With his team having been called for charging 39 times and drawn only nine charges, Kentucky Coach John Calipari asked a basic question Monday. “If I’m in the act of shooting, but I haven’t left my feet, can (the defender) then slide in there?” he said. “Because that’s what they’re doing.”
The answer, which Calipari might not like, is yes. The defender can do that.
“That’s a legal defender,” said John Adams, the NCAA National Men’s Basketball Officiating Coordinator.
During a telephone interview Tuesday, Adams went so far as to refute a commonly held belief that a defender seeking to draw a charge must be set in a stationary position.
“Most people will tell you, ‘He was moving!’” Adams said. “It’s irrelevant. … There’s no standard of being set at the time of contact.”
A defender can move side to side or backward in reaction to an offensive player, Adams said. The defender cannot move forward into the ball-handler.
“To draw a charge, all a defender has to do is face his opponent (and) have both feet on the floor for an instant,” Adams said. “After which, he can move to maintain legal guarding position.”
More than once Monday, Calipari lamented some of the charging calls against Kentucky. He mentioned it when asked on a Southeastern Conference coaches’ teleconference about the 39-9 disparity. He again expressed concern in speaking with reporters Monday night.
During the latter, the UK coach raised a hypothetical set of circumstances, which he said might help clarify a block or charge.
“If I’m in motion to shoot and (the defender) slides under me, but I haven’t left my feet yet, that is a charge?” Calipari said. “Maybe that clears it up a little bit with all of us, me included. …
“Then, all right, then we’ll slip in there (also).”
Adams noted the importance in Calipari’s scenario of an offensive player still having his feet on the floor. In that case, the onus of avoiding the charge is on the ball-handler.
“If you’re in control of the ball, you’re the one responsible for your actions …” the national coordinator said. “Once a guy leaves the floor, the defender can’t move.” Adams acknowledged that the calls are subjective.
“It’s always going to be judgment,” he said.
Block/charge is a difficult one for referees.
“It’s an emotional play,” Adams said. “Almost always involves a score or scoring attempt. Always around the basket. Everybody is focused on that moment.
“What the referee is trying to do is focus on the defender. The shooter is going to get to the defender. You don’t need to worry about him. You need to know what was the defender’s status at the moment of contact.”
Adams said he could not comment on any calls involving Kentucky. But the supervisor added that the referees are correct more often than not.
“North of 75 percent,” he said.
18 SEC games SEC Associate Commissioner Charles Bloom confirmed an ESPN report that the league will move to 18 games next season. The SEC has played 16 league games since adding Arkansas and South Carolina in 1991-92.
The move to 18 games will accompany a further expansion, with Texas A&M and Missouri joining the league next season.
The league will not return to two divisions, Bloom said.
A decision on what league opponents each team will play and which will be home-and-home series has not been determined, Bloom said.
Wooden list UK freshmen Anthony Davis and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist were among 25 players announced Tuesday as part of a mid-season list of candidates for the John Wooden Award.
Two other SEC players made the list: John Jenkins of Vanderbilt and Arnett Moultrie of Mississippi State.
Ohio State forward Jared Sullinger was the only player returning from last year’s Wooden Award All-American team.
The Wooden Award is based on performance, plus progress toward graduation and maintaining at least a cumulative 2.0 GPA. The winner will be announced April 6. The women’s mid-season list will be announced Jan. 27.
