Officiating trend pet peeves

[BUSongwriter]

I've seen some of this discussed in other threads, but felt it needed a topic of its own. Some have said about how travel calls have changed, or how palming the ball or 3-seconds in the lane are never called.

My two officiating pet peeves as this season ends are 1) shooters who flop on 3-point shots so often getting the call and 3 FTs. Why are they falling down? The tiniest touch on the 3-point line gets a whistle while all kinds of mayhem happens underneath and is let go. And 2) drivers who initiate contact getting the call on defenders who happened to get in their way. Shot clock running down? No problem. Drive into the lane, run over someone, and it will more than likely lead to FTs for you.

Anyone agree? What's your officating pet peeve(s)?

[Da Coach]

Songwriter, those are 2 of the types of calls that irritate me the most.
I'll add one more- the big-body post player who slams into the defender repeatedly in order to push him backward and get him down under the basket, giving the offensive player an easy layup. Yes, I know Meta has started doing this more this year, but he is just taking advantage of what other players have done to Bradley for years. ISU's Chase Walker gets many of his points with this move. IMO, if an offensive player slams into the defender with such force that it knocks him backward, it should be a foul. But it never gets called.
Meanwhile, if a defender makes trivial body contact with a ball-handler at the perimeter, that usually gets called immediately.

[Dubl R 1]

This pet peeve isn't so much of a call or no call...it's just a play that happens, and how I would like to see it called.

I think if a guy falls down, and is on the ground....if he makes contact with a player with the ball..or even impedes the progress of a player with the ball it should be an automatic foul. We've seen guys fall down in the lane, roll around and prevent players who are still standing from being able to move or rebound because of fear of stepping on or falling over guys laying on the ground. Almar even got call for a travel for falling over a player laying on the ground on a rebound.
I'm sorry, but if you are not standing on the floor...you are no longer in legal guarding position, and it should be an automatic foul.

Yeah and that 3 point falling down...I've never understood how getting hit on the hand causes your legs and feet to stop working to the point you fall down. Biggest reffing problem in the game right now is the falling down on every 3 point attempt.

[Tommy]

I'd probably be ok with most of the no-calls if they'd let the boys play, but watching most every game stopped every 60 seconds or less gives the team no chance at getting any flow or continuity. Beyond that, basketball has, and always will be a physical sport and some contact is to be expected. I have no desire to watch a free throw shooting contest week after week, but that's much of what we got (and for the record, our FT shooting in post season this year wasn't very good).

Call the egregious fouls that affect the play and the obvious violations (non-foul plays that are against the rules) and let the rest of the stuff go. There is such wild inconsistency with foul calling that less is more when it come to whistles in my opinion.

[Crashdavis]

Question,if the guy has already released the ball and it is out of his hands,then a Foul is called,is he not shooting it anymore…
and falling to the floor.gotta stop….

[Dubl R 1]

Question,if the guy has already released the ball and it is out of his hands,then a Foul is called,is he not shooting it anymore…
and falling to the floor.gotta stop….

On the 3 they count as act of shooting...they are worried about defenders landing in the shooters landing space....if they didn't count the contact as act of shooting...you'd see wild attempts to block the ball...resulting in many turned ankles for the shooter I think.
That being said..it's not a green light for the shooter to fall on EVERY attempt...nor for the ref to fall for it...make it a reviewable play or get better at calling it...or penalize the flop like they are supposed to do.

Gotta be better tho.

[tomahawk chop]

Most of these complaints fall under the officials not following the rule book. They need to go back to the 5 second rule so players cannot continue to back down defenders from 12 ft. away from the basket constantly dribbling and backing all the way to the basket just because of their size. It is a very boring thing to watch from a fans stand point. Go back to if they are closely guarded for 5 seconds it is a jump ball.

[yoda]

Mainly for me it's too many fouls on the guys playing defense in the lane when the other team simply lowers their head, drives into the lane just to cause contact and get to the FT line.
Bad team like Indiana State, Evansville & SIU did this all the time, but some of the better teams like Drake & Murray State also took advantage of the refs' propensity to award FT's even when the guy drives and is way out of control or gets his shot slapped right back into his face.

Comer, Teel, Milton, Dibba, Stirtz, & Banks were the guys who did it the most and of course, they led the league in FT's attempted. Some will say Jaquan did the same thing, but absolutely NOT --his drives were all blow-by's, he never put his head down just to drive directly into the lane, and he only got the foul called occasionally.

In one case I recall - a Murray St guy drove way down low, didn't have a shot then fumbled the ball out of bounds, & yet the ref sent him to the line. Sometimes I actually think these older geezers that are still reffing use this tactic to catch a breather. The OT game at Indiana State where we shot 15 FT's and they shot 36 was the most glaring example.

BUT- if they are gonna call it, we need to do the same when we need a bucket.

[Grizz]

The 3-pt flops are my biggest pet peeve. My solution: every time a player falls down when shooting a 3 there has to be an automatic whistle blown: either a foul or a flop. That would stop the flops pretty quickly.

My second-biggest pet peeve is when there's a loose ball, it's a total free-for-all. Fouls cease to exist. Jump on another player, pull his arms, give him a big ol' shove, doesn't matter...no foul.

[Da Coach]

Yeah, what happened to the flop calls that the NCAA urged officials to start calling a couple years ago? The first year the NCAA emphasized calling the flop, there were a few calls early in that season, but then they seemed to stop calling them. Then last year and this year, I never saw a single flop called in any game.
It's not that hard to identify a flop. Just have every official review a highlight video of Conor Enright playing defense.

[MacabreMob]

,...I'll add one more- the big-body post player who slams into the defender repeatedly in order to push him backward and get him down under the basket, giving the offensive player an easy layup...

Rick Lamb originated this move.

[Tommy]

Yeah, what happened to the flop calls that the NCAA urged officials to start calling a couple years ago? The first year the NCAA emphasized calling the flop, there were a few calls early in that season, but then they seemed to stop calling them. Then last year and this year, I never saw a single flop called in any game.
It's not that hard to identify a flop. Just have every official review a highlight video of Conor Enright playing defense.

Lol. Enright! What a tool!
Hey, isn’t he in the transfer portal!

[Da Coach]

Lol. Enright! What a tool!
Hey, isn’t he in the transfer portal!

Yes, after playing 2 years at Drake, and this past year at DePaul, he went back into the portal.
He signed with his old coach Darian DeVries at Indiana - https://x.com/Cenright04/status/1907563938461479023

[Tommy]

Yes, after playing 2 years at Drake, and this past year at DePaul, he went back into the portal.
He signed with his old coach Darian DeVries at Indiana - https://x.com/Cenright04/status/1907563938461479023

Who would have thought the world's greatest flopper would end up in the Big 10? Crazy world!

[Stryker]

Songwriter, those are 2 of the types of calls that irritate me the most.
I'll add one more- the big-body post player who slams into the defender repeatedly in order to push him backward and get him down under the basket, giving the offensive player an easy layup. Yes, I know Meta has started doing this more this year, but he is just taking advantage of what other players have done to Bradley for years. ISU's Chase Walker gets many of his points with this move. IMO, if an offensive player slams into the defender with such force that it knocks him backward, it should be a foul. But it never gets called.
Meanwhile, if a defender makes trivial body contact with a ball-handler at the perimeter, that usually gets called immediately.

Have to agree with this one in particular. I saw a lot of big guys under the basket throw their shoulder into a defenders chest, pushing them back a step or two, and then laying it in. Should be an offensive foul. If a defender used that kind of contact it would be a foul every time. The move is just a push off. Its always a penalty in football, don't see why it shouldn't be a foul in basketball.