KANSAS CITY — The biggest rule change this year, according to Big 12 Coordinator of Men’s Basketball Officials Curtis Shaw, will revolve around players hooking arms with other players while fighting for rebound positioning.
Shaw said if a player gets beat on positioning and then hooks arms in an attempt to keep the other player from securing the rebound, that is now considered a Flagrant 1 foul.
If the player who is beaten hooks arms and then is deemed to have tried to pull the other player down or pull him to the floor, that will now be called a Flagrant 2 foul and the player will be ejected from the game.
“The risk of serious injury is why we do that,” Shaw said.
Shaw also said that both instances are also reviewable.
“You could have a foul called on another player, but then you see the hook on a review,” Shaw said. “I can’t take away the foul on the other player, but you could now call a flagrant foul on the other player.”
Traditional Huggins
West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins decided on a traditional suit and tie for Big 12 media day, a break from his usual media day attire.
In past Big 12 media gatherings, Huggins was decked out in a West Virginia letterman’s jacket, in another he went with West Virginia logo-themed pants, while another year he sported a West Virginia Blue and Gold bow tie, a tribute to WVU President E. Gordon Gee.
Instead of getting into fashion talk, Huggins said the federal investigation into college basketball has shown areas that need to be cleaned up, but the game as a whole is not hurting.
“I keep hearing about the state of our game,” he said. “The state of our game is really pretty good. If, in fact, which I don’t think has been proven yet, any of those things happened, they shouldn’t have happened. But, you’re talking about — what — four or five schools at the most?
“There are 361 Division I schools. ESPN would take those numbers. If you have three or four guys go off the reservation, you wouldn’t say ESPN is falling apart. With the current state of our game, I don’t think it’s ever been better than what it is now.”
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