PAUL WOODY COLUMN: Invisible area unfair to hoops officials
By
Paul Woody
Published: October 26, 2009
Updated: October 26, 2009
» 1 Comment |
Post a Comment
vote
now
Buzz up! GREENSBORO, N.C. -- In the movie "Harvey," the closest friend of Elwood P. Dowd, played by Jimmy Stewart, is an invisible, 6-3 rabbit named Harvey.
Dowd gets into all kinds of trouble because of Harvey, as you would imagine might happen when someone introduces everyone to an invisible 6-3 rabbit.
Trouble is bound to occur during the upcoming college basketball season when the three game officials must imagine something much smaller than a 6-3 rabbit.
This year, that trio must keep their eyes on an invisible rectangle, 18 inches by 24 inches, which starts at the front of the rim and goes to the front of the backboard.
In every instance for the 2009-2010 season, a defender who arrives to help a teammate who has been beaten off the dribble will be called for blocking if he makes contact with the offensive player within that 18-by-24-inch box.
It makes sense. The offensive player should be rewarded for beating his primary defender. He should be able to drive to the basket with impunity and without fear of someone coming from the other side of the lane and undercutting him at the last second in an attempt to draw a charging foul.
The only problem is that the area is invisible, and its dimensions are open to the interpretation of each official, not unlike the strike zone in baseball.
And we know no one ever gets upset about called strikes.
"You're telling me every official sees the same 18 by 24 inches?" said Seth Greenberg, men's basketball coach at Virginia Tech, who was here for the ACC's Operation Basketball.
"I think they have put the officials in a really difficult situation. It's so easily rectified it's just mind-boggling they can't figure it out."
The solution is simple. Draw the lines on the court now.
The rules committee considered doing that, then backed off. It could be because it is expensive to refinish a court in order to add new lines.
It could be the college basketball leaders do not want their courts to resemble NBA courts, which have a no-charge zone stenciled in the lane.
Yeah, you wouldn't want to do something to help the officials, players and coaches.
Whatever the reason, it is wrong-headed thinking. You should never tell someone to enforce a rule that involves an invisible area.
This rule is needed. Players put themselves and others in danger in their zeal to draw a charge. And the area under the basket needs to be less cluttered, especially with falling bodies.
The block/charge call is one of the most difficult an official must make, and this eliminates some of the guesswork. Drawing the lines on the court would eliminate all the guesswork.
"That's what they should do," said Jeff Allen, a 6-7 forward for Virginia Tech. "It's going to be a tough call for the referee."
Making matters worse will be television productions, which will have the technology to put lines on the screen where the invisible box should be. Viewers during games, and coaches after games, will see whether the referee's call was correct.
Allen could be one of the primary beneficiaries of this imaginary box. He led the ACC in disqualifications last season with eight, and a number of his fouls came when he made a power move to the basket, leaving falling -- or flopping -- bodies in his wake.
"I think this is going to help a lot of post players," Allen said.
It's too bad the same type of help hasn't been given to the officials.