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This year the NCAA set out to make the collegiate game of basketball a game of politeness and distance. The game will soon qualify as a "non-contact sport." In their efforts to "create more offense" the NCAA has crossed the line this time by effeminizing basketball into a game of always having to say your sorry by giving away free throws to players who were victimized by the simple touch of another player's fingers. College basketball has become the most-polite game on the planet!

And to guarantee ball handlers even more distance, the NCAA will punish defensive bodies for not trying hard enough to get out of the way of a charging ball handler. Defenders will have to anticipate where ball handlers want to go, then basically turn and run away faster than the charging ball handler in order to avoid contact, because if there is contact, the defender is at fault.

When these rule changes came into existence, my first reaction was happiness. I immediately imagined Coach K looking for a new job as a sportscaster, always reminding us how the game used to be played and flopped. The master instructor of "flop basketball" would be no more and all of college basketball (except Duke) would applaud the king's departure from the game.

On November 12, Kansas will experience the transition of Coach K. He's not prepared to leave the game just yet for the love affair with a microphone. Give Coach K some credit, he not only mastered the game of flop, he mastered the exploitation of rules in college basketball. This more general view of who Coach K is will better prepare you for what is to come... the transition away from defender flop basketball into the development of offender flop basketball. Kansas will be the first big challenge for Coach K (and his new transition) this year. Kansas better be prepared to face an offense of cry babies who will be well-groomed for the new drama performance. Duke has had a few weeks now of stage rehearsals because Coach K requested ACC officials to come and ref all his practices this year, getting a jump on all other college teams for facing the new rules. Yes, you heard me right!

Remember adding the circle under the basket a few years ago in order to slow down Coach K's skill at teaching flop right underneath the goal? The first inspiration for the NCAA was to just not allow charges from under (or near under) the goal. Coach K called the new rule "a joke" and brought his demands to the ACC, who then helped push the NCAA into implementing the circle, so Coach K could teach his flopping defenders outside of the circle.

But this time we aren't hearing much out of Coach K, and no comments from him calling the new rules "a joke." Why? Because Coach K saw the writing on the wall a long time ago for his flop basketball. He feared the NCAA might make the right call and create a penalty for flopping, so he quietly supports the new rules, which will reverse the insanity of unfairness and create the same potential of abuse but this time giving the advantage to the offense.

Everyone around college basketball thinks they've finally gotten one past Coach K. Everyone thinks Coach K will sink with these new rules. Read it here... http://kentuckysportsradio.com/1/tweaked-chargeblock-rule-good-for-uk-bad-for-duke/ ↗

Don't count on it!

So what will happen to college basketball this year if half the players foul out every game? Fans will go ballistic! What will be the NCAA's reaction this time? They don't seem to have the guts to challenge Coach K directly by making the right changes to ban flopping by adding an anti-flopping rule. So will they continue the distortion of the game by adding fuel to the fire? Could the NCAA be so lost from their own mistakes that they look to the NBA for an answer and add another personal foul gift to players?

That would be a huge mistake if they did.

Typically, these rule changes have added 30 minutes to every game, something TV execs have to consider the +/-. What is even worse is the variation of time now needed to finish a game. The rule changes can add 10 minutes to a game or it can add 1 hour. We aren't even considering OTs. The rule changes will make it even harder to schedule programming around basketball.

Then let's slow the game down even further and add in more reviewable situations! Yikes!

If the refs keep the hard enforcement on the rule changes this year and beyond, it will take several years to straighten this out. These rule changes totally change the way the game of basketball is played, and these fundamental changes have to take hold in players' games before they enter college. There isn't much defense played in HS, but enough to train players the habit of hand checking and using body. This style of play goes back even further, to the beginning... on the playground!

Every old timer (like myself) has grown up on playgrounds playing physical basketball. It was never such a technical game on asphalt and concrete. It was a game that required players to "man up" and face the challenges of other players who bullied on the court. After a year or so of playground ball, players wouldn't allow themselves to be bullied in the classrooms either.

Basketball is morphing into a "non-contact sport." Some twisted individuals now think that basketball should become just another form of ballet; high-flying pirouettes with a soft landing. These same individuals don't understand what is at the heart of basketball. Basketball was brought to us by one of our own, Dr. James Naismith, but it was developed on every inner-city playground in America! The game captured our attention because it wasn't just another version of volleyball... it was a contact sport, and contact not only adds masculinity to the game, it adds drama!

Even my spell check program is backing me. It had to learn a new word today... effeminizing!

Fun read, slayr. Maybe Coach K will adapt by having his players flop on offense instead of D.

