If you’ve attended any games in this young Illinois high school basketball season, you’ve probably heard a few more whistles and seen more kids fouling out than ever before, the Southtown Star reports.
That’s because the Illinois High School Association has said they would like to see the rules enforced as they’re written. You know, often a referee will let a hand-check or palming the ball go as long as no advantage was gained. “No harm, no foul,” goes the unwritten rule. But the actual written rules are quite different, of course, since basketball isn’t written in the rule book as a contact sport.
Coaches, too, are getting hit with more technical fouls for things like leaving the 17-foot coaching box to retrieve a loose ball.
“You’ve seen all the clutching and grabbing and physical play that has been allowed by the officials over the last 10-15 years,” IHSA associate executive director Kurt Gibson was quoted as saying. “What we’re trying to encourage our officials to do is consistently enforce the rules as they are written. We’ve allowed too much of the contact that is going on to be considered incidental contact. … We’re trying to give movement back to the player, so we really think there needs to be a more consistent enforcement of the rules as they’re written.”
Tony Baranek, who covers high school sports for the Southtown Star, said he observed in girls’ basketball games so far this season, “61 fouls called in the Hillcrest vs (Homewood-Flossmoor) game. Bloom has had at least two games in which five Blazing Trojans fouled out. Marist had five players foul out and four more finish with four fouls in a loss to Rich Central.”
