Coaches cry foul
over physical play
■ Changes in the NCAA indude
cutting down on hand-checking
and rough play in the post
BY JOSHUA CAMEN23ND
Big 12 basketball coaches
dabbled in every color of the rain
bow when giving their opinions
on die limiting of physical play in
die conference and around the
country this season.
The guidelines, which
emphasize cutting down on
hand-checking and rough play in
the post, were praised by some,
scoffed at by others and disre
garded as non-factors by a few
during the Big 12’s first weekly
teleconference of the season.
As expected, Kansas Coach
Roy Williams, who headed the
NCAA Rules Committee, was
optimistic about the prospects
the changes have in store for the
future of basketball.
“I hope the officials will stick
to it,” said Williams, who said he
has already had five or six players
foul out of games this season. “As
players and coaches, we have to
change.
“The whole story will be how
the officials stick to it in confer
ence play and on a consistent
basis.”
The rule changes received a
thumbs up from Williams, Texas
Tech Coach James Dickey and
Iowa State Coach Larry Eustachy.
Negative responses came
from Texas A&M Coach Melvin
Watkins and Baylor Coach Dave
Bliss, while Missouri’s Quin
Snyder, Kansas State’s Jim
Woolridge and Nebraska’s Barry
Collier all sat on the fence, wish
ing not to teeter on either side of
the issue.
Watkins, who had five players
foul out against Virginia
Commonwealth, was left asking
where the good old days have
gone.
“You would come away from
some calls scratching your head
and asking, ‘Where did that come
from?’” Watkins said.
Bliss said he had seen a differ
7 thought what we
were going to see
early was a foul-fest
a free-throw contest."
Jim Woolridge
Kansas State coach
ence in the way officials had offi
ciated his team's games this sea
son.
"It's been very erratic to date,”
Bliss said. "Any time there is an .
emphasis to change, sometimes
there is a knee-jerk overreaction
and I think we have witnessed a
lot of that”
But some coaches, including
Snyder, Woolridge and Dickey,
believe games have been called
consistently.
Dickey said once Big 12 play
begins, all of this talk of change
would fade away and physical
play would take over again.
"I have not seen a drastic
change,” Dickey said. “Officials
are making calls early, which
helps teams adjust
“I don't think that you are
going to see conference games
called as closely as you do non
conference. That has never been
my experience.”
Collier said NU’s games were
called tight in the beginning, but
had loosened up recently, with
only nine fouls being called
against the Huskers in their 52-51
loss at Pittsburgh.
KSU's Woolridge said he had
been surprised at how the
changes had played out to this
point
“I thought what we were
going to see early was a foul-fest -
a free throw contest,” he said. "I
don’t think the game is being
played any different, and I don’t
think the game is being called
drastically different either.”
But Eustachy and Snyder
both spoke up about one aspect
of the game they believed needed
to be defined better - post play.
"I still don’t know how you
can defend on the post,” Snyder
Davison s career
highlights talent
DAVISON from page 12
That being said, focus for
Nebraska fans instinctively
shifts to Nov. 28, 1997, nine
games into his Husker career.
Davison provided the dramatic
diving catch off a Shevin
Wiggins deflection, helping
spark NU to a 45-38 win at
Missouri.
That will undeniably be the
legacy that overshadows the
other accomplishments in his
48 other games at Nebraska.
How Davison views the play four
years later displays the desire
that has fueled him to be one of
the best receivers in NU history.
“The thing about it with a
guy like me is it's never enough,"
he said. “You can wait forever for
a play like that, and it would be
hard to ever top it. And it was
still never enough to fulfill me
athletically."
Such statements prove there
is much, much more to Mr.
Consistent than just “the catch."
Just ask his friends.
“He'll be the first one to tell
you that," Crouch said. “That
was just a stepping stone for
7 think they’ll look at
me as a consistent
player that worked
hard every day and
got the most out of
what he was blessed
with. I think I’ve done
that:
Matt Davison
NU receiver
him in his career, and it really
helped him. He’s made a lot of
big catches in a lot of big
games.”
A lot of those were probably
driven by Davison’s insatiable
desire to be the best he can.
“That play was motivation
for me to make people forget
just that one play,” he said.
“Hopefully I’ve done some
things that people can remem
ber me for besides that”
Come Dec. 30 and stage left
at the Alamodome, it shouldn’t
be a problem.
News that stands
up to the test.
Dailyneb.com
DN File Photo
Kimani Ffriend and the physical Comhuskers have had to tone down the elbows and forearms while on defense this season. The NCAA rules committee b cracking down on
physical play, a point of contention for some of the Big 12^ coaches.
said. "It just seems like you have
guys standing there like dead sol
diers, hoping that people miss.
“You almost have a charge
block call every time.”
Said Eustachy: “In theory, if a
guy gets the basketball with his
back to the basket in the low post
you are not allowed to impede his
progress. In theory, you can just
take the ball and back your way
down to the basket and he has to
regress, according to how I hear
it, and just drop it into the bas
ket”
Woolridge said the discrep
ancy in coaches' opinions on the
matter came from different Big 12
teams seeing a wide army of offi
cials.
“I would have to say that you
have three officials call a game in
Kansas State, three officials call a
game at Texas and three others
call it at Missouri,” Woolridge
said. "That's nine different guys
with nine different opinions of
interpretation.
“That is very hard to stream
line into efficiency
In the search for consistency,
the Big 12 coaches have chose to
have varying opinions on the
matter - something Williams said
could be eliminated.
“If you could get your own
personal feelings and own feel
ings that it could help your team
out and think about it just help
ing college basketball, then sup
port would be unanimous with
all the coaches,” Williams said.
Big 12 Notes:
It was a week for the Maurices
in the Big 12 last week with
Maurice Baker of Oklahoma State
being named the conference
player of the week and Maurice
Evans of Texas grabbing the con
ference rookie honor.
Baker scored 47 points com
bined in wins over North Texas
and UNLV, while Evans scored 44
points in wins over Texas-San
Antonio and Southwest Texas
State.
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