@drgnslayr , this is a 3-pointer-and-1 post!

Thoughts you have provoked:

• Will more players foul out of games? Could that be a reason why Coach Self is reticent to redshirt anyone?

• Will important players be in foul trouble at the end of games? In that case, will it be harder to foul in last-minute catchup situations?

• If the players have a hard enough time adjusting to the rules, will the rules adjust to the players? If so, could teams be required to change their defensive tactics, or even philosophy, in mid-season?

The crux of your post is that decisions can have unforeseen consequences, and every rule can be reverse-engineered. A post both fundamental and brilliant.

Threads about Coach Consonants make me miss certain posters even more.

jaybate, where art thou?

I was waiting for @drgnslayr to call K Coach Consonants!

In my first job there was a programmer of Polish origin they called "Linda Alphabet".

Yes, ParisHawk, the rule changes are at the heart of why CS doesn't want to RS anyone just yet. Everything will be known after the Duke game, not the Monroe game... unless it already becomes obvious with Monroe.

CS ran a total smoke screen mentioning not giving Conner a RS because he'd have to play backup PG this Friday. CS has even set up the reason why some players may not see the court for Monroe by declaring that equal opportunity minutes won't be the methodology moving forward.

Kip... I used to call Coach K by several names... but now my family is marrying into Duke alumni! So for the sake of world peace (especially within my family) I'm trying to refrain from specific language.

Let's just change the name of basketball to what it is becoming... biscuitball! I'm sure Monty Python will be happy to oblige.

Tea time is at 2, dress appropriately!

BTW: the over/under on KU fouls for the Duke game is 25!

And contrary to what UK Sports Radio thinks, Duke may end up the beneficiary of the new rules, because Duke masters the half court game and having the whistle blow more often will help slow down the game. And let's see how Cal's motion offense works in a fragmented game like we are about to embark on...

One last thing... these rules make college stars want to OAD even more! College basketball will "unteach" everything players need at the pro level. Imagine the "No Boys Allowed" league playing without contact?! It wouldn't surprise me if these rule changes spark the NBA to allow players to go pro right out of HS.

Last year watching the NCAA was painful, and I'm not talking about the Michigan game, which was a different category of painful.

I'm talking about watching Big East teams, especially Syracuse, hack their way to the final four. Syracuse had a game against Marquette, and totally mauled them. The foul count against Syracuse was still in single digits with about 5 minutes left in the game.

In my opinion they need to clean up the game a bit. Bo Ryan's teams probably in some people's minds, are respsonsible for the rule changes. He said it well, he said "we'll adapt our style to the changes." I sure don't want the marathon FT shooting contests that maybe it brings about, but if teams adjust, it will change the game for the better. The NFL (I'm no expert on this) rule changes making life harder for the defenses. Scoring increases and last I checked, the NFL is dominating the sporting world in the US in terms of popularity, revenues, ratings, etc.

I hear what you are saying, wissox, but I don't think these rules will fix that the right way. These rules will completely change the fundamentals of the game and create unfair advantages for the offense.

I know if I am a college coach today I'm teaching all my better ball handlers to directly drive the ball through defenders. It's a sure call for a foul, and soon-to-be foul trouble. I'm afraid we'll get a taste of that on November 12, when we face Duke.

The way to fix the problem you are talking about is for the NCAA to crack down and ref games consistently.

I grew up on playground courts... and many college players today did not. These players should know how to drive the ball while a defender is laying down a heavy hand check. If the ball handler grew up playing real playground ball he knows how to use a 'wiper' to swat away a hand check, and flip the advantage back to him, by establishing his off-hand to guard the player and ball. Pretty basic basketball for those who grew up with contact.

And the body foul will be totally exploited this year by ball handlers who grasp the advantage given to them.

This idea of restricting defense in order to create more offense (by these manners) will not help basketball in the long run. If the game is 'cleaned up' to the point where offenses run over defenses, the game will have higher scores and just become a pissing match for offenses. Making the game easier to score will not make the game more captivating (like in football), it will just devalue baskets to the point of flattening the game to tiny nuances of differences. Actually, a big reason why the NFL is so captivating is there typically isn't scoring every 15 seconds or so. Granted... a bit more scoring can help that game.

I definitely don't mind some rule changes to speed up the game, which creates more intensity and potential for more offense. I applauded the NCAA for adopting the shot clock.

Why is adding more points the key to increase viewership in basketball? Why not just focus on increasing intensity?

Here's a rule change they should consider... moving back court violations to 8 seconds! Encourage teams to use full court pressure and let's start seeing basketball played on all 84 feet! That change would add an incredible amount of intensity to the game!

