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2021-22 Men's College Basketball Season - UNC v. Kansas for the Natty

Duke went 11-13 FT on 13 Clemson fouls.
Clemson went 0-1 FT on 10 Clemson fouls.
 
WF’s next opponent, Cuse, blew a 10 point lead at Pitt and ended up losing by 11. The Orange is in disarray.
 
Duke went 11-13 FT on 13 Clemson fouls.
Clemson went 0-1 FT on 10 Clemson fouls.

I haven't been watching a ton of college basketball this season (though certainly getting into it now), but it seems like foul calls in general are down this season? Is that a small sample size or a general trend?
 
Duke went 11-13 FT on 13 Clemson fouls.
Clemson went 0-1 FT on 10 Clemson fouls.

Man I would give both of my nuts to win in Cameron this year on a last second Alondes Williams dunk. Wish Forbes would put Marsh on one their guys Patrick Davidson style.
 
let me go on record now

we WILL beat dook in cameron this season
 
Auburn beats 8-10 Missouri by 1, Duke beats 11-8 Clemson by 2 at home, Kentucky tied with 13-5 Miss St with 4 to go. 5-14 UGA beats Bama by 6.
 
Man I would give both of my nuts to win in Cameron this year on a last second Alondes Williams dunk. Wish Forbes would put Marsh on one their guys Patrick Davidson style.

Damn. Both? DDDoug's mom is a ball handling savant. Keep at least one.
 
I haven't been watching a ton of college basketball this season (though certainly getting into it now), but it seems like foul calls in general are down this season? Is that a small sample size or a general trend?

I think I saw fouls are down for the 4th year in a row and at the lowest level since such things have been analyzed.
 
I think I saw fouls are down for the 4th year in a row and at the lowest level since such things have been analyzed.

That seems a bit improbable given the busier schedules of these teams rescheduling Covid games and playing more fatigued.
 
That seems a bit improbable given the busier schedules of these teams rescheduling Covid games and playing more fatigued.

Yeah, I think the debate is around if there are actually less fouls or just less fouls being called. I think most people are under the impression that they are just calling less fouls and it is making the game more physical.
 
Here's the article I read on the topic:

https://theathletic.com/3059625/2022/01/10/fouls-in-college-basketball-are-at-an-all-time-low-is-that-a-good-thing-hoop-thoughts/

Given it is behind a paywall, here is an excerpt:

Fouls in college basketball are at an all-time low. Is that a good thing?

If you’re one of those fans who can’t stand it when the refs blow their whistles too much, then this is the men’s college basketball season for you. Through Saturday’s games, teams were being whistled for an average of 16.6 fouls per game, according to faktorsports.com. If that pace holds up, it will be the lowest average in the history of the sport, and the fourth straight year that a new low has been set. It would also mark the sixth straight year that the average number of fouls declined from the previous season.

This begs an important question: Is this a good thing?

Jay Bilas doesn’t think so. As the lead college basketball analyst for ESPN, Bilas sees more high-quality teams play in person than any other person on the planet. He also spends countless hours studying teams on video. Moreover, Bilas serves on the NCAA’s men’s basketball competition committee, an advisory board of coaches, administrators and outside experts that studies the game, meets regularly, and issues recommendations to the rules committee. He notes that the steady decline in fouls runs counter to the NCAA’s effort to allow for more freedom of movement. Bilas has a very high platform, and he is using it to sound a very loud alarm.

“We’ve given up all the gains we made over the last year-and-a-half,” Bilas told me. “Now we’re basically back to where we were four or five years ago, especially off the ball. There’s more clutching and grabbing on cutters. Guys are being allowed to blow up dribble handoffs. Too many arm bars away from the post. The officials aren’t calling what they were calling two or three years ago, and the coaches are teaching to that.”

In an effort to discern whether Bilas’ opinion is widely shared, I conducted a text message poll of head coaches, most of whom are in power conferences, and asked them how well they thought the effort to provide more freedom of movement was working. I got 27 replies, and while the results don’t quite reflect the alarm that Bilas is sounding, they do indicate a high level of concern:

• It’s working well: 6
• It’s working, but not well enough: 11
• It’s not working — the game is too physical: 10


We know from past history that if the game gets too physical, the product suffers. In the 2014-15 season, teams averaged 67.6 points per game, the lowest output in 53 years. That prompted the rules committee to institute a variety of changes, most notably shortening the shot clock to 30 seconds and extending the arc under the basket. Four years later the committee pushed back the 3-point line to create more spacing. The changes had their intended effect as scoring immediately ticked up, but the recent decline in fouls could indicate some slippage.

The concern this season isn’t the overall average so much as a week-to-week decline. According to the NCAA, the refs called 17.24 fouls the first week. In subsequent weeks the number has plummeted as low as 16.56. J.D. Collins, who in his role as the NCAA’s national coordinator of men’s basketball officiating is spearheading the effort to create more freedom of movement, expressed his concerns in December during a call with conference coordinators. Since then, the average number of fouls has flatlined, as it usually does this time of year. But it’s pretty clear that another record for fewest fouls is going into the books.

“There’s no set number we’re trying to dictate, but you can look at the trends and say, this better not keep going or we will end up with an extremely physical game,” Collins told me. “I was not happy the first five weeks, but since then the officials have been doing a better job, and I think that will have a positive impact as we get into conference play.”

To be sure, the decline in fouls does not fall on the refs alone. This season is also seeing a record-high number of 3-point attempts per game (22.67). If players are pulling up for 3s instead of driving to the rim, they are less likely to get fouled. Scoring is also up 0.58 points per game per team from last season, although the 72.24 average is still down from the 73.77 clip from 2017-18. Steals are up over this time last season (which may be a reflection of the fewer whistles), overall field goal percentage is up negligibly (0.09 percent), and 3-point percentage is down slightly (-0.18 percent). Points per possession are also up a little bit for the second straight year. Bilas acknowledges that the data doesn’t fully support his sense of urgency, but adds, “At some point you have to say, my eyes aren’t lying.”

The problem, as always, is that if the refs blow more whistles, it will make the games even harder to watch in the short term. Their challenge will only get more difficult as March approaches and teams get more desperate to win. The one thing everyone agrees on is that the more the slide continues, the more painful it will be to correct it. We don’t want games to grind to a halt, but a few more whistles to clean things up would go a long way.
 
Yeah, I think the debate is around if there are actually less fouls or just less fouls being called. I think most people are under the impression that they are just calling less fouls and it is making the game more physical.

*fewer
 
So now everyone is being allowed to play like dook. Constant fouling realizing they will only call so much.
 
So now everyone is being allowed to play like dook. Constant fouling realizing they will only call so much.

No, Duke still plays be a different set of rules. Of course, they are first in the ACC and #2 in the country in fewest opponent free throw attempts per field goal attempt.
 
No, Duke still plays be a different set of rules. Of course, they are first in the ACC and #2 in the country in fewest opponent free throw attempts per field goal attempt.

Can't wait for K to retire.
 
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