The Daily Tar HeelThursday, November 29, 19905
New rules
The winds of change in college bas
ketball blew abruptly in the last decade.
We went from the days of the four
corners to the age of Loyola
Marymount's run-n-gun, almost over
night. The game, so quickly, yet so
successfully, changed before our eyes.
More than any other sport, college
basketball thrives on its ability to change,
to evolve.
But changes never come without
imperfections. The 45-second clock, the
3-pointer, widespread TV coverage
the game's most dramatic transforma
tions have created their own little
problems.
Last season, televised games often
had as many Budweiser commercials as
slam dunks. A player fouled on a 3
pointer received only two free throws.
And the 45-second shot clock punished
good defense.
The rules hadn't fully adapted to
basketball's sweeping changes to
the 3-pointer, the shot clock and TV.
In an effort to bring the rulebook
back to our time, the NCAA Basketball
Rules Committee enacted several new
pieces of on-court legislation for the
1990-91 season. As with almost all
NCAA legislation, many of these new
rules are flawed the NCAA has a
knack for making mistakes. But, for the
most part, these rules are a step forward
another chapter in the continuing
evolution of college hoops.
Among the latest changes:
B The "Award the 'D'" rule: With
this rule, the 45-second clock is no
longer reset after a blocked shot goes
out-of-bounds. In previous seasons, a
blocked shot often benefited the offense,
which would receive another 45-second
time allotment if one of its shots was
launched out-of-bounds.
To its credit, this new rule finally
rewards a good defensive player for his
efforts. Or at least most of them. The
new rule still resets the shot clock if a
defender forces a player to shoot an
airbal 1. Ideal ly, the NCAA should adopt
the NBA rule: Reset the clock only after
the ball hits iron. Such a change would
award the defense in all instances.
fl The 10-foul rule: Of all the new
legislative changes, the 10-foul rule
reveals the NCAA's knack for not ac
complishing what it sets out to do.
Under the rule, players are awarded
two free throws, instead of the normal
one-and-one, after the opposing team's
10th foul of each half. Supposedly, this
will speed up games by ending inces
sant fourth-quarter fouling marathons.
Field hockey
From staff reports
Three North Carolina field hockey
players, Peggy Anthon, Jennifer Clark
and Laurel Hershey, have been named
first-team All-America selections for
their performances this season.
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Stewart Chisam
Traditionally, teams trailing in a game's
waning minutes have fouled unendingly,
hoping to regain possession of the ball
after a player misses the front end of a
one-and-one.
The rule's failure? A thinking team
will continue to foul at the end of game
essentially conceding the two points
off of the charity stripe. Even if a team
gives up two points of off free throws, it
can still catch up if it cans a 3-pointer in
response. The odds of erasing a large
deficit this way are slim, but a team has
to give it a chance.
In addition, under the 10-foul rule,
games are often made longer. When a
team's 10th foul comes eight minutes
into the second half, every foul from
then on necessitates a waste of time;
besides, players should be forced to hit
the front-end of the one-and-one. It's
part of the game.
If the Rules Committee wants to
speed up the game, it should once
again turn to the NBA rulebook and
stop the clock after made field goals in
the last three minutes of a game.
One of the reasons teams foul and
call timeouts is to stop the clock.
Stopping it for them will reduce the
temptation to foul or call timeout after
every basket.
D The "Three for Three" rule: This
rule like the "Award the 'D' rule"
is long overdue. It gives a player three
free throws when he is fouled in the act
of shooting a 3-pointer. Previously,
conniving coaches often kept players
from scoring a game-tying 3-pointer at
the end of a game; they simply told their
players to foul on a 3-point attempt.
This sent the shooter to the line for two
free throws, essentially ending the game.
With the new rule, the game's out
come returns where it belongs in the
player's hands.
D The "Not so Many TOs, Baby"
rule: Traditionally, televised basketball
games have featured the cheerleaders at
center court as'much as they have fea
tured the players. With a TV timeout
every five minutes plus four timeouts
per team lack of team depth has
ceased to be a factor in televised games.
The players get plenty of rest.
In order to help solve this problem,
the NCAA has cut the number of
timeouts allowed per team in televised
garners 3 All-America picks
Anthon, a senior forward, led the
NCAA runner-up Tar Heels with 31
assists and 40 points. Both totals also
topped the ACC, and Anthon's assist
numbers set a conference record.
Clark, a junior sweeper, was UNC's
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1990-91 NCAA Rule Changes
Following are changes approved by the NCAA Basketball Rules Committee
for the 1990-91 season:
d Three free throws will be awarded to a playerwho Is fouled while shooting
beyond the 3-point line.
a A player will be assessed a technical foul for taunting or swearing at an
opponent and will be suspended for the season if involved in two on-court
fights. A playerwho fights during a game will be suspended for his team's
next game.
a Coaches or players charged with two technical fouls will be ejected from
the game while the head coach will be ejected after three bench technicals
have been called on his team.
n Players will be awarded two free throws instead of a one-and-one after
the opposing team's 10th foul of each half and timeouts will be cut from
four to three for each team in televised games.
A player will be assessed a technical foul if he grasps or hangs on the rim
unless he is fouled or is trying to avoid an obvious injury to himself or
another player.
b The 45-second clock will not be reset when a blocked shot goes out of
bounds.
a Only four players from each team may line up on the lane during free
throw attempts.
games from four to three. Nothing ma
jor, but it should speed the game up.
B The "Settle Down" rule:
Adopted from a Big East Conference
pol icy, this legislation comes down hard
on on-court squabbling. Under the rule,
a player will be suspended for one game
after an on-court fight. A second fight,
at any other point in the season, dis
qualifies the player for the season.