@drgnslayr A rule change that would help increase scoring is changing the shot clock. I know the NCAA voted on it earlier this year and it didn't pass. Moving it from 35 to 30 (like the womens shot clock) would increase the number of possessions and not cause 40 extra stoppages to shoot FTs.

The best part of the hand check rule is that it was already in the Rules book. It was just under a section of Interpretation Guidelines for officials, meaning the refs could choose what was and what wasn't a foul. And thankfully most let them play.

Do a quick search of "NCAA rules changes" on google and you'll find a bunch of articles that are already talking about the doubling of fouls called. Here's one from the Fort Worth Star Telegram. NCAA Rules Changes ↗

IMHO, I liked basketball the way it was, minus the blatant flops and that horrible "elbow" rule they put in last year. I want to see lock-down guys like Releford playing great D. If they want more offense go watch the NBA where they only play D in the post-season.

NO!!!! Do not shorten the shot clock in the mens game. Unless you like the NBA where it's all clear outs and one on ones then no. Let teams run a set play, and run it until they get the shot they want to take. Let the defensive team work and playing D instead of sneaking back to get an easy dunk.
Lets not compare the mens game to the womens in the sense of rules. It was just last year they put in the 10 second backcourt violation into the womens game.

Just my view here, but I enjoy college basketball and the style of play. Tweaking the block/charge rule is really all that was needed. But that call will always be controversial.

I just liked the game the way it was.

If I were head of the NCAA, the only thing I would focus my attention on is using whatever leverage I had to convince the NBA to permit high schoolers to be eligible for the draft, and not require one year post grad. Let the OADs be OADs. Then, using the baseball rule, that if you go D-1, you're not eligible until after your junior year.

@drgnslayr When I watch my two teams, the Jayhawks and Badgers, I want a win and take pride in the tough defense and holding teams to 50 points in less.
When I watch other teams which I have little rooting interest in, I'd much rather watch a game in the 80's and 90's. Scoring is at the lowest levels since the 50's I believe. That's when the game was still evolving. So give me more points, I'll be happy.

HEM

i like the block/charge change too.

I did not understand how much the hand checks would change the game until I watched these last two games. I was shocked to see some of these calls. Ticky tack fouls, and the flow of the game wasn't there. Hopefully the refs back off on some of those calls.

@JRyman If I had a choice of the two evils, shot clock change or enforcing these new rules, I'd rather the shot clock. Five less seconds to each possession is better than 25 extra fouls and the subsequential FTs. And if I wanted to watch a FT contest I'd join the Knights of Columbus.

@HighEliteMajor aka HEM, I couldn't agree more with everything you just said. I'd love for the NBA to go with the MLB draft setup. Junior year or Sophomore (RS).

Maybe the refs should enforce the carrying/palming the ball already on the books too. That would triple the turnovers on offense to even out the touch fouls on the defense.

Kip... I followed your link and received the Bilas reply. Bilas likes it because he didn't grow up on an inner-city playground. He is a prepster, coming out of Rolling Hills HS in Rolling Hills, California. He played 'prep' basketball at Duke. Duke will quickly embrace these new interpretations of the rules because Duke plays a preppy game. They'd love the game to lose all contact.

I'm not saying I wouldn't like to see some of college bball cleaned up. Sometimes I think coaches like Izzo and Huggins have used strategy to dismantle a game by making it mug ball. The answer is have consistency in calling a game, and to find the solution somewhere between contact-free and mug ball.

Here is the real problem... it's the problem college basketball has had since it's inception. There is no consistency with the way the game is called from league to league. We all know the Big 10 plays mug ball. That goes back to it's origins, and the NCAA has never stepped in to "nationalize" the game's enforcement by referees.

If you want to fix college basketball, nationalize the rule interpretations so every conference plays the same basketball. It appears that is what they are trying to do now, but using rules that will hamper defense to the point where it will hardly exist.

Hand checking can be a foul. Two hands on a player is a foul and should be every time. A single hand check where it clearly impedes the ball handler is a foul. But making every little touch a foul is ridiculous, and when you add the body into that formula the only result can be the end of 'lock down' defense. Releford should be glad he's gone from college basketball! He wouldn't last 5 minutes under these interpretations!

If the NCAA keeps focused on calling the games this tight, basically eliminating contact, college basketball will become another version of college volleyball. Nothing wrong with volleyball... but I wouldn't trade it for basketball, and the days of lock down defense. You can kiss those days goodbye!

