March 12, 2022; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Iowa State Cyclones head coach Bill Fennelly watches the first half of a game against the Texas Longhorns in the municipal auditorium. Mandatory Credit: Amy Contras-USA TODAY Sports
KANSAS CITY, Missouri – Freedom of movement in college basketball is dead—and has been for a long time.
That fact was confirmed again on Saturday during Iowa State’s 82-73 loss to Texas in the Big 12 semi-finals. Refereeing was not the reason for Iowa State’s defeat, but the way the Longhorns were allowed to defend throughout the game certainly played a role. its role.
“There is no such thing as freedom of movement. Nothing like that,” said the head coach of the state of Iowa. Bill Fennelly said after the game. “It’s going to get worse (in the NCAA Tournament).”
This, of course, is a problem not only for women’s student basketball, but also for men.
The NCAA Rules Committee focused on freedom of movement seven years ago, directing officials to eliminate activities that interfere with ball handlers and cutters. These steps were taken as an attempt to fix some of the things that were causing the points to go down quickly.
Again, they had to eliminate interference from ball carriers and cutters that prevented them from moving freely around the court in attack.
Have you ever watched a college basketball game – men’s or women’s?
Interfering ball handlers and cutters have never been more common, and yet the men’s team is on track to set an all-time low average fouls per game.
It’s unexplainable.
The people at Texas Tech have built their entire program around these things. The Texas women just rode these things to the Big 12 finals.
Every basketball game that turns into a back alley brawl is bad for the game of basketball. This makes games more difficult to watch and less exciting.
Offensives cannot work properly without trying to match that physicality, then if they match that physicality they will watch the referee ecstatically call an offensive foul.
just ask Emily Ryanwho fell victim to this fact several times on Saturday, despite Rory Harmon of Texas (an excellent college quarterback) riding Ryan’s hip for 90 feet nearly every time the ball went inside.
I don’t necessarily blame the officials for these things because they name the matches as their bosses tell them to, but something needs to be done to get the referees to announce blatant fouls in front of them rather than looking for ridiculous accents that are wildly inconsistent.
Something needs to be done to clear the field for fouls in college basketball. The product will suffer if it doesn’t because these games are getting more and more physical every year.
“Anyone who says there is (freedom of movement) doesn’t understand the game,” Fennelly said. “This is not my decision. The women’s side does not have freedom of movement in the game of basketball. Zero. It is what it is.”
The genie will become increasingly difficult to put back in the bottle, and the men’s and women’s Big 12 basketball is a perfect example of this.
Yes, men’s and women’s Big 12 basketball is still great. The men’s section was the best conference in America this year by a wide margin, but that doesn’t mean it’s without flaws.
The biggest downside is that it is portrayed by some as its strongest point, and it wouldn’t shock me at all if I see that strength come back to bite a few Big 12 teams in the ass as soon as the NCAA Tournament starts next week.
Fennelly is not alone in this. Other Big 12 coaches are taking notice and rightfully starting to say so.
“I think there are some fouls if they announced that the game would have been cleaner because this damn thing is a wrestling match and it’s been that way all year,” Kansas State women’s coach Jeff Mitty said after his team’s loss. in Texas on Friday. “Our league is being criticized across the country for this. You keep reading articles about how there is no freedom of movement in the Big 12 and they talk about men’s basketball… It’s about taking care of our game.”
How this happened is probably a question for someone much better than me at refereeing college basketball games, but something needs to be done as soon as possible.
Freedom of movement faced quick death at the hands of teams who were allowed to manually check players with the ball for 40 minutes, go astray at every possession, and physically play standing up against the standard rigidity.
Teams like the Iowa women, which I would call a skillful team, are suffering the consequences, which is incredibly unfortunate because they are fun to watch.
Somehow, it was this agile team that was penalized for 17 fouls after the break, despite being less physically fit – by a significant margin.
Texas was whistled for only seven fouls in the second half. It’s not because the Longhorns played good clean defensive basketball, but instead they were allowed to foul all over the place throughout the game, and you can’t whistle everything, right?
Wrong – or at least that’s how it should be.
The NBA figured this out years ago when games were getting less exciting and teams like the 2004 Detroit Pistons seized the opportunity to turn games into championships.
As a result, we’ve enjoyed watching guys like Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant become superstars because they’re allowed to move around the court without fear of being mugged every time they take a step.
It’s time for college basketball to do the same again.
Jared Stansbury
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Jared, a native of Clarinda, Iowa, started as a Cyclone Fanatic trainee in August 2013, working primarily as a videographer until he began working on women’s basketball ahead of the 2014-15 season. After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and mass communications from Iowa State in May 2016, Jared was hired as the site’s staff correspondent, taking over as main daily reporter for football and men’s basketball. In January 2020, he was named Managing Editor. He writes regularly on 1460 KXNO in Des Moines and makes regular guest appearances on radio stations in the Midwest. Jared lives in Ankeni with his four year old daughter Lolo.
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