Saturday, March 31, 2007

Is this basketball?

I'm watching the UCLA v. Florida game and it's a little disturbing. The refs are ignoring moving screens that look like pass protection drills for offensive linemen. They also don't seem to mind people traveling. Joakim Noah should have been given a technical foul after his 2nd personal in the first half. He lashed out at the ref and emphatically untucked his jersey, obviously displeased. That would have been Noah's 3rd personal ... not that Al Horford and Chris Richards couldn't hold down the middle for the Gators. Then, there was the curious double foul on the block/charge. The announcers seemed pleased that the refs settled on a double foul and alternating possession. But, why? On what grounds? Can it really be a block and a charge simultaneously? It seems like a cop out by the refs. Green just lost the ball off his foot into the backcourt, but the refs didn't call the violation. What are they watching? And, most importantly, the refs blew this one with ticky tack fouls early. I don't remember Aaron Afflalo's 1st foul but his 2nd-4th were all pretty weak: holding Humphrey, Brewer jumping into him, then on a Humphrey drive. And, I haven't mentioned the play where Noah threw Mata to the ground right in front of the ref, resulting in an easy put back.

Brewer was on fire. It wasn't Afflalo's night. The Gators are bigger inside (although having the Bruin bigs in foul trouble doesn't help UCLA). But, the game didn't go like it should. The officials need to be more consistent and enforce the rules. Noah should have been given a technical for yelling and gesturing at the ref after losing the ball out of bounds with just under 4 minutes left in the game. The Bruins live on pressure defense. They beat Kansas because they were allowed to disrupt the KU guards by hedging hard on all the ball screens. A lot of contact was allowed in that game. KU was the better matchup against Florida, especially in a game where physical play isn't allowed.

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