Been watching all these games. Women especially. They gotta go to 6 fouls. Not for basketball reasons. Because the refs blow 4-10 calls per half. That golden guy for FAU had 4 fouls and should have had 2. Similar on some other games like Gonzaga a couple of years ago. The women’s games are worse. No consistency. Phantom fouls. Hacks not being called. Clear fouls being called tie ups. The VT LSU game the lsu squad might as well have beaten the Kitley girl with a bag of rocks. Going to 6 let’s the refs mistakes not pull the best players off the court and let’s then call basically roughing fouls.
Couldn't agree more. The officiating is awful across the board and they need to do something to limit the impact. The "Everything is a charge" culture has caused guys to just throw themselves in the path of anyone driving hard to the rim just hoping to get the call. (and for some bizarre reason, the refs fall for it 90% of the time) And those calls change games. I would be 100% in favor of going to 6 fouls.
They've changed the mentality/philosophy on this is probably why you feel they "fall for it".
It used to be you had to be planted/set in front. Now you just have to maintain a legal guarding position, which is a much lower threshold for the defender than it used to be 15-20 years ago.
Also, the analytics say that getting to the line is one of the best ways to generate points per possession which means teams are actively trying to draw fouls early and often.
One of the best things I learned to say to coaches over the last couple of years is "when you force me to make a decision, sometimes you aren't going to like that decision." Basically if a player forces their way through defenders or a defender tries to go down to draw the charge, sometimes it isn't going to go their way. I really try to either ignore flopping or even punish it with a block I would have normally let go because that player is trying to fool me or force my hand. On the flip side (and I'm sure I fall for a flop from time to time) if there is enough contact you should call the charge even if the player is embellishing. It is definitely one of the most difficult things to judge.