NCAA rule changes frustrate Williams
By Mark Button
Kansan sportswriter
This year's college basketball season has bred three rule changes, and Kansas coach Roy Williams is not pleased with them.
The first rule states that the shot clock will be shortened from 45 to 35 seconds.
Williams said that it was too early to tell what the actual effect of the rule change would be but that he did not anticipate a problem.
"It's not going to change our playing, and it won't change my coaching," Williams said. Senior guard Steve Woodberry said that, if anything, this rule could help on defense.
"If we pick up the guards and play full-court defense, it will make them rush," Woodberry said. "If we can take off close to 10 seconds when they're bringing up the ball, we could take them out of their offense."
Another new rule will stop the clock after a made basket in the final minute of the game.
Williams said this rule might help the game. He said that many coaches, including himself, called timeouts at the end of games with the sole intent of stopping the clock. But a price was is during the timeout. The television network broadcasting the game is obligated to go to a commercial.
"A lot of time you want to keep the players out there — you don't even want to talk to
them," Williams said. "But you can't becauseyou have to sell apiece of chicken."
The final rule, which overturned a previous rule, Williams detests. It states that when a player is dribbling, regardless of whether or not he is closely guarded, he can dribble for the entire 35-second possession. In previous years, a player had to pass after five seconds of closely guarded dribbling.
Williams said the rule penalized teams that played with a pressure defense, such as Williams' style of over-playing the passing lanes. He said teams that had a player with good size and good ball-handling skills could have that player dribble for 25 seconds then look to create a shot, similar to the style of play seen in the NBA. Williams also said he thought the reason for the change was because it was difficult for referees to make the call.
"I get tired of making the game easier for the officials," he said. "It's their hobby, and it's my life. It's a pretty simple thing. My kids learned how to count to five a long time ago, and if they want me to help, I'll help them count one, two, three, four, five."
Woodberry, a player with relatively good size and superb ball handling skills, sees pluses and minuses in the free-dribble rule.
"I think I will be able to create more and draw defenses to me," he said. "But I think they're trying to make college ball to much like the NBA. They should keep the college game the way it was, and if you're good enough, then you can go on."
Coaching changes bring hope to small universities
By Joe Macenka The Associated Press
RICHMOND, Va. — It was one of those moments that showed just how comfortable Paul Westhead was back in college basketball.
The new coach at George Mason was telling how he had duped his eager young players into believing they could fly.
Westhead recalled how, as an incentive, he told the players that if they were to run fast enough, it was even possible to be airborne for several seconds.
To prepare the Patriots for the physical demands of his all-out style of play, Westhead had them do sprinting drills with small parachutes attached to their backs during the preseason conditioning period.
It was the first step to introducing what the school had hyped in advertising campaigns as "Paul Ball": a dizzying tempo that produces eye-catching numbers.
Their eyes lit up, and, one by one, the players would try their best, only to return to their coach with a disappointed look and tell him they had been unable to achieve that elusive takeoff.
The Patriots are coming off back-toback 7-21 seasons. Attendance at the 10,000-seat Patriot Center averaged 2,740 last year.
Enter 54-year-old Westhead, who in
five seasons led Loyola Marymount to 105 victories and three NCAA tournament appearances. His final Loyola Marymount team in 1989-90 averaged 122.4 points and set an NCAA Division I scoring record with 181 points. That year's Lions also set a new NCAA tournament scoring mark with a 149-115 victory against Michigan.
The change at George Mason was just one of 31 at the Division I level, a 10 percent changeover at the head coaching position, just about the standard number for the past decade.
Eddie Fogler had the closest move as far conferences went, moving from Vanderbilt to South Carolina, schools which both play in the Southeastern Conference's Eastern Division.
The changes wiped out the staff of Xavier's Pete Gillen, who lost two assistants to head jobs: Dino Gaudio at Army and Skip Prosser at Loyola, Md.
And the move that truly crossed generational lines was at Stetson. Dan Hipsher moved from Division III Wittenberg to replace Glenn Wilkes, who retired after 36 years with the Hatters. Hipsher was 3 years old when Wilkes took over as head coach at Stetson.
Westhead left Loyola Marymount after the death of Hank Gathers and went back to the NBA, where he had coached previously with the Los Angeles Lakers and the Chicago Bulls.
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COLLEGE BASKETBALL PREVIEW • University Daily Kansan • November 17, 1993