Steal, Foul, and Altercation (Video)

[jeremy341a]

Originally Posted by Matt S.

And herein lies a simple difference of perspective into what our role as an official is.

I had an NCAA-W exhibition game last night; small point guard gets trapped near sideline, starts pivoting and gets popped in face by a defenders finger. I call a foul, the point guard decided to continue through the whistle--no contact, no words, just frustrated. We calmed everyone down, I reported the foul, and we continued to play.

My point is, some officials seem to want to look to penalize just for the sake of penalizing while other officials are looking to keep players IN the game...I happen to try to fall into the latter category.

The foul in this video, IMO, is not close to flagrant. The contact was not excessive, nor was it "violent or savage in nature." The players were moving very quickly, and both ball handler and defender were airborne when contact occurred. That's why I'm going with an F1 on the initial play--and obviously having a heightened awareness throughout the rest of the game.

I disagree I do believe the foul was excessive. The definition of excessive is going beyond what is normal. This was not normal. It was not a basketball play and was a move that would lead to injury quite often. This isn't a normal clip of two high flyers getting tangled up leading to a big spill. This is a defender who is not air born shoving an air born shooter in the back.

IMO looking to keep players in the game should not be a consideration. This wouldn't be an official looking to penalize this would be an official enforcing the rules.