Kellis Robinett’s Big 12 Report: Officials hope consistent calls can help clean up college basketball

Two years ago, college basketball officials promised to clean up the game.

They announced a plan to call more fouls and remove physical contact. Low scores and overly aggressive defense had the sport trending in the wrong direction, and they wanted to change that by bringing back freedom of movement, similar to what is found in the NBA. No more hand checks on the perimeter, no more shoving down low, good luck drawing a charge.

It all sounded great, until they gave up on the plan.

Officials backed down when coaches complained, and physicality returned midway through the season. Nonconference games were dominated by fouls and free throws. By conference time, officials reverted back to their old ways.

This season is their shot at redemption. Officials once again promised change this year, vowing to eliminate physical contact and speeding up play by reducing the shot clock to 30 seconds. They followed through during nonconference play, and haven’t stopped during league games.

“What happened two years ago is, we only put part of this in play,” Big 12 officiating director Curtis Shaw said Monday. “We only really talked about perimeter contact on the ballhandler. By January, we had a couple rules interpretations and a couple issues that came down from the NCAA powers that really changed the focus. I think that was a great learning experience for everybody.”

Switching officiating styles midseason hurt the game. It confused players and coaches, and led to even lower scores last year. Instead of forcing student-athletes to adjust to a contact-free style, they allowed them to be more physical than ever.

There was no turning back this time.

The results have been mostly good. Scoring is up slightly compared to a year ago and players are learning how to defend on the perimeter without contact. Eventually, Shaw hopes officials can clean up post play, as well. He wants the traditional box out to return and for rebounding to once again be a matter of position and skill, not brute strength.

“We cannot stop,” Shaw said. “We have to understand there are going to be growing pains. We are going to get coaches who complain. We are going to get some nationally powerful coaches who complain. But this is for the good of the game. It is above any one coach or any one style of play. We have to continue with this this year. We grasped all of the things we need to change, not just one little point.

“We said up front, ‘We know this is going to be hard and people aren’t going to like it, but we have to do this this year and in years to come.’ We have had better leadership and it has helped us stay consistent throughout the year.”

Big 12 honors Wade

Kansas State freshman forward Dean Wade was named Big 12 newcomer of the week on Monday. He won the award following a stellar showing against Oklahoma, in which he scored 17 points to help the Wildcats knock off the Sooners.

K-State coach Bruce Weber challenged Wade before the game and took him out of the starting lineup. He responded with arguably the best game of his young college career, making 7 of 11 shots.

Power rankings

1. Oklahoma (19-3, 7-3): K-State loss Oklahoma’s title hopes on shaky ground.

2. West Virginia (19-4, 8-2): Mountaineers can leapfrog Sooners with win at Allen Fieldhouse.

3. Kansas (19-4, 7-3): Jayhawks might have to sweep West Virginia and Oklahoma this week to keep pace.

4. Texas (16-7, 7-3): Longhorns are the darkhorse team in the Big 12.

5. Baylor (17-6, 6-4): Bears have lost back-to-back games for first time this season.

6. Iowa State (17-6, 6-4): Cyclones lose too often at Hilton Coliseum to contend for a championship.

7. Kansas State (14-9, 3-7): Top six teams will make NCAA Tournament. K-State pushing to make it seven.

8. Texas Tech (13-9, 3-7): Red Raiders could play spoiler to someone.

9. Oklahoma State (11-12, 2-8): Cowboys playing in front of tiny crowds in Stillwater.

10. TCU (10-13, 1-9): Victory over Texas seems more bizarre by the day.

This story was originally published February 8, 2016 at 3:02 PM with the headline "Kellis Robinett’s Big 12 Report: Officials hope consistent calls can help clean up college basketball."