The officiating is simply out of control. If it is NCAA that high school officials are attempting to replicate, then do so. However, the average NCAA basketball game consists of 40 fouls in 40 minutes. The #1 ranked team in personal fouls per game (PFPG) averages 13 fouls per game while the #300 ranked team averages 22 fouls per game. Even the high side is manageable for a fan to watch but nearly 2 fouls per minute is simply overkill on the whistle. So far this season, most varsity games have averaged approximately 50 fouls in 32 minutes, nearly double of the NCAA which they are attempting to replicate. I hope at some point common sense will rise to the top and we can get back to watching basketball.

 

 

Your logic fails. The request by KHSAA/NFHS is NOT to call the same NUMBER of fouls that NCAA does. It's to call the same FOULS that the NCAA does.

STOP FOULING! The kids and coaching need to adjust not the refs.

A lot of these fouls are not fouls though and that is the problem. It was so bad in the Boone game the other night that when a pick was set and if the defender brushed against the one setting the pick iit seemed they were being called for a foul in the first half of the game.

 

Like I said, both teams were in the bonus at the beginning of the game with a score of 3 to 1. That is just ridiculous. Hand checks are one thing, brushing against an offensive player is totally another thing.

The games I have watched so far seem right on target. The only difference is they are actually

calling the fouls now and now just having them in the books.

How long before teams just go to zone defense to try and limit the foul calls? Then we will have more 3 point shots and foul shots than 2 point shots in every game.

How long before teams just go to zone defense to try and limit the foul calls? Then we will have more 3 point shots and foul shots than 2 point shots in every game.

 

This will happen if teams don't feel they can't press and play MTM. I will say that we are now 2 games in and I've also listened to a couple games and the fouls seem on and off. Could it actually be that some teams didn't take the warning and teach their players how to play good defense without fouling. I was told by someone that went to a different game that the officials we had for our game the other night were the same as a previous game they had gone to. They said "Man, this is going to be a long game! This crew officiated the other night and there were (a huge number of fouls) called." We got through the game and I'm not sure if either team hit the double bonus.

 

My point is, teams will have to adjust or just play zone. There are teams (won't name them) that have always pushed and used their hands to defend. Two or three are actually known for it. Heck, as an AAU coach forever, I taught my kids to jam cutters and be as physical as possible because it was getting done to us. It's just going to take this group of players awhile to adjust to not doing that. I don't think it's the refs at all. The fouls have been defined and we have to live with them. Either play a zone or learn how to play by the defined rules. Most don't think they are fouls because we have become so conditioned to seeing them not called. So we scream "let them play!" or "that's not a foul!"...when in reality, it is. Don't get me wrong. I love the physical part of bball and wish they would modify the rule instead of going back to the way it was. Not everyone likes that, but there is a happy medium.