NCAA To Add Invisible Line Under Basket

The NBA made a good decision a few years back when they added a semi-circle underneath the basket wherein no defensive player could draw a charging foul. It made sense, because it's irritating to watch help defenders slide underneath the basket and force contact on any attempt at the basket. It hurts the game in two ways, by discouraging players from attacking the basket, and by drastically increasing the number of fouls called (both offensive and defensive) as refs are forced to blow the whistle on nearly every drive.

The NCAA is expected to rule this week that they will add an arc themselves... only they won't actually be drawing anything on the ground. The referees are expected to make a judgment call. Now how can it possibly be better to not draw the arc? It's not. it's just another example of the college and professional leagues having huge egos and refusing to look like they're copying each other.

It's why the NFL and NCAA football go out of their way to have different rules for inbound/out-of-bounds, coaches challenges, overtime and many other things. And it's why the NBA and NCAA basketball continue to have so many differences, including jump balls and timeouts. Even when one league has a rule that clearly is superior (such as NCAA football's overtime rule), the other league can't be seen to copy. Egos always win out over common sense.

Hopefully the NCAA will get some common sense and agree to add the circle. It's already difficult enough for refs to call the modern game with its speed and athleticism. Let's not make things any more difficult.