tantrum that should've earned Mulkey a technical foul (especially given the earlier one on Walz).  College basketball is really headed the way of the NBA, which is following the path blazed by soccer, of "embellishment" - in this case, leaning in to gain glancing contact and then flying backwards as if shot (I could call this the Augustus play, after the charge she drew on Candice in the Elite Eight by sticking her arms crossed out in front of her away from her body and into the path of Wiggins' last step, then flopping over).  At some point, there has to be some kind of punishment for the acting; I posted earlier this year about Brittany Boyd snapping her head back as a player swung her arms up and over; the offensive foul was called, and they reviewed it for a flagrant, only to discover that at no point had the offensive player's arms come within two inches of contacting Boyd.  It's also one of the characteristics I really dislike about Aaron Bright's game.

But the second to me is more detrimental - the call on Bria Smith with Louisville up 78-72 and two minutes left, that precipitated the technical foul on Walz.  Smith split two players and started to take off, and a non-Griner Baylor defender (I think it may have been Madden) stepped outside the circle and came to a stop in her path, then collapsed.  Now, the way I remember it, you were supposed to allow room for a player in the air to come down.  Smith was already leaving her feet and the defender was still moving.  I think what has happened is that the restricted circle, either as yet another consideration for the ref or as a crutch, has led to referees calling the player set if she is still AT THE TIME OF CONTACT - not when the offensive player leaves the ground. 

So not only are defenders allowed to clutch and grab on the perimeter, but if a player does drive inside to take advantage of that overplaying, all a secondary defender has to do is get her feet out of the circle and come to a stop before the offensive player does, and then preferably theatrically go down in a heap.  More often than not, it appears, the charge will be called.

Your mileage may vary.  But I've noticed the proportion of charge to block calls climbing steadily, and increasing in absolute numbers, as teams adapt to this trend in officiating.

VG

[Viking_Guy]

One other thought on this-

I've always thought that, with respect to both the Stanford men under Monty and the Stanford women under Tara, that the way officiating changed in the NCAA tournament was always to the Cardinal's detriment.  Specifically, as the games go on, fewer and fewer fouls are called in "normal" situations - people fighting for position in the post, fighting for the rebound (does over the back even exist any more?) and bodying up by "pressing" defenders, in both full court and half court defenses (I still remember Kelley Suminski getting body-checked in a double team at halfcourt and getting called for over and back at the end of a Tennessee game).  What is called is clutching and grabbing on drives to the hoop, and the horrifically officiated block/charge continuum.  Stanford, mostly featuring teams of jump shooters and post players (for either coaching or recruiting reasons, as we can hash over ad nauseum), becomes progressively less effective as more contact is allowed to disrupt their offensive sets and bang on the post players.  My thought has always been that officials like the fouls to be really neat - one player fouling, one player being fouled, instead of the scrum that the lane becomes when Chiney or Griner is trying to operate inside; if three people foul one player, on whom is the foul called?  It confuzzles them.  Rebounding and posting up fouls trend very quickly down.

But it's the block/charge thing that's really got me frustrated.  Two examples, one each way, from the Baylor/Louisville game are illustrative.

The first is the more famous - the collapsing Cardinal call on Nae Nae Hayden with 16 seconds left in the game, that drew the tantrum that should've earned Mulkey a technical foul (especially given the earlier one on Walz).  College basketball is really headed the way of the NBA, which is following the path blazed by soccer, of "embellishment" - in this case, leaning in to gain glancing contact and then flying backwards as if shot (I could call this the Augustus play, after the charge she drew on Candice in the Elite Eight by sticking her arms crossed out in front of her away from her body and into the path of Wiggins' last step, then flopping over).  At some point, there has to be some kind of punishment for the acting; I posted earlier this year about Brittany Boyd snapping her head back as a player swung her arms up and over; the offensive foul was called, and they reviewed it for a flagrant, only to discover that at no point had the offensive player's arms come within two inches of contacting Boyd.  It's also one of the characteristics I really dislike about Aaron Bright's game.

But the second to me is more detrimental - the call on Bria Smith with Louisville up 78-72 and two minutes left, that precipitated the technical foul on Walz.  Smith split two players and started to take off, and a non-Griner Baylor defender (I think it may have been Madden) stepped outside the circle and came to a stop in her path, then collapsed.  Now, the way I remember it, you were supposed to allow room for a player in the air to come down.  Smith was already leaving her feet and the defender was still moving.  I think what has happened is that the restricted circle, either as yet another consideration for the ref or as a crutch, has led to referees calling the player set if she is still AT THE TIME OF CONTACT - not when the offensive player leaves the ground. 

So not only are defenders allowed to clutch and grab on the perimeter, but if a player does drive inside to take advantage of that overplaying, all a secondary defender has to do is get her feet out of the circle and come to a stop before the offensive player does, and then preferably theatrically go down in a heap.  More often than not, it appears, the charge will be called.

Your mileage may vary.  But I've noticed the proportion of charge to block calls climbing steadily, and increasing in absolute numbers, as teams adapt to this trend in officiating.

VG