College basketball has become unbearable

[Political Hack]

Trying to watch Duke vs Kansas is like watching paint dry. There is a foul every trip down the court. It's impossible to watch. The refs have completely taken over the game.

[Commercecomet24]

They've ruined the game. There's no flow anymore cause of all the fouls. They might as well just have each team shoot 100 free throws and whoever makes the most wins.

[Coach007]

New rules. This isn't going to change this year. Hopefully corrected next year. In the meantime, the team shooting the best at the FT lines has a the best chance at winning!

[msstate7]

I almost forgot how much I dislike Allen at duke.

[IMissJack]

They've ruined the game. There's no flow anymore cause of all the fouls. They might as well just have easy team shoot 100 free throws and whoever makes the most wins.

The new foul happy game also makes it much less likely for big time upsets. The premiere team with the deeper bench (see KY, Duke, KS, IN, etc.) will always have more talent on the bench then the average college team. They can win through attrition. Also, a team that in the past could put defensive pressure on a "finesse" team could win through pure hustle on D, but not much anymore. This is going to extend the time of the games also, which is what I believe will kill the new rule enforcement. Nolen Richardson could have never coached D the way he did in this environment for sure.

[RocketDawg]

Of course, you could also take the position that the players should just quit fouling. They've been getting away with fouling and traveling with the ball too long. Maybe there are some new foul rules ... I don't know ... but it there are rules, enforce them.

[shannondawg]

It sure takes the fun out of watching.

[Dawg Tired]

There has been many rule changes over the last 2 years that puts the defense at a complete disadvantage. The crazy thing is that the coaches decide and vote on these rules and then get pissed when the officials enforce them. It is so hard to watch basketball anymore.

[thf24]

Hopefully corrected next year.

Don't get your hopes up. They started implementing these rules last year. Feedback from players and fans was overwhelmingly negative, so what did they do? Decided to add more rules and call it even tighter. There's someone with an agenda at work here, and they don't have a lot of sense.

[louisvilledawg]

I almost forgot how much I dislike Allen at duke.

He's the token white boy everybody hates in college basketball haha. Duke seemingly always has one

I like him. Mostly because he's a white boy playing well in a non white boy game.

[DudyDawg]

They also need to make it 6 personal fouls instead of 5. Keeping the best players in the floor would help

[Ifyouonlyknew]

Like Howland said they're trying to make the game more like the NBA & college is not the NBA. The talent level is way lower so you're getting this terrible product because of it.

[thf24]

Like Howland said they're trying to make the game more like the NBA & college is not the NBA. The talent level is way lower so you're getting this terrible product because of it.

That's insanely out of touch. Even if it were possible to make it so, so many hardcore college basketball fans love it specifically because it's not like the NBA, and dislike the NBA because of the way it is. Really disturbing that the NCAA has no one on the inside involved with this decision-making process who understands this.

[smootness]

When you make rule changes, you know it will be uglier right away; but you generally have a picture of what you want the game to look like, and the hope is that as players learn the new rules, the game eventually looks like that.

You may still hate the new rules and have justification for why, but the game will almost always be worse off right away with new rule changes.

[Ifyouonlyknew]

When you make rule changes, you know it will be uglier right away; but you generally have a picture of what you want the game to look like, and the hope is that as players learn the new rules, the game eventually looks like that.

You may still hate the new rules and have justification for why, but the game will almost always be worse off right away with new rule changes.

I agree. My question is what is the vision that the NCAA has for the game? How do they want to see the game played with these rules changes? I assume more free flowing & man movement but it's hard to tell.

[Howboutdemdogs]

Our game Friday was horrible on the tight calls ( on both sides ). We all kept commenting that the game was too slow and the refs were making it about them. Almost like they had been practicing in the mirror how they were going to "dance" in front of the scorer's table.

[sleepy dawg]

They've ruined the game. There's no flow anymore cause of all the fouls. They might as well just have each team shoot 100 free throws and whoever makes the most wins.

Then it would be like college football overtime that everybody loves so much!

[sleepy dawg]

I agree. My question is what is the vision that the NCAA has for the game? How do they want to see the game played with these rules changes? I assume more free flowing & man movement but it's hard to tell.

They want more points, same as football. Every rule change they make is centered around this. If you can't play defense, then the offense can score a lot more and they think this is more exciting and will get them better ratings. Moving the 3 point line back a little more (i think last year) was another example of this. That created more room on the inside.

[smootness]

I agree. My question is what is the vision that the NCAA has for the game? How do they want to see the game played with these rules changes? I assume more free flowing & man movement but it's hard to tell.

They want a more free-flowing game and more scoring. They obviously hate what college basketball became, which was a rugged, physical, defensive game. I happen to like that game, but the NCAA clearly felt it was hurting their product and audience. The immediate result has been an even worse product, but I assume their hope is that changes soon.

[JoseBrown]

They want a more free-flowing game and more scoring. They obviously hate what college basketball became, which was a rugged, physical, defensive game. I happen to like that game, but the NCAA clearly felt it was hurting their product and audience. The immediate result has been an even worse product, but I assume their hope is that changes soon.

You are absolutely correct. And by creating more points they are hoping to create more stars on the floor. They are figuring everyone will adjust and fall in line. Fouls will go back down, because defense will go down. More individual play, more points, more stars and more exciting product is what they are after. Increasing viewership and interest. I like defensive play too, but those in charge want scoring to go up.

[TheRef]

So here is the deal with fouls this season. Because of how rough the game has been the past few seasons in the post, they decided that referees can no longer "let them play". All contact is to be called now, that includes in the paint and on the way down the court. You can no longer "hand check" guards as they mosey their way down the court. You want to stop them? Gotta go the block/charge route for that. But you can't put your forearm into them and try to herd them to one side or the other.

Now I am not happy about this for the reasons y'all have mentioned. Old school, defensive minded basketball will be a thing of the past. Games will take longer due to the amount of fouls, and fans will become disinterested. Sadly, I don't see the NCAA reversing course on this at all. They've gone all in on this, so players, coaches, and fans are going to have to get used to the new NCAA basketball ways. And this is whether you like it or not, welcome to college basketball now.

[MCsMGs]

That's insanely out of touch. Even if it were possible to make it so, so many hardcore college basketball fans love it specifically because it's not like the NBA, and dislike the NBA because of the way it is. Really disturbing that the NCAA has no one on the inside involved with this decision-making process who understands this.

I'm firmly in this category...I quit watching the NBA and got much more interested in the college game because of this mentality. I believe it is driven by the desire to appeal to larger audiences who want to watch an offensive game(in other words TV revenue). Casual fans don't care anything about watching a team play defense.

[shannondawg]

Will these new rules apply to Kentucky as well? Or are they just going to be exempt when they play us?

[TheRef]

Will these new rules apply to Kentucky as well? Or are they just going to be exempt when they play us?

Only exempt with Ted Valentine