With March Madness here, I am now watching ends of games take seeming eternities to finish, due to the use of tactical fouls by losing teams. As anybody with half a brain knows, these tactical fouls allow a losing team the chance to catch the ball on missed free throws so that they can make scoring attempts. If the losing team doesn't foul, they often don't have a chance to get possession of the ball until the shot clock runs out.
I have problems with the use of tactical fouls. No team should be able to derive an advantage from breaking a rule, yet that's the purpose of these fouls.
My Rule
If I could change one rule in Basketball, it would be to allow the
team holding the ball to decline a free throw if their opponent
commits a foul. This removes the incentive for a losing team to break
the rules for its own gain.
Copyright ©2002 by Patrick Madden, all rights reserved.