Intentional Foul?

[Adam]

Originally Posted by Texas Aggie

Finally, this allowance is ruining the game. Its terrible that games are taking 20 minutes to finish the last 2-3 clock minutes. When I played, you might foul in the last 30-45 seconds if you were down by 3 or less. Now, teams start fouling down 15 with 3 minutes left. There's nothing you can say that would make me believe that this makes the game better.

While it's nice to know mine isn't the only Quixotic quest around here , I have to ask; how many times do you see this? I don't recall ever seeing it that bad.

Every single time I've seen it, it either worked or they gave up after about 3 or 4 fouls. When it worked, it only took 3 or 4 fouls as the game was now close enough that fouling was no longer the appropriate strategy.

It's not only end-of-game situations where it's accepted, either. Many coaches will prefer their defenders foul a shooter rather than give up an easy layup, in some situations. That said, most good coaches I've seen simply have their kids get more agressive in attacking the ball. The added risk leads to more fouls, but kids take risks all the time and end up committing infractions.

Football has two examples, at least, that I can think of. Intentional safety and intentional delay of game penalties.