THE OPINION COLUMN
By: Ryan Welte
NCAA ISSUES
Everyone knows the problems that I have with college football's
rules, but after watching the tournament so far this year, things have
jumped out to me that should be changed in basketball too.
My first issue is with what is reviewed by the game officials. Out of
bounds calls that are questionable should be looked at in slow motion. An incorrect call regarding possessions is massively important. Instead of team A getting the ball and scoring, team B would get the ball and possibly score. This could result in a 6 point difference in the score and may be the momentum change in a game. All of this could be avoided with a 30 second timeout to look at the play on a screen. A poor sidelines call cost Illinois their game against Miami.
My next issue is when teams are inbounding and throw the ball to a teammate on the other side of the court after they had already crossed the mid-court line. That should he considered an over and back penalty. This situation has happened many, many times while I have been watching the tournament this year. It frustrates me that a team can guard that well and not get a chance to intercept the inbound pass because they throw it across the gym.
My last problem is the one that aggravates me the most of all. What is the need to have a 35 second shot clock? It provides for a much slower paced game and most teams just dribble out for five or six seconds anyway. I think 28 seconds would be much more acceptable, and I would be good with it if they went all the way down to the NBA 24 second shot clock. It would make the close games more interesting at the end also because there would be more possessions for the trailing teams to make dramatic comebacks.