A tough rule, it should crack down on
useless slugfests. But look for officials
to be lenient on what they label a fight.
The rule carries too stiff a penalty for
the refs to carelessly dish it out.
B "Settle down" rule, part II: This
legislation mainly cracks down on the
coaches. A coach charged with two
technical fouls is automatically tossed
from the game. (The limit used to be
three technicals.) Any three technicals
against a team's bench sends the coach
to the locker room regardless of
which players or staff members com
mitted the infractions.
On the horizon
A couple of rules the NCAA should
consider for the 1991-92 season:
B NEVER count the basket on a
leading goal scorer with 2 1 . Hershey, a
senior midfielder and two-time honor
able mention All-America, tallied 13
goals and eight assists.
UNC finished the season at 20-4,
falling 5-0 to ODU in the NCAA final.
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catch up
charge: Presently, it's possible for a
player to commit a charge and still score
a bucket on the same play. This essen
tially makes nobody completely happy,
and it gives the referees a convenient
cop-out call that won't make either coach
too upset.
Let's award a player with the guts to
take a charge: Take the "kiss-your-sis-ter"
call out of basketball.
a Move the stripe back: 19-feet-9-inches
is too short for a 3-pointer. Move
it to the international mark, 21 feet.
D No more standing around: Last
season, referees were no longer required
to hand the ball to a player at the free
throw line. Instead, the official under
the basket could throw it to the shooter.
It was a small rule change, but it sped up
the game.
Now the NCAA should take the rule
one step further. Instead of handing a
ball to a player before every in-bounds
play, allow an official to throw the ball
to a player as soon as the teams are set
as is done in the NBA. Such a rule
would eliminate a lot of useless stand
ing around, of which college hoops,
with television timeouts, has plenty already.
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UNC CadLtaceiuis Medlical
Blue Team gives fans
a blast from the past
By JAMIE ROSENBERG
Sports Editor
After nine years of dormancy, a
Tar Heel tradition resurfaced in the
Smith Center Tuesday night.
No, students weren't back in the
good seats, and Dean Smith's hair
didn't lose any of its graying luster.
But the famed "Blue Team," that
UNC trademark of the '70s and early
'80s, arose once again.
Not since 1981 have North Caro
lina fans seen this Smith creation,
which involves substituting an entire
team of five reserves at one time. But
in Tuesday's 104-61 thumping of
Jacksonville, Smith experimented
twice with his old innovation, and he
came up with relatively successful
results.
With 12:04 to play in the first half
and his regulars lagging to a 19-12
lead, Smith looked down his bench
and said, "Kenny, your team go in."
Five players, led by sophomore
point guard Kenny Harris, leapt from
their spots and headed onto the court
as the official scorer struggled to keep
up. Freshmen Pat Sullivan, Brian
Reese, Kevin Salvadori and Cliff
Rozier all checked in with Harris,
with only Rozier having seen playing
time earlier in the game.
After 2:45, the score was 25-17.
The Blue Team had held its own,
outscoring the Dolphins 6-5, and a
fresh Tar Heel starting five returned
to pummel Jacksonville 1 1-0 in the
next 4:36.
"I've called them a Blue Team,"
Smith said. "We retired the Blue Team
in 1981 when they got beat 9-0 by
Wake Forest after about a nice 12
year run. But I'm not sure we'll have
it this year."
The fact that the Blues had allowed
two easy buckets on the defensive
end didn't go over well with Smith,
ever basing his evaluations on de
fensive performance.
"I was upset with the first group
when I put them in," he said. They
didn't really do great, I don't think."
Nevertheless, Smith gives his Blue
Teams records of their own ("The
best Blue Team I had was in '72. It
was undefeated and had four ties"),
and after the group's second appear
ance, a 5-4 stretch late in the second
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half, it had posted an 11-9 "victory.'' ,
Harris, as the team's "senior" ,
member, hadn't realized he was givr
ing Tar Heel fans a blast from the past;
"I didn't really know we were a
Blue Team until tonight, so I guess
that's what we are," he said. "We just
go in and try to pick up the tempo. We;
try to show Coach that we can do(
things right, too.
"We just try not to hurt the team
when we're in there. We try to make a
lot of good things happen."
Reese, who scored seven points
and dished out two assists in 14 min-
utes of playing time, wasn't exactly
proud to be a Blue Team member. .
"We are the few that are not going
to get that much playing time, and
that's a situation we're going to have;
to get used to," he said.
The revival of a Blue Team may be
the answer to Smith's greatest dilemma
this season, namely that of providing
enough playing time for deserving -members
of his prodigiously deep
squad. Under this system, he can have
five starters, two or three "regular"
reserves, and then the Blue Teairu
allowing him to play as many as 1 3 of
his 15 players consistently without '
losing chemistry on the court. After
all, if you substitute five for five, you r
don't have to worry about the subs
blending well with those already oa
the floor.
And if's UNC's newcomers con
tinue to hold their own, such a com
bination could be deadly for oppo
nents. "The upperclassmen go off the court
and the freshmen come in, and there's
not much of a letdown," senior Rick
Fox said. "That's got to be frustrating
for the other coach. It seems like it
never ends."
Before passing permanent judg
ment, though. Smith will give this
experiment a few more games to de
velop. "Nothing's in cement this early,"
he said. "I don't want to get set on a
lineup yet."
If the Blue Team tradition returns
for good, then... who knows? ... maybe
students will get their courtside seats,
back, and then maybe the gray will,
miraculously disappear from atop.
Smith's head.
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