…because we foul more than our opponents. From North Carolina to Missouri, I just see team after team playing better man defense, using their feet instead of hand checking, blocking us out for rebounds, and not frantically taking chances trying for steals like we do. We drive for the basket and teams just seem better at “not fouling while playing tough defense” than we are when they drive on us. Imagine how many more fouls we would have if the officials weren’t “letting them play more” as the season winds down. When we do try to rebound which IS rare (I can’t remember a time when Trey Thompson was at the high post or anywhere outside when he didn’t just watch the shot and then amble down the court afterwards never trying to go for the rebound.) our undersized power forwards end up fouling the other team’s bigger players trying to rebound and prevent putbacks. Smaller and faster forwards are better for pressing and stealing, not so good for rebounding without fouling.
Anderson knows all of this. He doesn’t block out and does go for steals trying to get break-aways and momentum changing dunks. When that works, usually at home, it can demoralize the other team as our pace and depth wears them down. Again, all of that does not work as well on the road. So fouling more and rebounding less is the price Anderson and Richardson teams pay to try and get more turnovers and dunks. They both had teams that played better half court defense, but they did not have teams that shot the three better so maybe that is the price you pay to get scoring prima donnas.
I didn’t get that impression from his article. However, he does think the officiating should be better and suggest penalizing officials that make bad and unfair calls.
All coaches (colleges, fans, etc.) would like for the officials to be bias in their favor; but even more, they hate it for officials to be bias in favor of the other team. And, all SEC colleges have an equal number of votes so an official that shows bias for a particular team will not last long.
Since all SEC colleges have an equal number of votes, unless a substantial number of the other 13 SEC colleges have a grudge against Arkansas, more so than the the other SEC teams (and I believe there is no reason that they would), the officiating will be as fair for Arkansas as it is for the other teams.
If there is bias in favor of the home team and there may be, that must have the support of the majority of the SEC colleges and all SEC teams would equally benefit when they are the home team.
Plenty of teams play good defense by aggressively challenging shots and passing lanes. West Virginia and Tennessee foul more than we do and don’t rebound any better but are among the best defensive teams in the nation. There is more than one way to play good defense. Some teams play good defense more passively. It’s all a matter of executing what you are trying to do. When we are trapping and get torched, the bad defense isn’t caused by fouling too much and not rebounding well. That’s a given. The problem is when we don’t get the TOs and misses that the aggressiveness is designed to create.
Every team in the nation gives up more FTAs on the road, which is a major reason why records are so much worse on the road. There is no defense that you can play that will change that because the refs can find a foul on almost every possession if they so choose.
