Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 6, 1994 TAG: 9404060011
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Jack Bogaczyk
DATELINE: CHARLOTTE, N.C. LENGTH: Medium
Arkansas' first NCAA championship Monday night ended a very different year in the sport. The game was so changed, it may change back - and that could be a mistake.
When after last season the rulesmakers cut 10 seconds off the 45-second shot clock, they made another revision that was a bigger factor because it emphasized the talents of smaller players.
The elimination of the five-second "closely guarded rule" was decried by many coaches. It was labeled an "NBA rule" that would encourage one-on-one play.
Maybe it did that. It also brought slashing and passing back into the game. It created more playmakers than just point guards. There was a new movement in the game. Movement is good.
The rules committee didn't just change a rule, it invented a new game - a game that will cause coaches to tinker with defenses, unless the five-count is brought back as a defensive reward.
Hank Nichols, the NCAA's officiating coordinator said before Monday's Final Four title game that he wouldn't be surprised if the rules committee reinstated the five-count on a dribbler, because many coaches don't like the revision.
Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski is one of those. Yet, he used the new rule as well as anyone, giving the ball to versatile All-American Grant Hill and letting him penetrate solo, or later in the season, doing the same with maturing freshman Jeff Capel.
One reason the season was so upsetting - the Associated Press' final Top 25 combined for 160 losses - was that teams weren't accustomed to playing such tough man-to-man defense so long.
American basketball is different from the international game. U.S. defenses are designed to play passing lanes as much as people. Indiana's passing game is what everyone is trying to stop.
A typical defense is play the ball, then collapse and cut off the passing lanes to the basket.
By eliminating the five-second count, the rulesmakers sent players into those lanes, not passes. With the 19-foot, 9-inch 3-point arc, that penetrator was doubly difficult for defenses.
Someone had to guard the dribbler, and there was no reward for being good for five seconds. When the dribbler drives, the common defensive tenet is to collapse toward the paint and the hoop. But that driver could just as easily kick the ball back out to a teammate.
Three!
That's precisely how Boston College upset North Carolina in the NCAA's second round. It's why Virginia played so much better in the ACC Tournament than it had earlier in the season.
Once coach Jeff Jones inserted Jamal Robinson's quickness into the starting lineup, the Cavaliers had another slasher. Robinson and point guard Harold Deane could penetrate and pass or, if the defense went to play the pass, take the ball to the basket.
In this season in particular, because of the enhanced ability to go solo, the huge absence of injured UVa star guard Cory Alexander became even bigger.
With defenders forced to have more stick-to-itiveness on offensive ball-handlers, those passing lanes were more open to passes, too. The 3-point shot continues to gain ground in offenses, but teams could get more good shots by going to the hoop this season than in the past.
That's a plus, particularly in a time when shooting accuracy keeps falling. This season, among 301 Division I men's teams, only Auburn, Radford and Michigan State shot 50 percent or better.
Guards gained in stature with no five-second count. Consider the Final Four. Arkansas had Corey Beck, Scotty Thurman, Clint McDaniel and Al Dillard opening spaces for the bigger Hogs. Duke had Capel and two swingmen who played a lot like guards, Hill and Marty Clark.
Krzyzewski said Florida "was much quicker than we thought they were." He was talking about guards Craig Brown and Dan Cross, the Gators' top two scorers. Arizona had Khalid Reeves and Damon Stoudamire - the best guard duo in the nation.
Look through the tournament bracket and you're struck by how many guards played roles of heightened importance for their teams, and how many games were won or lost because of penetrating and passing.
Missouri's big season was rooted in the backcourt. Syracuse was similar. Marquette beat Kentucky in the second round because the Wildcats unwisely chose to press Warriors' point guard Tony Miller.
Texas had B.J. Tyler and Terrence Rencher leading an underrated club. Duke's Hill still swears Wake Forest guard Randolph Childress is the best player he's guarded - "and he was really good this year," Hill said.
And, unless the five-second rule is reinstated, coaches will spend their summers trying to refigure a way to guard those guards.
by CNB