Michigan State vs Kentucky- 2 or a 3?

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally posted by jbduke
I think it was a foul. That Sparks initiated the contact is inconsequential; the defender (Torbert?) did not have legal guarding position. He was attempting to challenge the shot, and he never established a legal guarding position before bumping Sparks. Beyond that, Sparks did not lunge at him; he leaned forward very, very slightly. In fact, had there been no contact at all, his shooting motion would have been fairly characterized as very nearly normal.

[/B]

That fact that the defender didn't have legal guarding position is not only inconsequential, it's not relevant at all. A shooter can't jump into a defender that has assumed a legal position on the floor; it doesn't matter whether that defender's legal position on the court also happens to be a LGP too.

Reggie Miller has made a career out of jumping sideways into defenders and drawing fouls. He'll also kick his leg out into the path of a defender going by him on the side to draw contact. Reggie still gets away with this occasionally.

If there hadda been a foul called on this play, we woulda ended up with the same kind of uproar that happened with the travel in the Villanova/NC game.