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Originally Posted by wilko
What jumped out at me was the "lack" of defense... at least by todays standards. I found it hard to believe that things had changed sooo much between watching that and the the GM and Fla games. Did I fall prey to select clips? Were defenses really that bad? or were the game rules just interpreted differently then.
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The game was called completely differently back then, as you thought. The defenses weren't bad at all by the standards of the time; defenders just knew and adjusted to the amount of contact that was allowed by officials back then- which was much, much less. Defenders played D more with their feet and hands than with their bodies. The contact allowed on dribblers, shooters and during rebounds was certainly a heckuva lot less than today's game.
I don't particularly like the amount of contact allowed in today's game either, but it is what it is. For the ballplayer's sake, you want the games called as uniformly as possible so that they know what to expect. And if the majority of NCAA officials are calling it one way and allowing the contact, then all NCAA officials should try to do the same imo- whether I like it or not. Ballplayers today are just doing the same as they used to be; they will adjust to the contact that the officials allow them.
The unfortunate part to me is that the contact allowable certainly has crept into high school nowadays too.