Video Request: Kentucky vs. Kansas State (Sweet Sixteen)

[crosscountry55]

Originally Posted by Kansas Ref

I was confused momentarily on that block/charge call that you cited: After the made basket by the Kentucky player, the L gave a signal of a " closed fist that was accompanied by a horizontal back-n-forth motion with his arm". Was that not typically the "signal'' used by many refs to indicate that the basket was 'good' and we're shooting 1 FT? That event did give me a moment of pause because I was looking for the classical PC signal: with "palm behind head" and followed by a "directionality" indicator. When I [and ostensibly the announcers] did not see this classical sequence of signals, then it did cause momentary confusion to both players, headcoaches, and viewers. Just sayin...

I had the same confusion you did and that's why I brought it up. During the middle of the season here, our association put out some observations, and one of them was that in our individual efforts to apply some style to our signals, some of our "and-one" signals could be confused for a punch going the other way. In this example, it was the exact opposite. The "punch" was kind of restrained, and came down a little more like Thor's hammer. I really thought that L was counting the basket (so did everyone else....part of the reason Calipari had a minor meltdown right there, although I think that it was more because he disagreed with the call). I thought L should have punched a little more definitively, or if not, then he probably needs to add the palm behind the head. The palm behind head is indeed an approved signal, but truthfully its use has declined in the era of the stylistic punch. I don't often use it at the spot of a PCF, but I do when I report to the table.

By the way, FWIW, I thought it was a block. I don't think it was all that close, either.....I'd call it 70/30. I think the defender had two feet down just in the nick of time, but the rest of his body was still moving toward the shooter at the point of contact. I even thought this was somewhat purposeful on the part of the defender. My humble opinion.