Here’s My Thing About Basketball
Last night I watched a college basketball game between 2 unranked teams. The first half was unbelievable! It was fast-paced, exciting, and loaded with highlights. The second half, not so good. The officials began blowing their whistles on EVERYTHING... 6 fouls were called in the first 70-seconds of the second half! In fact the first seven minutes of the second half, took THIRTY minutes of actual time! The final 1:30 got good again because of the absence of most of the "whistles".
But this is my point. Over-officiating ruins games. Basketball can be a great game to watch when you let the players play. I'm real tired of the team that does the best job "fooling the refs" winning the game. I admit that I could not do their job. However, basketball referees, more than other referees, get a crazy amount of calls wrong yet they keep on blowing their whistles! It can kill a game.
I really do hate seeing games won at the free throw line. How many times have you seen Duke or Kansas (or any top team) win a close game because they shot 38 free throws vs. their opponents 18 ?!? And how many times in a game do you see a marquis player fly into the paint, out of control with no hope of getting a shot off, be SAVED by the whistle and a contact foul ? To me it's ridiculous.
Last night I saw both the great game that I love and the lousy game I can't stand ... all in one game! Tonight we get Duke against Kentucky and Kansas against Michigan State. If there were ever 2 games to "just let them play" and keep the whistles to a necessary minimum, these would be the ones. I hope tonight that the highlights all happen when the clock is running, not by some guy going 16-for-18 at the line.