Columnist Ron Kantowski: College game needs fewer whistles

Thursday, Jan. 23, 2003 | 10:02 a.m.

Ron Kantowski's insider notes column appears Tuesday and his Page One column appears Thursday. He can be reached at ron@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4088.

Exhibit A: In a recent game against Savannah State, Wyoming was sent to the free-throw line 62 times, hitting 43. I guess that's what happens when you schedule a Division II school comprised of hatchet men. No wonder why the Girl Scouts changed the name of that cookie from "Savannah" to "Peanut Butter Sandwich."

Exhibit B: Every time Monday's Utah-UNLV game at the Thomas & Mack Center threatened to develop some pace and continuity, the refs blew the whistle for some ticky-tack foul. I swear that on one of them, they must have caught Tim Frost, one of the Utes' big guys, for breathing too hard on J.K. Edwards, because there was so little contact. Maybe that's where the expression for cheap fouls originated -- the breath mint with the similar name.

Exhibit C: In Tuesday's football scrimmage at Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Ind. -- a k a the Ohio State vs. Indiana college basketball game -- the teams combined for 47 fouls and 54 free throws. Forget about three yards and a cloud of dust. This was three hacks and the screech of floor burns. Or, as one columnist covering the game raved, "Classic Big 10 basketball."

And so, I ask, is it just me, or are they calling way too many fouls in college basketball these days?

It's just me.

While it's still easy to subscribe to the notion that college zebras have become the biggest whistle-blowers since Sammy "The Bull" Gravano ratted on John Gotti, my research suggests otherwise.

For instance, in 1974, when Converse All-Stars were still in vogue, the 233 NCAA Division I teams averaged 18.7 free-throw attempts per game. Last year, the 321 teams that now comprise Division I went to the charity stripe 21.5 times per game.

That's an increase, but nowhere near as dramatic as I thought. Moreover, in 1974 the average college basketball team was called for 19.2 fouls per game -- the identical average in 2002.

So if you go by statistics alone, it would seem today's game is no different than the one of 30 years ago. But do yourself a favor. The next time they replay the 1974 Final Four on ESPN Classic, see if you don't agree that it's no more than a distant cousin to the one being played today.

That was the year that North Carolina State and David Thompson finally knocked off Bill Walton and UCLA. I was a junior in high school, and I vividly recall my high school coach harping that defense was played with the feet, not the hands, and that the best way to avoid a screen -- they were called "picks" in those days -- was to go around one, not fight through it.

That's because the best players were built like javelins. There weren't any power forwards.

Fast forward to last Thursday's UNLV game at BYU, where the Cougars put a couple of offensive tackles into the game to pound on Dalron Johnson. Only one of them (265-pound Jake Shoff) wore No. 5 instead of No. 75. His shirt was tighter than Anna Nicole Smith's after Thanksgiving dinner.

So here's the skinny (literally). If today's players would just lay off the weights during the off-season, maybe the game would revert to being a ballet rather than a street fight, and the refs could put their whistles away.

And just when I think that might be possible, that four-lettered behemoth known as Shaq appears on the TV, stepping on anything that gets in his way.

Maybe it's for the best. To be honest, I still look like kind of a dork in my high-top Cons.