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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Griggs Weekly Ramblings: The End of a Golden Age??

Posted on May 30, 2012 by David Griggs

I’ve mentioned this before, but I think that in future years people will look back at this time and think this is when college athletics were completely wrecked, or at the very least changed, but not for the better. People in power seem to have it in their heads that conferences are not stable unless they have sixteen teams in them, and that they must stretch all the way across the continent. For close to a hundred years the vast majority of conferences consisted of maybe eight or nine teams, all of which were similar geographically, institutionally and athletically. The schedules were balanced with everyone playing twice in basketball, and once in football. The SEC started the trend of going out to twelve teams and two divisions for the sake of a football championship, but even with that most conferences still had geographic, institutional and athletic identities amongst the membership. I believe that much of the rivalry, excitement and intrigue that exists in college sports grew out of those models. Now, we’re getting away from that. Conferences are becoming bloated and spread out all over the place, and if they’re not bloated, they’re deemed to be unstable. Is this good for college athletics?? I don’t think so.

I totally understand why this is happening. One of the biggest reasons for bloating up a conference and expanding it across several time zones is media and TV contracts. The more geography a league covers, the bigger the media footprint is, and the bigger the media footprint is, the more money there is to be made…..at least for now. Here’s the problem, though. College athletics are popular, and one of the reasons they’re so popular is because of the excitement and rivalry and familiarity that grew out of leagues that consisted of like-minded institutions that were geographically and institutionally similar. People love watching Kansas v Kansas State, and Kansas v Missouri, and Texas v Texas A&M, and Mizzou v Nebraska, and Duke v North Carolina, and Duke v NC State, and NC State vs UNC, and Syracuse v Georgetown, and Syracuse v UConn, and Maryland v Virginia, and…you get the idea. Twice a year, every year, in a balanced format. It was great.

Now that Mizzou must travel half a continent away for a conference game against a team like Florida in a league that is not balanced, is that going to create the same kind of intrigue as we had before?? The networks are paying a fortune for the broadcast rights of these bloated conferences. Will the number of people who have tuned in for the past several decades continue to be as interested in Mizzou v Vandy and Mizzou v Florida as they were in Mizzou v Kansas?? Same with Pitt v Wake instead of Pitt v West Virginia. Same with a ton of other games. My guess is no. The networks spent a fortune on something that will not create the same enthusiasm that we’ve had in the past. When the enthusiasm goes down, the ratings go down. If the ratings go down, will the networks ever spend that kind of money for broadcasting rights again??

Metaphorically speaking, have the Dodgers left Brooklyn?? Yes, there are still great moments in baseball, but it’s not the same, nor is it as popular or as tangible as it was in the 1950s. Is this the end of a golden age for college athletics that was spawned by conferences that played balanced schedules in a one division format against geographic and intuitional rivals?? I’m not saying there won’t be great moments. I’m not saying it won’t be popular. I just feel that a lot of the magic is gone, and that once this becomes whatever it is that it becomes, people will always look back on and feel nostalgia for the way it was before we had this convoluted mess. I find it ironic that the attempts being made to grow the popularity and revenue could work in the short run, but hurt in the long run. In ten years will people be saying “College basketball was extremely popular, but that all ended when they tried to make it popular.”

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Next Move: Big West

Posted on May 14, 2012 by Chad

Following up on the conference re-alignment mess, the next major move in the entire puzzle will most likely be coming from the Big West Conference.  As it stands right now, by 2013 the Big West will have 10 teams:  Cal Poly, CS-Fullerton, CS-Northridge, Long Beach State, UC-Davis, UC-Irvine, UC-Santa Barbara, and UC-Riverside are the eight current members that will be remaining.  Pacific is leaving for the West Coast Conference.  However, the league will be adding San Diego State and Hawai’i, a pair of marquee chips.  San Diego State will be placing its football team in the Big East while Hawai’i’s football team is off to the Mountain West.

So how does the next major move belong to the Big West?  As it stands right now, most of the members of the conference are happy with their new ten team alignment.  The issue is Boise State.  When Boise State agreed to go to the Big East in football they originally also reached out to the Big West (along with San Diego State).  The Big West passed, citing the extra travel costs in adding trips to Idaho for all of its members in all sports, especially with having already agreed to the Hawai’i travel expense.  Boise then appeared ready to return to the WAC for all non-football sports.

The Mountain West made the next major move, by expanding to ten football members/nine non-football members (remember Hawai’i is football only) by adding Utah State and San Jose State.  This move left the WAC with only two football teams (New Mexico State and Idaho) and three schools that competed in all but football come 2013 (Denver, Seattle and Boise State).  While there has been some talk of the WAC trying to stay alive as a non-football conference, they are still two members shy of the seven necessary to qualify for an automatic bid (and noone much better that Utah Valley and Cal State-Bakersfield available to fill those spots).

The quite likely death of the WAC has left Boise State scrambling again to find a place for its non-football sports.  As it turns out, they have two options.  The first is to try once again to get into the Big West.  The second would be to head back to the Mountain West.  In fact, Boise has not yet officially withdrawn from the Mountain West (their resignation from the league is not due until July 1 of this year).  San Diego State has already given their official resignation.

The problem that Boise would have in staying in the Mountain West is that the Mountain West wants their football team — which means that Boise would have to cancel its move in football to the Big East.  San Diego State has a provision in its agreement with the Big East that allows them a chance to withdraw its football from the conference in the event it does not have a travel partner west of the Rockies by July 1, 2013.  Thus, if Boise State stays in the Mountain West for all sports, San Diego State could head back there as well.  The Mountain West wants both teams back…which is one reason they stopped their current expansion at 10.  If they get those two programs back, they will reach the “magic number” of 12 for football.

This is why the next major move belongs to the Big West.  Boise State has renewed its interest in the conference.  San Diego State wants them in it.  The Big East does as well.  If the Big West takes Boise, I expect them and SDSU to stay in the Big East for football.  The Mountain West would probably then make a move to grab UTEP and New Mexico State, Idaho would drop down to FCS football and join the Big Sky, and the WAC would officially fold, leaving Denver and Seattle to try to find new homes.

On the other hand, if the Big West declines taking Boise, I would not be surprised to see them stay in the Mountain West and San Diego State may return there as well.  UTEP would remain in Conference USA, Idaho would still drop to FCS and join the Big Sky, and New Mexico State would have to consider either the Sun Belt (if they can get in) or an independent status, at least in football, while their other teams would be looking at smaller conferences like the Southland or possibly the Summit League.  With only 11 football members after Navy joins, a further move would also be likely from the Big East, which could result in a chain reaction again…though my guess is they would re-visit the Villanova to FBS issue one more time.

This is why the next major move in the conference re-alignment puzzle belongs to the Big West Conference.  And we should have an answer in the next 4-6 weeks, as Boise State is fast approaching their deadline to withdraw from the Mountain West.  In my opinion, San Diego State is a huge piece and could help elevate the rest of the conference much the way UNLV did back in the early 90s before they left.  If getting that piece requires having your track and women’s tennis teams travel to Boise once a year, I still think it is worth it.  There was a time the Big West was considered to be one of the marquee mid-major conferences.  They have a great chance to return to that level and should not let the opportunity slip by.

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