Changing the Rules, Part II

Posted on July 2, 2012 by Johnny Basketball

Last week, Samantha gave us her ideas for some rules changes to help make the game of college basketball better. She continues her suggestions in this newest entry.

Here are a few suggestions to make the game better, Part II:

 

Media Availability of the Losing Team

A couple weeks ago, LeBron James finally got his hardware. The nation watched as LeBron and Dwayne Wade hugged, and Chris Bosh fully emerged himself in champagne.

But amid these images of celebration, the nation also watched a very private and personal moment between Kevin Durant and his family.

Many people across America applauded CBS for capturing such a poignant moment. It apparently made viewers feel better to watch someone break down and cry. People said it was “beautiful” and “touching.” But it just made me uncomfortable.

Durant is a 23-year-old kid, who worked his assoff to reach a goal he’s dreamed about since he was young – and the cameras were there to capture his reaction to having failed at it. Anyone who loses a National Championship/World Title/Gold Medal should be entitled to immediately vacate the premises, find their mother, and cry.

Alone.

As in “without cameras in his face and millions of people watching at home.”

Imagine you just got fired. How would you feel in that moment? Would you think of all the people you let down? Feel ashamed for not being able to do better? Now imagine that instantly after you’re told, someone sticks a camera in your face and asks you how you’re feeling. And everyone in the world is watching your reaction.

If there were ever a rule that I really care about changing, it is this one: the players/coaches of the losing team of a title game are not required to speak to the media until 24 hours after the game has ended, and cameras are not allowed to shoot them once they have stepped off the court.

The majority of media members, and millions of the viewing public, feel as though it is their right to be able to look in on these moments.

It isn’t. Continue reading →

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Bobby Hurley…a Coaching Legend

Posted on June 27, 2012 by Chad

Twenty six state championships; multiple national championships; over 1,000 career
victories; one of three high school coaches in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. All
of these incredible accomplishments pale in comparison to the numerous lives (Jersey City, N.J.) St. Anthony’s head basketball coach, Bobby Hurley, has changed.

Disregard the fact that the sports world is marred by scandal and misdeed. It is
inevitable that young children, especially athletes, will look to sports to find their role
models. The pool of eligible role models within sports seems to be shrinking as each day
goes by. I was lucky enough to sit down and talk to Coach Hurley, a role model on and
off the court. Continue reading →

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Changing the Rules: Three ideas

Posted on June 25, 2012 by Johnny Basketball

“It’s not enough to say, ‘it’s all part of the game.'” – NBA Commissioner David Stern

 

By now I think we can all agree that basketball is the greatest sport ever invented, but I think we can all also agree that there are a few changes that can be made to the rule book to make it even better.

As Stern put it a few weeks ago, “The game continually changes, coaching changes, the athletes change, and what our job is, without going overboard, to consider those adjustments and just keep up with the game.”

Here are a few suggestions to make the game better:

 

Eliminate the Block/Charge

This year college basketball marked a restricted area around the hoop for the first time. As a result, referees would often pay more attention to the mark on the floor instead of the basketball play itself. It seemed that if a defender was outside the hoop they would get the charge call, regardless of all the other criteria.

Everyone involved in and around basketball will admit that a block or a charge is basically a 50/50 call. So then why do we have it at all?

If all a defender is doing is having his hands up and moving laterally, he shouldn’t be called for a foul. A player standing with his hands above his head is not fouling anyone, even if the opposing player jumps into him. Not every instance of players coming into contact needs to be a whistle.

It is my belief that we should try to make the college/professional game of basketball as much like a pickup game as possible. And let’s face it, when was the last time you’ve seen anyone try to take a charge during a pickup game? They’d be laughed at. Teammates would tell them to play “real defense.”

And by real defense they mean make a play on the ball. Continue reading →

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HoopsHD Class Rankings, Part 2

Posted on June 21, 2012 by Johnny Basketball

If you haven’t read my top five recruiting class rankings for 2012, you can find it here. Other than that, let’s not waste any time and get to the rest of the top ten.

6. North Carolina State

Mark Gotfried may have only been in Raleigh a year, but he’s managed to turn the clock back to the 1980’s- back to when N.C. State was busy winning National Championships instead of sitting in the bottom half of the ACC and missing the tournament like they have for the past five years.

After making the ACC title game and the Sweet Sixteen this past season, Gottfried officially
became the heir apparent to Jim Valvano when he signed five-star, home-grown recruit,
Rodney Purvis over Duke and North Carolina.

