Buckrub
03-25-2015, 09:38 AM
John Feinstein Columnist March 21
The madness has begun! March is madder than ever! What a day — five one-point games, a new record!
Those were just a few of the headlines — both written and spoken — from the first two days of this year’s NCAA men’s basketball tournament.
There has never been more hype surrounding the tournament. The public-relations machines for the NCAA, Turner and CBS are hard at work, relentlessly telling us just how great their multibillion dollar event is and how much it means to all Americans.
It’s absolutely true that the drama of Thursday afternoon, when UAB and Georgia State pulled off stunning last-second upsets, was real. There were a slew of other close calls and buzzer-beaters across the 32 games on Thursday, Friday and early Saturday morning — the Dayton-Providence game ending well after midnight, thanks to the brilliant scheduling of the TV networks.
But those fabulous finishes are camouflaging a very real fact: College basketball is broken, especially the NCAA tournament version of the game.
It isn’t just about scoring being down — low scoring being an American obsession in every sport. It’s about games that have no rhythm, games that are officiated inconsistently at best, very badly at worst. It’s about the three-point line, and it’s about one-and-done. Add them all up, and you have a sport that is a shadow of its former self.
The game doesn’t need tweaks; it needs radical changes and it needs small, subtle changes. Let’s begin at the beginning:
● The three-point line. It needs to be moved back to the NBA distance. Everyone calls the three-point shot “the great equalizer,” but it cuts both ways. Everyone on the floor believes he can shoot it — and does. Teams shoot themselves out of games with three-pointers as often as they shoot themselves into them. Georgia was 3 of 17 from beyond the arc in its near-upset of Kentucky during the regular season. Imagine what might have been if the Bulldogs had actually tried to run offense to get better shots on those possessions.
Also, by moving the line back, you will create more space in the lane and force players to relearn what coaches call the “middle game.” The art of the shot-fake and pull-up jumper has virtually died. Players do one of two things: catch the ball at the three-point line and shoot or shot-fake and try to go all the way to the basket. If you’re going to shoot from 15 to 18 feet for two points, you might as well take a step back and shoot for three. Move the line back, and players and coaches will think differently. Open up the floor, and there will be fewer fouls.
● Length of games. There is absolutely no need for 18 stoppages in a game. That’s what we have now: four TV timeouts per half plus up 10 coaches’ timeouts per game. Coaches’ timeouts should be cut to three, with the caveat that if you haven’t used one going into the last two minutes, you lose it.
The rule that allows the first 30-second coaches’ timeout of the second half to be expanded into a television timeout has to go away. How many times do we see full timeouts on back-to-back whistles? The game comes to a grinding halt. It’s even worse during the tournament. when the first called 30-second timeout of each half becomes a full timeout, which is two-and-a-half endless minutes. The so-called 30-second timeout is now a 60-second timeout. The endgame never ends.
March Madness, by the numbers(1:47)
Quick: How many teams have gone into March Madness undefeated? How many Americans will bet on the NCAA men's basketball tournament? Here are some of the most mind-blowing numbers about March Madness. (Gillian Brockell/The Washington Post)
This is how bad it’s gotten: On Thursday, in the Notre Dame-Northeastern game, Irish Coach Mike Brey called a timeout with 5 minutes 20 seconds left in the first half. It became a full TV timeout. Thirty-nine seconds after play resumed, a whistle stopped play. That became the under-eight-minute TV timeout. Play resumed for a full 1:09 before another whistle brought on the under-four-minute timeout. That meant the teams played 1:48 of basketball with close to nine minutes of dead time surrounding it. In about 12 minutes of real time, fans watched the score go from 22-20 to 24-22.
“It’s hard to maintain any momentum during a timeout,” Lafayette Coach Fran O’Hanlon said later that night. “You call time to try to get your team back together, make a chance or two, rebuild some momentum and then you stand there and wait.”
Everyone knows that because Turner Sports and CBS are paying billions to the NCAA, they need to sell commercials to pay their bills. Fine. Use the ludicrously long 20-minute halftimes for more commercials and less of the meaningless blather coming from the studios. While you’re at it, charge your “corporate champions” — don’t you just love euphemisms? — more. They aren’t going to go away.
More ways to shorten the game: If officials can’t decide that a call should be overturned based on review in 60 seconds, it stands. Period. Also: When a player fouls out, no one is allowed to go the bench to talk to the coach, who draws up a play. You substitute and keep playing. One more thing: Once a free throw shooter has the ball in his hands, no one touches him. All the hand-touching and backing away from the line probably adds at least five minutes to every game.
If you want to shorten the shot clock to 30 seconds, that’s fine. It won’t change scoring or the game very much. Teams that play like Virginia will still play games in the 40s and 50s. Teams that play like BYU and VMI will still play in the 80s.
● Officiating. To begin with, some of it is awful. Did anyone see the last non-foul call in the Louisville-UC-Irvine game? Louisville Coach Rick Pitino said his team was trying to foul. Terry Rozier dove at UC-Irvine’s Luke Nelson and sent him flying. No call. There was also the ludicrous goaltending call at the end of the UCLA-SMU game. The shot was wide right!
Assign officials nationally, not by conference. Pay them the same regardless of which conference they’re working and move them through all 32 conferences, not just three or four. And penalize them — loss of games or firing — if they’re consistently bad.
● And finally: Fix the one-and-done. Spend 24 hours a day, seven days a week until it goes away. Let anyone who wants to turn pro after high school turn pro. Hearing the droning moderators at NCAA tournament news conferences constantly referring to players as “student-athletes” is sickening. Athletes are supposed to go to college, not simply represent a college for 35 to 40 games and leave town. Of course, the games are so long right now, it almost feels as if they’re around for two seasons anyway.
