ESPN.com - ncb - Free throws are costing game its rhythm

Two weeks into the college basketball season, this isn't exactly what the rules committee had in mind when it issued a charge to the officials to emphasize calling fouls to discourage rough play.

Or is it?

Officials have been calling games extremely tight for two weeks. And except for the games in Maui and a few others where it didn't seem to be a factor, games are lasting nearly 2½ hours and, too often, include more than 60 trips to the free-throw line.

Gone are the days when ESPN, CBS, ABC and Fox can count on a perfect four-hour window to fit two games in during a night or day session. Games are overlapping and will force the networks to choose between the end of a free-throw fest and the beginning of a big game. Most are obliged to stay with a game until it's finished, no matter the outcome.

"You would think the rules committee would come out with a rule," Green said. "Instead, they come out with an emphasis. It's a gray area. It's too hard to interpret. Every team has a certain style of play so everybody is trying to figure out what the rules being emphasized are. Fans don't come to watch us shoot free throws."

Green, like a number of other coaches and players, is seeing officials whistle almost any hand checking on the perimeter or bumping underneath. While the rules committee wanted to get the game out of the weight room, the game has lost its rhythm.

"We've gone from a contact sport to a non-contact sport," Green said. "We went from one extreme to another."

The inconsistencies seem to be the most disturbing aspect of it all. Fordham coach Bob Hill said officials were supposed to emphasize three-second violations, but he hasn't seen it being called. He said the widened lane for the exempted tournaments didn't discourage players from going into the lane. In fact, Hill said players were camped in the lane, but didn't get three seconds called on them, during two exempted games Fordham played in Raleigh, N.C., last week.

"They said they would start calling palming three years ago, and last year I saw one called," Hill said.

But the emphasis on rough play, or any form of touching on defense, has everyone concerned. Wisconsin, the No. 1 target by the rules committee, had a relatively uneventful opener at Tennessee, with key players avoiding foul trouble.

FAREWELL TO A FRIEND

I'm heading to the Preseason NIT in New York and I'm expecting to see that familiar face. If I don't see him first, then I usually hear him. Larry Donald always used to greet me with a bellowing "Hello Andrew."

There was something comforting about his greeting. It was familiar. It was fatherly. It was friendly. It was Larry.

From the moment we'd see each other, he would always give me his thoughts of the day, of the month, or of the year. He was my sounding board when I would see him at games. It was reassuring to hear him approve of what I said or what I was doing. You see, Larry was the first one to give me a shot at doing free-lance work when I worked at the Albuquerque Journal in 1991. He didn't have to. But I pleaded with him to give me a shot to write a column on the West, mostly the WAC, for Basketball Times.

I didn't do it for the money. I did it for the exposure and I could never believe the payback. Coaches from all over the country read the magazine. I could never find it on any newsstand but it was in the basketball offices everywhere. Larry gave me that chance and 10 years later I've got the job I've always wanted. Part of me believes that having that exposure in Basketball Times helped me build contacts not only with coaches but other members of the media.

Larry died a week ago Thursday at 55. He was walking by his home in Pinehurst, N.C., when he suddenly collapsed. I still can't believe it. I sat next to Larry two weeks ago at the Coaches vs. Cancer tournament. He greeted me as always. We talked about him picking Seton Hall No. 1. About the season, the trends, where he was off to next and where I would see him. He wasn't sure if he was going to be at the Preseason NIT. But he told me he'd definitely be at Kentucky-North Carolina Dec. 2. He won't be. I will. And it won't be the same. I'll expect to see his familiar face, his thinning red hair, his bushy mustache and his usual dress code of a white-collared blue dress shirt, underneath a blue or yellow tie.

Larry never seemed to carry a bag. He didn't always have a notebook or a tape recorder. It seemed everything he ever knew was stored up in his head. But he collected all his information, was glad to share it and was always a pleasure to listen to on the phone or in person. Larry lived life on his terms. He had his own magazine. He moved from Michigan to North Carolina when he wanted to a few years ago. He went to games he wanted to see and was always at the Final Four, grand fathered in even after the NCAA got tight with credentials. His seat was usually behind press row in the first row of seating. But, in reality, Larry should have been front and center because he was atop the pyramid of all us. So many writers worked for him. Nearly every coach knew him from Division I to III to women's basketball to junior college to high school coaches. He provided a magazine that covered them all and gave recruiting services a voice long before the internet gave them power.

I don't know what's going to happen with Basketball Times. Basketball Times was Larry. Larry was Basketball Times. I hope it survives. It, rather Larry, gave me a chance. Odes to Larry have been beautifully written over the past week from his colleagues and his friends. I hope this fits in with the rest. I counted myself as both a colleague and a friend. I will miss him. So will college basketball.