I realized after Ptt State and Fort Hayes that Lucas and Wesley will get more minutes than I imagined. It will be tough to keep Black in the game and the same is true for JoJo until he learns to not leave his feet early and to go straight up.
Since Self has been at KU, the best fans in basketball have learned the beauty of defense. The satisfaction of watching a game with several back to back shot clock violations showed how much the fans love what Self has brought. I kept wondering why the hell Brent Musburger thought that the officiating in the big 12 tourney was slanted for the Jayhawks until Fraschilla pointed that the Hawks on the replay actually did not foul, even though Weber and the Mayor threw fits at every non-call. We are quick enough at the guard and wings to adapt to the new rule. Big Perry seems to have figured it out underneath, but the other two have not.

(deleted!)

(deleted because drgnslayr deleted)

I have strong opinions on this subject anyways... so me dropping this hammer helps support this more as just a rumor.

I'm already sorry I posted it because I'm usually the one getting upset over posted rumors.

And I hope I'm wrong about this, for however the interpretations go.

In my beliefs, CS is capable to create a winner regardless of the rules.

Can I delete that last post? It doesn't help anyone to have it hanging out there.

I just hit the delete button but it stayed.

Okay... now it's gone.

I believe Coach K will take full advantage of the new rules. And he is a master of managing the referees. He will have all of his player drive at the opposing players, and whine to the officials of every non-call legitimate or not. And eventually the officials will be like the old husbands and do whatever the old wives tell them. Then Coach K will again dominate the college BB this decade. Yikes. :(

I don't think anyone would argue that Bill Self Ball is based on defense, defense, and physical defense. His offensive philosophy is basically "if we can win more possessions with defense and rebounding, we should score more than the other team." I LOVE his offensive philosophy, btw.

QUESTION: If it is true that the new rules changes will help programs/coaches who are better offensive coaches and hurt those programs/coaches who are better defensive coaches......Should this not make KU fans revise their win-loss expectations for the coming year DOWNWARD?

KU,
That was my concern in a post on another article. Yes, Self is a great coach and will be able to adjust, but I fear it will take away some of the effectiveness of his tough, physical defense.

The new rule seems all about trying to increase the scores to more closely resemble the minimal defense NBA, hoping that higher scores will increase TV viewership, which drives the money machine. The NCAA will say it is a response to the increasing physicality, taunting, and fights. But I think not. They are betting on more drives to the rim, and crowd pleasing finishes with dunks.

While I love a good dunk, I also love to see tough on-ball defense. This will be a tough year. My hope is that the strategy will backfire. Fouls will increase so much that the games will lose flow and beauty. Viewership might drop, and smarter heads will prevail and the pendulum will swing back to more sanity.

That said, CS has recruited well for this rule change. Players like Selden, Wiggins, Mason, and Tharpe should thrive. Ellis will benefit by catching the ball in the high post or a few feet off the low block, and using his quickness to drive and score (with many and 1's)

Come on guys the new rules or old rules buried in the back of the book will increase scoring this year. I mean think of all that none stop action at the free throw line we get to watch.

How much advance warning about rule changes does the NCAA give? Did Self really know early enough that the rule changes would alter his recruiting strategy? Or are we just lucky that this particular year, when the defense is being penalized to benefit the offense, we happen have more offensive firepower that we have had in a long time? We have a lot of newbies that haven't had long to learn Self defense, Perhaps that would have been more of a problem last year than this year, when defense is being handicapped by the officials.

The point is, if the rules had to change, the timing might not be too bad given the makeup of this team compared to others. I'm just not sure it was planned that way by Self. Of course, he is a basketball genius....

I have a feeling this will drag on in controversy, and if it gets to the point of hurting viewership, the NCAA will soften their stance.

As others said in here... this isn't really rule changes, just a different interpretation, and hopefully they'll soften enough to encourage defenders to play tough d.

Another aspect of this that hasn't been covered... it not only doesn't cover what is left of the flop, it may also encourage it. Defensive players in position for a charge better flop for sure this year or they are unlikely to get the call.

I'd like to see a new rule that goes directly after flops. I think the fair penalty would not only count it as a foul against the person conducting the flop (whether on defense or offense) but also call it an intentional foul so the penalty is two FTs and the ball out. The only way to do this is to make potential flops reviewable... which is a bummer, but something should be done to stop flops entirely and return the game from actors to players.

Maybe the refs should enforce the carrying/palming the ball already on the books too.

Wasn't that done a couple of years ago? Seems they made a big deal out of it and after a couple of games into the season you never saw anybody called for carrying even though they were still doing it. More than likely the same will happen with the touch fouls. By Thanksgiving you won't see it called.

@brooksmd-11/11/2013...Old Glory is High & Proud today! Hooyah!

@globaljaybird...+10