One Freak Injury In The NCAA Tournament Is Completely Ruining How Games Are Officiated This College Hoops Season

There’s a major problem in college basketball this year and it’s all thanks to a freak injury in the NCAA Tournament last year. If you’ve watched a college hoops game you’ve likely heard the term ‘hook and hold’ which leads to a flagrant foul. It’s a point of emphasis this year for ‘player safety’ and it’s ruining how this game is being officiated and really played.

The freak injury happened to Purdue’s Isaac Haas. As he was going up for a rebound he got his arm tangled with a Cal State Fullerton player and ended up fracturing his elbow. It was an absolute freak play. But, because it happened in the NCAA Tournament, the NCAA freaked out and changed a ‘point of emphasis’ for a play that has occurred as long as basketball has been around.

So why am I complaining about this? Well, watch a game. This call has led to just a complete change in games when it’s called. We’re seeing teams get two shots and the ball for a play that’s barely a foul at best. Not only that but there are just way too many stoppages now as refs can’t go 2 minutes without looking at the monitor for 5 minutes to decide if there’s a flagrant or not. It’s brutal. There are too many whistles to begin with in college basketball. There are too many timeouts to begin with in college basketball. So now we’re combining the two!

The worst part? In about a month this won’t be called. We see this all the time. There’s a point of emphasis that’s called excessively in the early part of the season. Then conference play rolls around and refs go back to how it’s been called for years. There’s no consistency, which is why college officiating is brutal and completely changes how teams play.

I get player safety and I’m all for that obviously, but this is the extreme. We’re seeing everyone who covers the game complain about it and for good reason. There’s no need to call a flagrant foul. There’s no reason to stop the monitor every time. Plus, guess what? Teams know about this and are purposely trying to lock an arm to draw the flagrant foul.