-- Andy Katz

That's not the case for most teams. Wisconsin-Green Bay and Idaho played a game with 62 fouls, leading UWGB coach Mike Heideman to play 11 players instead of his usual nine. It also meant that free throws became critical to the outcome in that game and will likely be even more important this season.

"The free-throw shot takes on a new meaning," Heideman said. "The length of games is growing because of the fouls. But you've got to adjust to play without contact."

That kind of scrutiny on every possession leads to the lack of flow in a game. Arkansas lost to Southern Mississippi because the Razorbacks didn't shoot well. But the Razorbacks' offense never was able to click consistently.

"We couldn't get any rhythm," Arkansas assistant Mike Anderson said. "The games take too long and the free throws are a disruption. As soon as you start going, you hear, 'toot, toot.' On one hand you can't use your hands, but if you've got good guards, that means you can get by the defender easier. They can't touch you. That can hurt us defensively but help us offensively."

Illinois coach Bill Self said he was surprised how much the point of emphasis had extended to the perimeter. If players can't hawk defensively then they might have a harder time setting the tempo, pressuring and getting transition baskets.

"The adjustment has been awfully difficult," Virginia coach Pete Gillen said. "The game wasn't made to be hand-to-hand contact but we've got to find ways to adjust as coaches because everyone can interpret it differently."

But the common theme is this: As long as officials call the games tight, players will get into foul trouble, finding a rhythm will be almost impossible, free throws will be in abundance and the games won't be under two hours anymore.

Suspensions on the rise
Through the first two weeks of the season, NCAA-related suspensions have involved the following: educational expenses (high-profile cases with Connecticut's Caron Butler, Fordham's Jeff McMillan and New Mexico's Zeke Johnson); extra benefits (Wyoming's Ugo Udezue, UConn's Souleymane Wane, Arizona's Loren Woods, Wisconsin's Maurice Linton and Travon Davis); violations of amateurism (Louisville's Muhamed Lasege) and potential trouble facing Fresno State's Tito Maddox (for just who provided transportation for a weekend trip to Las Vegas in September) and Hawaii's Haim Shimonovic.

There are more, but they're not as higher profile or dealing with schools in the mainstream.

Coaches like Maryland's Gary Williams and Illinois' Self came to the defense of schools like Arizona and Connecticut for the timing of the decisions. But there's a reason. The NCAA and the schools both have a heightened sense of awareness this time of year.

"There's a little more activity at the beginning of basketball season because so many of the schools have spent time worrying about getting football players eligible," said David Price, the NCAA's director of enforcement. "But there is a higher rate of them than normal."

Price said schools are more aware of the educational expense rule, which suspends a player for three games if he admits getting extra aid. Still, according to the NCAA's Jane Jankowski, only eight players among the hundreds who went to post-graduate or prep school have come forth and admitted they received additional aid.

In terms of the timing, specifically concerned the Woods' suspension at Arizona, the NCAA said it merely acted when it got the information. The NCAA said Arizona self-reported the incident (of excessive gifts from a family friend) and the NCAA gave a ruling on the same day. Yet, Fresno State can't get a ruling on Maddox. According to the school, the case is still in the gathering stage, leaving Maddox in a holding pattern as he sits out three games without knowing if he has committed a violation.

"The timing issue doesn't quite work because we can set up appeals quickly and get conference calls going within two to three days," Price said. "We've always been cognizant of the eligibility in the timing of the season."

The National Association of Basketball Coaches is adamantly against the educational expenses rule, claiming that students shouldn't be received for getting aid for school. The rule could be overturned next year and so could some amateurism issues like the one that cost Lasege his career. The NCAA wants to push legislation that would allow a player to be eligible even if he was a pro, but for every year he played, he would lose a year of eligibility. The NABC is against the legislation, fearing that players would go to the NBA and then come back to college, setting off a recruiting frenzy. But that is unlikely. So, for now, the two are at a stalemate and rules will be enforced.

Accepting extra benefits, even making phone calls home like Wane did at Connecticut, still won't be tolerated, regardless of the timing. But a number of coaches don't buy the NCAA has compassion on any of the rules.

"We felt we did it the right way for the university and for Jeff," Fordham coach Bob Hill said. "We felt they would be a little sensitive toward him considering that he had help from someone he knew since he was 12. We told the truth and felt we had a tremendous case but it didn't mean a thing to them. It's really sad."

It might be sad to some, but it's the reality to all of them that the penalties will continue at a higher rate with more rules to pursue.

Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com. His Weekly Word on college basketball is updated Thursdays/Fridays throughout the year.

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