Tighten Officiating to prevent injuries | The Boneyard

Tighten Officiating to prevent injuries

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Another of my non-UConn favorite players to watch went down this week – Stephanie Soares ISU Cyclones – out for the season with an ACL against Oklahoma.

I’m not an expert, but I watch and have watched for a long time and when we lose nationally-known players to injury it impacts the fan base as well as the programs & players. The women’s program is not as mature as the men’s with endless fans and unlimited air-time.

I’d love to see officials tighten up the game. Stop loose ball scrambles before there are 5 players thrashing about on the floor. Call the hard/intentional fouls that put players on the court. Manage the physicality of play when over-matched coaches play “physical” because they can’t compete on talent and toss elbows, hips, knees out of camera range to slow down a better skilled opponent – which I believe is commonplace against Connecticut. Some programs/coaches are notorious for physical play that verges on “cheap” especially when games are out-of-reach (not citing any UConn nemesis in particular).

Hopefully our injury plague of the last two seasons is an anomaly and we will regress to the mean health-wise, but it certainly should open some eyes as to how vulnerable our success is and the media value of our stars – and the star players we compete against.

Can’t control practice, can’t control Covid, but call the fouls and manage games to protect the players and our enjoyment watching them play.

My two cents.
 
Widen the paint area...allowing more freedom of movement and spacing of players which might give
refs better sightlines to call or non-call fouls appropriately.
 
I agree that the referees should clean things up in the paint. Way too physical, reminds me of the NBA circa 1990. Don`t be afraid to eject a player or two.

Also I would not allow my players to dive after loose balls. Simple risk/reward calculation. It is too dangerous for the potential benefit to be gained.

Example, Katie Lou went aggressively to the floor after a loose ball on Senior Day against Houston, 2019, a game we won by 22. She injured her back and was out for the AAC Tournament. She came back and gutted it out for the NCAA Tournament, especially against Louisville in the Elite Eight game, but she was far from 100%.
 
Maybe it's just me and I'm delusional, but I'd say the opposite: loosen up officiating and stop calling so many touch fouls in the paint. End the incentive to try to get bigs in foul trouble by running into them. If a little drives the lane, they're going to bump or get bumped in the process -- unless it's egregious, or involves interfering with the shooter's arms, ignore it.
 
Officials: Stop allowing the attacking of a player that just grabbed a rebound. The result of the attacks is that elbows are flying to protect the ball.
 
*prep for complaints about touch fouls and "let them play."

Until anyone can show evidence that officiating would stop injuries, I'd pause on that expectation.

Now, using the international paint? Making sure it's all in parallel with the WNBA, though.
 
I personally think offensive players should not be rewarded for jumping into defenders on drives to bail themselves out of bad decisions. If the defender doesn't remain vertical and bumps them or leans over them, that's one thing. However, when the offensive player jumps into or pushes off against the vertical defender and throws up a hopeless shot they get rewarded with a trip to the charity stripe? I don't like it. That's the way the game is called these days, though, so everyone seems to be doing it.

Others I am sure disagree, and that's ok.
 
Sometimes the refs seem to just let them go at it. I'd prefer they are tighter with calls. Eventually players would adjust, the game would be cleaner and fewer players would get hurt. I'm not so sure I would want my kid to play major college sports after what I've seen coaching kids for 25 years. I've seen lots of intentional fouls intended to injure and even players just flat out rabbit punching other kids 2-3 times. I've seen kids who scored for our team just get immediately flatted the next time they touched the ball. It may not be worth it to go through the physical punishment and potentially damage kids for life. Imagine what Paige must go through each game. I remember that South Florida game last year ( I think it was South Florida ) where it seemed the opposing coach was feeding her players raw meat to get them to become rabid defenders ( she coaches Georgia now )
 
There is something between allowing anything in the paint and calling every hand check 30 feet from the basket.

Maybe the rules should be designed to protect players rather than to promote offense.
 
God No!!!! The last thing I want to watch is a free throw shooting contest. The games already have no flow to them.
agree whole heartedly. The rules today allow for such little contact it’s baffling some fans want less. This is just my opinion, but physicality is equally as important as finesse. Teams shouldn’t be put down for being tougher and more physical. Both have their spot in the game of basketball.

The comparisons of today WCBB to the 90s NBA is laughable as well.
 
They could not, or (would not) enforce a simple rule change a few years ago. They said that "palming" the ball (turning the ball over when dribbling) would be strictly enforced.......Yeah, right!
 
I personally think offensive players should not be rewarded for jumping into defenders on drives to bail themselves out of bad decisions. If the defender doesn't remain vertical and bumps them or leans over them, that's one thing. However, when the offensive player jumps into or pushes off against the vertical defender and throws up a hopeless shot they get rewarded with a trip to the charity stripe? I don't like it. That's the way the game is called these days, though, so everyone seems to be doing it.

Others I am sure disagree, and that's ok.
Wholeheartedly agree. Just watch Caitlin Going to the basket; she pushes off with her left arm every time and draws the foul almost every time.
 
Maybe we need a "Foul No Foul" survey that fans, coaches, players and officials take. Would be thrilled to review the results (and find out who knows the rule book and who doesn't... <g>)
 
Maybe we need a "Foul No Foul" survey that fans, coaches, players and officials take. Would be thrilled to review the results (and find out who knows the rule book and who doesn't... <g>)
I wish I could see some path towards consensus on the topic of fouls but my experiences tell me there is none.

In years past I often took to posting post game vids of "controversial" or "key" moments from the most recent game. The vids usually were comprised of real time video, multiple angle replays in slo-motion or even frame by frame. All of these resulted in a broad range of responses not only in what the consequences should be based on the understanding of the ruled but also broad disagreement on what they actually saw in the video. And people expect 100% accurate results from officials viewing the game in real time without any preparation or expectation as to what was about to happen in front of them (while running up and down the floor).

Don't get me wrong I see many calls that I feel are wrong and I am flabbergasted that the call went that way. But, I also realize that no game can be called 100% perfectly. Better training? Sure. Higher qualified Refs (with better pay)? Sure. But the game is too fast and the rules are too mushy for everyone to be happy.

It's a problem that I just don't see being solved in my lifetime. Bummer.
 
I'd prefer consistent officiating than tighter. It seems game to game players have to pick up a few fouls to even determine how the game is being called. I've seen games where it looks like the WWE and others where all you hear is the whistle.

I don't think there's a correlation between tighter officiating and less injuries. To quote Geno "it can happen anywhere."
 
Sometimes the refs seem to just let them go at it. I'd prefer they are tighter with calls. Eventually players would adjust, the game would be cleaner and fewer players would get hurt. I'm not so sure I would want my kid to play major college sports after what I've seen coaching kids for 25 years. I've seen lots of intentional fouls intended to injure and even players just flat out rabbit punching other kids 2-3 times. I've seen kids who scored for our team just get immediately flatted the next time they touched the ball. It may not be worth it to go through the physical punishment and potentially damage kids for life. Imagine what Paige must go through each game. I remember that South Florida game last year ( I think it was South Florida ) where it seemed the opposing coach was feeding her players raw meat to get them to become rabid defenders ( she coaches Georgia now )
That was UCF or Central Florida and Coach Abraham-Henderson or better known as Coach Abe.
 

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