Change in Referee’s Point of Emphasis?

[Forego]

Is it just my imagination or are the referees allowing more contact on drives to the basket and during rebounding this year? Also, referees used to call jump balls instantaneously. Now they seem to be permitting a short tug of war with the winner gaining possession. It appears like they have adopted some of the no calls seen in the Olympics. Has anyone else noticed this or is it just me?

 

[MSGRET]

I believe that some of it is because of the call at the end of the Iowa - UConn game in the Final Four. There were many officials that came out and stated that the foul shouldn't have been called and that the officiating in the Tournament itself was below par.

 

[BobbyJ]

Is it just my imagination or are the referees allowing more contact on drives to the basket and during rebounding this year? Also, referees used to call jump balls instantaneously. Now they seem to be permitting a short tug of war with the winner gaining possession. It appears like they have adopted some of the no calls seen in the Olympics. Has anyone else noticed this or is it just me?

Just getting them ready for the WNBA where anything goes. Holding, banging cutters, arm bar pushoffs, and cheap shot blind picks are all just part of the game now.

 

[Next 12]

Is it just my imagination or are the referees allowing more contact on drives to the basket and during rebounding this year? Also, referees used to call jump balls instantaneously. Now they seem to be permitting a short tug of war with the winner gaining possession. It appears like they have adopted some of the no calls seen in the Olympics. Has anyone else noticed this or is it just me?

I believe you are on to something. The Fairleigh Dickinson game was enough proof to say you are correct. There were 6 or 7 examples of a Scrum , with 2 or 3 players going for the ball before someone came out with the ball and play resumed. Very few fouls called. Will watch more closely to see if this is true in the Oregon St. game Monday. GO HUSKIES!!!!!

 

[ucmiami2]

Have to wait a little longer I think - 4 games is too early to account for variation among various teams of officials. The jump ball has always been varied especially to us watching - it is supposed to be based on both players possessing the ball at the same time, not just one in possession and the other putting a hand on it. Refs view point, and 'anticipation' may vary and a choice between foul, travel, and jump ball can change in an instant. They all tend to call the on the floor scrum more loosely and quicker to keep the peace and prevent injury.

 

[RoadMaster]

Just getting them ready for the WNBA where anything goes. Holding, banging cutters, arm bar pushoffs, and cheap shot blind picks are all just part of the game now.

This may even be a grey area I the W..

 

[Blue Huskie]

Just getting them ready for the WNBA where anything goes. Holding, banging cutters, arm bar pushoffs, and cheap shot blind picks are all just part of the game now.

Sad but true. And some of the same refs work both so there's no way they can call them totally differently. It just keeps getting rougher and rougher. Lots of the "Make it more like the men's game" crowd loves this but I do not.

 

[BobbyJ]

Sad but true. And some of the same refs work both so there's no way they can call them totally differently. It just keeps getting rougher and rougher. Lots of the "Make it more like the men's game" crowd loves this but I do not.

Exactly, that's the NBA. Best way to get a foul called is go up for a shot, flail your arms, collapse softly to the floor, and yell. League calls it "protecting the shooter". They should name it the Embiid/Harden Maneuver. I wonder what they could name it in the WNBA.

 

[ThisJustIn]

Yes. Basketball in the old days was always been delicate and demur. NOTHING like today's rough and tumble.

Ask Bill Laimbeer and Kelly Mazzante.

 

[ConnManFan]

You can download a pdf of the rulebook here 2024-25 Rule Book. The points of emphasis start on page 4 and go 4 pages.

Points of Emphasis
Enforcing the Rules as Written
Screening
Traveling
Legal Guarding Position
Post Play/Three Seconds in the Lane
Contact On and By the Ball Handler/Dribbler
Sporting Behavior/Conduct

 

[Skeets]

I don't know if there is an official rule on this. What irks me is when a pick is set and the defender blindly runs into it and the person setting the pick is called for a foul. How is the person setting the pick responsible for the defender blindly running into it? And as far as contact is concerned, isn't that the reason why the pick is set? I'm not talking about moving picks. I get that. I'm talking about perfectly still picks.

