Basketball faceguarding!!!

[jdmara]

Originally Posted by mick

Well, Josh, other than the basic *first time on the court* elementary basketball player who was told to guard her/his opponent and not allow them the ball, have you ever seen a basketball player staring at an opponent with no regard for where the ball is ?
And writing that you have seen coaches teaching that tactic in a college setting, several or many times, and expecting anyone here to take that as truth, is quite a leap of faith.

I've actually observed Lute Olsen coach one of his players to do it back in the late 90's I can't for the life of me remember what year that was however or why they were in the midwest (might have been a tourney practice or something). I remember because a player from the hs in which I graduated was on the team. About three years ago, I was observing a UK practice (which I had a tendency to drop by since I worked at the University) and remember Tubby Smith talking about it. From what I have gathered from the few experiences I've seen it in the college game is that it's a technique to deny the scorer the ball with an undersized defender.

I wouldn't pull it out of my a$$ I've been around enough to see the thrashings people get around here for statements they can't back up. Didn't mean to make a seemingly arrogent statement.

So, I guess to answer your question...I have actually seen a collegiate basketball player faceguard. Undersized defender on the other team's leading scorer. I'm sure it was used during the game but I, honestly, didn't pay attention if it was used during the games.

-Josh

P.S. I lived for faceguarding in HS, I was that undersized defender