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Originally Posted by tomegun
I hear you loud and clear concerning consistency, but there is something you and all other coaches should realize. Stop worrying about the foul count 3 minutes into the game! If a coach feels like the fouls were lopsided at least wait until nature can take its course. There have been so many times when play has dictated a cluster of fouls for one team and a cluster for the other team later on. The end result is fouls that aren't even but reflect the defensive play of both teams. This should be our goal anyway: a foul count in line with how the teams played defense. Getting uptight about the foul count in the first 4 minutes is dumb.
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I'm not ever worried about foul count. Foul count is a direct representation of style of play...For example if one team is playing a man-to-man full court trapping game while the other team is playing a passive 2-3 zone, then the team pressing is probably going to commit far more fouls. My experience is that foul counts are almost always representative of the type of game. If the game is tight foul count is usually close, and if it isn't, it never is the fault of the game officials.
What I'm talking about with consistency is if you start the game calling hand-checking closely then you better continue to call the same type of hand-checks throughout the game. If you start the game by letting a lot of contact go then don't come up with a touch foul late.
The players will adjust to the way the game is being called, so therefore it is vital (and I'm saying this as a coach and an official) that the officials call apply the rules in a consistent manner.