Quote:
Originally posted by Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.
Hawks Coach said . . .We shot 39 free throws in one AAU Regional game last year and it was just an awful game, due mainly to the refs. Never seen so many whistles or so many fouls both ways. It was hard to have a possession without a whistle, and it wasn't a particularly physical game.
Now let me address Hawks Coach's comments: The problem that I see in your game is not one of game officials "not" letting the players play the game, but one where the players did not want to play the game within the rules of the game. When this happens, two things can happen. The team's coach can tell his players to play the game according to the rules or the team's coach can complain about the officials "not" letting his players play the game.
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Mark -
The problems here are two. First, you did not read my statement closely enough. THIS WAS NOT A PHYSICAL GAME. Read this statement however you like. I have coached over 200 games in the past two years, around 150 with this team alone. This is AAU Regionals, where physical play is common (and I do not mean that physicial play = illegal play - please watch any HS or college game and find one possession without some sort of contact beween at least two players). In a game that was less physical than most we had played in the months preparing for Regionals, it was called tighter than I have seen in all my years coaching (I am not exaggerating) - so tight that neither team could play their game.
Problem number two, you did not see this game but talk as if you did. You assume (I seem to remember you have an opinion about the use of this awful human habit!) that our players were outside the rules. You also seem to hint that I am complaining mainly about fouls called on my team - I'm not - we spent the entire second half at the line and fouled out half their starters in a non physical game - that was a travesty of officiating. Neither team was playing physically or anything approaching what I have ever seen stretched to be considered illegal - and yet the whistle blew on nearly every one of our offensive possessions in the 4th quarter. We couldn't run our offense because we were too busy shooting free throws! When's the last time a coach b!tched to you that his team shot too many free throws - think about it Mark! And then please re-think what you said.
Been coaching a long time, have a pretty good feel for what is and is not in the rules, and even how to get my players to adjust when the officials call it tight. I ALWAYS ADJUST to the the calls as made (and have made this clear in previous posts if you read this board as often as I think you do) But my players and I can adjust only where it is realistically possible to do so. If you call a travel every time my player makes a legal pivot or palming on every legal crossover, we are going to have a hard time adjusting to what you are calling. We will find it impossible to play within the rules because the ref is not allowing us to do so. The same is true if you blow the whistle every time two bodies make contact, or appear to make contact, no matter how slight and regardless of the impact on a play. I am not talking about adjusting to whether or not handchecks or illegal screens are being called tightly - we do that all the time.
You weren't there, I was. I rarely ever complain about officials, never blame a loss on them, didn't say a word to these officials during this game, tried to help my players adjust, etc. I certainly wouldn't blame our loss on them (our awful FT % and several botched put-backs in that game killed us - not the refs fault). And I know we all have bad days, coaches, players, refs, parents, coworkers - everyone. But this was an ugly game and it would take all the fun out of basketball if every game I coached was reffed like this one. And luckily they are not.