Men’s college basketball must fix tedious scenarios that make final minutes unwatchable

[ad_1]

If you want to have a miserable time watching sports these days, tune in to a college basketball game with about a 10-point margin and four minutes to go. There’s a good chance you’ll get your wish.

Vanderbilt’s 86-84 road win Wednesday night at Texas A&M was a disgrace to the sport, an eyesore of the highest order and a cry for help in a sport that too often doesn’t have a clue about how tedious it can become.

From the time the ball was inbounded with 3:33 remaining and Vanderbilt leading 70-60, it took more than 40 minutes of real time to complete the game. Why? In a game where officials blew the whistle for 52 total fouls, 14 were called in the final minutes, leading to 28 free throws. Toss in a couple of instant replay reviews, injury stoppages, timeouts and endless offense-defense substitutions by both coaches and you have the most unwatchable finish possible to a game that had the potential to be dramatic.

Would anyone in their right mind find that entertaining? These bungled end-of-game scenarios are absolutely killing the momentum of what has been an otherwise fantastic season in college hoops.

And what happened in College Station isn’t a one-off or just an SEC problem. Last Saturday, for instance, it took more than 30 minutes of actual time to play the last three of NC State’s 85-73 win over Wake Forest for similar reasons: Constant fouling, subbing and the compulsion of college referees these days to go to the monitor every time they’re unsure late in a game whose fingertip a ball nicked before it went out of bounds.

Who wants this?

In calls and texts to some administrators on Thursday morning, there is broad agreement that games are taking too long, officials are too reliant on the replay monitor and endless parades to the foul line suck the absolute life out of the game. For every great college basketball finish that comes down to a final possession, you will have at least one or two that gets pulled into a slog.

There is no reason for these games to so…

[ad_2]
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/article/mens-college-basketball-must-fix-185500833.html

Author : USA TODAY Sports

Publish date : 2025-02-27 18:55:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.