Charging

After the Xavier game tonight, I have to start this thread. We discussed charging in the Shot Clock thread. I will post some comments from that thread here to get things started.

Posted by @PurplePride92:

We should be more focused on changing the rule that allows defenders to slide under an airborn player to draw a charge than a shot clock. The slide under charge ruins the game and it is amazing more people aren’t getting hurt by it.

Posted by me in the shot clock thread:

I love defense and I love it when a defender gets in position to draw a charge, but way, way too often defenders are getting charges while still sliding their body after the offensive player has picked up his dribble and started his shooting motion.

The one that is getting just as bad now is the offensive player getting a defender into the air and then jumping into him to draw a foul. In my opinion, if the offensive player creates the contact by jumping into a defender, that is an offensive foul if anything and certainly not a foul on the defender.

And what caused me to start this thread? Watch the last shot in regulation by Xavier's Marshall. Marshall stops his dribble and leaves his feet at about the foul line to shoot a floater for the win. As Marshall leaves his feet to go up for the shot, a Villanova player jumps three feet forward from under the basket to position himself for the charge so Marshall will land on him. Yes, Marshall is in the air, the Villanova player jumps three feet forward and the ref called it a charge. Zero doubt in my mind that should have been a foul on the Villanova player. Furthermore, to PurplePride92's point, it is amazing Marshall didn't get hurt. He had nowhere to land but on the Villanova player as the Villanova player jumped under him while he was in the air. On top of everything else, that play almost surely knocks Xavier out of the NCAA tournament. If the ref calls the foul on the Villanova player, Marshall is shooting two free throws with 1.6 seconds on the clock and only needs to hit one for Xavier to get the win.

The charge call on Marshall was awful and affected the outcome of the game. The defender was nowhere close to position when Marshall left his feet and was a clear blocking foul.

As for offensive players causing contact on an airborne defensive player, keep in mind that the defender is responsible for all contact when approaching the offensive player. If the defender jumps straight up, after obtaining a legal guarding position, the contact is the offensive player's responsibility. However, most of the time the defender is approaching the shooter on a "close out" and not in a LGP.

Personally, I think refs should be coached to have a bias against calling a charge. In other words, refs should have the headset that to be a charge it has be a blatant, obvious bowl the defender over type play to get the charge. When an offensive player picks up his dribble to start his shot, at that instant the ref has to check the path in front of the shooter and at that instant the defender has to freeze with no sliding feet or torso to get a charge. Any movement by the defender at that instant, no charge. Anything borderline is a no call or a block. For example, the Reed Travis blocking call to my way of thinking should have been a no call. If the offensive player is airborne, it is going to be a block unless it is blatantly obvious it is a charge. If you start calling it that way, fewer people will even try to draw a charge. Whereas now you have defenders look for opportunities to slide in and try to get a charge because it is better than 50/50 that the defender will get the charging call.

Officiating is like living day to day for all of us, alot of human nature involved and reacting to the event and by no means exact. Tip of the hat to all officials who give it their best.