Determined to play at the point, Purvis is super athletic and a big-time scoring threat. He’s
an attacker, driving to the rim and scoring in the paint. Extremely competitive and extremely
physical, Purvis is a nightmare to guard.

The Wolfpack also signed small forward T.J Warren (#17 overall in 2012 by Rivals). At 6’8”
Warren is a big time scorer as well and can be deadly from the three point range. At 230 lbs, the kid can create some shots for himself, and has a great touch on his pull-up jumpers. Four-star point guard Tyler Lewis signed with N.C. State as well. Continue reading →

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HoopsHD Class Rankings, Part 1

Posted on June 13, 2012 by Johnny Basketball

by Samantha Dewig

Earlier this year, Sports Illustrated put out a story on the downfall of the famed UCLA basketball program called Not the UCLA Way. The four page article took numerous shots at current head coach Ben Howland and blamed him for letting the program slip away from the “moral high ground it once was” under John Wooden.

The article called him “socially awkward and verbally abusive.” It claimed that he was the last to arrive to practice, and would often leave before it was over, declaring that Howland left leadership up to upperclassmen. It even quoted a former player saying, “If I saw him waiting for the elevator, I would take the stairs.”

Yet despite this personal attack on Howland — the article did not mention any rule violations from the coach in accordance to the NCAA, so the story was basically an over-blown and highly publicized explanation on why the author doesn’t like him — UCLA was able to secure the number one recruiting class in the nation for 2012.

 

1. UCLA

Right now UCLA has the number 1, number 3, number 27, and number 62 ranked incoming freshmen in the nation in their gym for summer shootarounds. All four are ranked in the top 15 based on their positions. Continue reading →

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Conference Changes CheatSheet for 2012-13

Posted on June 2, 2012 by Chad

With the mess of realignment that has been going on, here is a helpful guide to the changes for each conference for the 2012-13 season.  Of course, there is going to be a ton of additional changes for 2013-14, but this is the list for next season.

America East:
No Changes

Atlantic Coast:
No Changes

Atlantic Sun:
ADDITIONS: Northern Kentucky (from Division II)
DELETIONS: Belmont (to Ohio Valley)

Atlantic Ten:
ADDITIONS: Butler (from Horizon), VCU (from Colonial)

Big East:
DELETIONS: West Virginia (to Big Twelve)

Big Sky:
ADDITIONS: North Dakota (from Great West), Southern Utah (from Summit)

Big South:
ADDITIONS: Longwood (from Independents)

Big Ten:
No Changes

Big Twelve:
ADDITIONS: TCU (from Moutain West), West Virginia (from Big East)
DELETIONS: Missouri (to SEC), Texas A&M (to SEC)

Big West:
ADDITIONS: Hawai’i (from WAC)

Colonial:
DELETIONS: VCU (to Atlantic Ten)

Conference USA:
No Changes

Great West:
DELETIONS: North Dakota (to Big Sky)

Horizon:
DELETIONS: Butler (to Atlantic Ten)

Ivy League:
No Changes

Metro Atlantic:
No Changes

Mid-American:
No Changes

Mid-Eastern Athletic:
No Changes

Missouri Valley:
No Changes

Mountain West:
ADDITIONS: Fresno State (from WAC), Nevada (from WAC)
DELETIONS: TCU (to Big Twelve)

Northeast:
No Changes

Ohio Valley:
ADDITIONS: Belmont (from Atlantic Sun)

Pac-12:
No Changes

Patriot League:
No Changes

Southeastern:
ADDITIONS: Missouri (from Big Twelve), Texas A&M (from Big Twelve)

Southern:
No Changes

Southland:
ADDITIONS: Oral Roberts (from Summit)
DELETIONS: Texas State (to WAC), Texas-Arlington (to WAC), Texas-San Antonio (to WAC)

Southwestern Athletic:
No Changes

Sun Belt:
DELETIONS: Denver (to WAC)

Summit:
ADDITIONS: Nebraska-Omaha (from Division II)
DELETIONS: Southern Utah (to Big Sky), Oral Roberts (to Southland)

West Coast:
No Changes

Western Athletic:
ADDITIONS: Denver (from Sun Belt), Seattle (from Independents), Texas State (from Southland), Texas-Arlington (from Southland), Texas-San Antonio (from Southland)
DELETIONS: Hawai’i (to Big West), Fresno State (to Mountain West), Nevada (to Mountain West)

Independents:
ADDITIONS: New Orleans (from some sort of purgatory that wasn’t quite Division I, II or III)
DELETIONS: Longwood (to Big South), Seattle (to WAC)

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