 

[Zonepress]

Thought the refereeing in the FDU game was
Very consistent

Didn’t seem that it was called any differently than most games
As usual, the big players(JAE) never seem to get the calls they should

 

[Zonepress]

Sad but true. And some of the same refs work both so there's no way they can call them totally differently. It just keeps getting rougher and rougher. Lots of the "Make it more like the men's game" crowd loves this but I do

Agree :Trying to emulate the men’s game imho
Is not the best path to growing the game

 

[JoePgh]

I don't know if there is an official rule on this. What irks me is when a pick is set and the defender blindly runs into it and the person setting the pick is called for a foul. How is the person setting the pick responsible for the defender blindly running into it? And as far as contact is concerned, isn't that the reason why the pick is set? I'm not talking about moving picks. I get that. I'm talking about perfectly still picks.

If the screener is really "perfectly still", I do not recall many instances where the screener is called for a foul. But often, the screener (while keeping her feet planted) will throw out a shoulder or a hip to get in the path of the defender. That is a valid foul, and is often called.

It should be called the Reggie Jackson foul, since it is similar to Reggie's famous play in a Yankees-Dodgers World Series game in the late 1970's. As a baserunner in the late innings, Reggie threw out his hip to be hit by a Dodger player's double play relay throw, and somehow did NOT get called for interference. That no-call changed the outcome of the game.

 

[MSGRET]

Exactly, that's the NBA. Best way to get a foul called is go up for a shot, flail your arms, collapse softly to the floor, and yell. League calls it "protecting the shooter". They should name it the Embiid/Harden Maneuver. I wonder what they could name it in the WNBA.

The CC maneuver is a start.

 

[JoePgh]

There actually is a way for a "perfectly still" screener to be correctly called for a foul. That will happen if her feet are wider than her shoulders when she takes a screening position. I remember a recent game against South Carolina where Dawn asked the refs to watch for this, and they called it on UConn during the game.

According to the Celtics announcer (Brian Scalabrine) during tonight's game, in the NBA that will be called routinely if there is any contact between the screener and the defender while the screener's legs are spread too wide apart.

 

[Blue Huskie]

Yes. Basketball in the old days was always been delicate and demur. NOTHING like today's rough and tumble.

Ask Bill Laimbeer and Kelly Mazzante.

I'm not sure what Kelly Mazzante has to do with how the games were called but I've got some nice VHS recordings of the 1994-95 women's team. Now that was some beautiful basketball. They actually called fouls back then. That was when John Wooden took notice of UCONN and commented on the purity of their game.

Wooden would've loved UConn, says grandson

 

[Alydar]

Just getting them ready for the WNBA where anything goes. Holding, banging cutters, arm bar pushoffs, and cheap shot blind picks are all just part of the game now.

All they need are players grabbing chairs and using them as weapons while the officials happen to be involved at the other end of the court.

 

[Skeets]

There actually is a way for a "perfectly still" screener to be correctly called for a foul. That will happen if her feet are wider than her shoulders when she takes a screening position. I remember a recent game against South Carolina where Dawn asked the refs to watch for this, and they called it on UConn during the game.

According to the Celtics announcer (Brian Scalabrine) during tonight's game, in the NBA that will be called routinely if there is any contact between the screener and the defender while the screener's legs are spread too wide apart.

OK thanks. That explains a lot of the calls. Sometimes though, when the defender takes a huge blind hit and ends up flat out on the floor, it feels like a sympathy foul.

 

[ConnManFan]

Aaliyah Edwards was the queen of setting illegal screens. This is not recency bias, she had to have, by far, the most illegal screens in school history. It was close to one a game. Im not even going to go back and mention the most costly controversial one ever.

 

[The deacon]

Aaliyah Edwards was the queen of setting illegal screens. This is not recency bias, she had to have, by far, the most illegal screens in school history. It was close to one a game. Im not even going to go back and mention the most costly controversial one ever.

Agreed, ConnManFan. The screen on Gabby Marshall was conspicuous and had to be called. The so-called 'controversy' was simply knee-jerk ESPN commentators that evening stirring up a story that shouldn't have existed and the ongoing inability of UConn fans to admit the call was correct.

Aaliyah did what she did far too often and got caught at an inopportune time.

 

[Barkin Out]

The CC maneuver is a start.

Or the Diggin’s Dive

 

[ConnManFan]

Is it just my imagination or are the referees allowing more contact on drives to the basket and during rebounding this year? Also, referees used to call jump balls instantaneously. Now they seem to be permitting a short tug of war with the winner gaining possession. It appears like they have adopted some of the no calls seen in the Olympics. Has anyone else noticed this or is it just me?

After watching the Southern Cal v Notre Dame game I think you are definitely on to something. To me it appears if an offensive player is driving and initiates contact with the defender they are no longer getting the benefit of the doubt. Offensive players have gotten used to getting bailed out and I think the officials have decided to stop that.