Stop the hype. Fix the game. Before next season’s TV timeouts begin.
The madness has begun! March is madder than ever! What a day — five one-point games, a new record!
Those were just a few of the headlines — both written and spoken — from the first two days of this year’s NCAA men’s basketball tournament.
There has never been more hype surrounding the tournament. The public-relations machines for the NCAA, Turner and CBS are hard at work, relentlessly telling us just how great their multibillion dollar event is and how much it means to all Americans.
It’s absolutely true that the drama of Thursday afternoon, when UAB and Georgia State pulled off stunning last-second upsets, was real. There were a slew of other close calls and buzzer-beaters across the 32 games on Thursday, Friday and early Saturday morning — the Dayton-Providence game ending well after midnight, thanks to the brilliant scheduling of the TV networks.
But those fabulous finishes are camouflaging a very real fact: College basketball is broken, especially the NCAA tournament version of the game.
It isn’t just about scoring being down — low scoring being an American obsession in every sport. It’s about games that have no rhythm, games that are officiated inconsistently at best, very badly at worst. It’s about the three-point line, and it’s about one-and-done. Add them all up, and you have a sport that is a shadow of its former self.
The game doesn’t need tweaks; it needs radical changes and it needs small, subtle changes. Let’s begin at the beginning:
● The three-point line. It needs to be moved back to the NBA distance. Everyone calls the three-point shot “the great equalizer,” but it cuts both ways. Everyone on the floor believes he can shoot it — and does. Teams shoot themselves out of games with three-pointers as often as they shoot themselves into them. Georgia was 3 of 17 from beyond the arc in its near-upset of Kentucky during the regular season. Imagine what might have been if the Bulldogs had actually tried to run offense to get better shots on those possessions.
Also, by moving the line back, you will create more space in the lane and force players to relearn what coaches call the “middle game.” The art of the shot-fake and pull-up jumper has virtually died. Players do one of two things: catch the ball at the three-point line and shoot or shot-fake and try to go all the way to the basket. If you’re going to shoot from 15 to 18 feet for two points, you might as well take a step back and shoot for three. Move the line back, and players and coaches will think differently. Open up the floor, and there will be fewer fouls.
● Length of games. There is absolutely no need for 18 stoppages in a game. That’s what we have now: four TV timeouts per half plus up 10 coaches’ timeouts per game. Coaches’ timeouts should be cut to three, with the caveat that if you haven’t used one going into the last two minutes, you lose it.
The rule that allows the first 30-second coaches’ timeout of the second half to be expanded into a television timeout has to go away. How many times do we see full timeouts on back-to-back whistles? The game comes to a grinding halt. It’s even worse during the tournament. when the first called 30-second timeout of each half becomes a full timeout, which is two-and-a-half endless minutes. The so-called 30-second timeout is now a 60-second timeout. The endgame never ends.
March Madness, by the numbers(1:47)
Quick: How many teams have gone into March Madness undefeated? How many Americans will bet on the NCAA men's basketball tournament? Here are some of the most mind-blowing numbers about March Madness. (Gillian Brockell/The Washington Post)
This is how bad it’s gotten: On Thursday, in the Notre Dame-Northeastern game, Irish Coach Mike Brey called a timeout with 5 minutes 20 seconds left in the first half. It became a full TV timeout. Thirty-nine seconds after play resumed, a whistle stopped play. That became the under-eight-minute TV timeout. Play resumed for a full 1:09 before another whistle brought on the under-four-minute timeout. That meant the teams played 1:48 of basketball with close to nine minutes of dead time surrounding it. In about 12 minutes of real time, fans watched the score go from 22-20 to 24-22.
“It’s hard to maintain any momentum during a timeout,” Lafayette Coach Fran O’Hanlon said later that night. “You call time to try to get your team back together, make a chance or two, rebuild some momentum and then you stand there and wait.”
Everyone knows that because Turner Sports and CBS are paying billions to the NCAA, they need to sell commercials to pay their bills. Fine. Use the ludicrously long 20-minute halftimes for more commercials and less of the meaningless blather coming from the studios. While you’re at it, charge your “corporate champions” — don’t you just love euphemisms? — more. They aren’t going to go away.
More ways to shorten the game: If officials can’t decide that a call should be overturned based on review in 60 seconds, it stands. Period. Also: When a player fouls out, no one is allowed to go the bench to talk to the coach, who draws up a play. You substitute and keep playing. One more thing: Once a free throw shooter has the ball in his hands, no one touches him. All the hand-touching and backing away from the line probably adds at least five minutes to every game.
If you want to shorten the shot clock to 30 seconds, that’s fine. It won’t change scoring or the game very much. Teams that play like Virginia will still play games in the 40s and 50s. Teams that play like BYU and VMI will still play in the 80s.
● Officiating. To begin with, some of it is awful. Did anyone see the last non-foul call in the Louisville-UC-Irvine game? Louisville Coach Rick Pitino said his team was trying to foul. Terry Rozier dove at UC-Irvine’s Luke Nelson and sent him flying. No call. There was also the ludicrous goaltending call at the end of the UCLA-SMU game. The shot was wide right!
Assign officials nationally, not by conference. Pay them the same regardless of which conference they’re working and move them through all 32 conferences, not just three or four. And penalize them — loss of games or firing — if they’re consistently bad.
● And finally: Fix the one-and-done. Spend 24 hours a day, seven days a week until it goes away. Let anyone who wants to turn pro after high school turn pro. Hearing the droning moderators at NCAA tournament news conferences constantly referring to players as “student-athletes” is sickening. Athletes are supposed to go to college, not simply represent a college for 35 to 40 games and leave town. Of course, the games are so long right now, it almost feels as if they’re around for two seasons anyway.
Stop the hype. Fix the game. Before next season’s TV timeouts begin.