NCAA Basketball: Flopping, mid-majors, and Houston among key topics

1. Do I like the new flopping rule?  Is it being utilized properly?

This has had much debate over the last 48 hours on Twitter among other basketball writers and fans. If you are not familiar with the new rule, let’s explain it. The new rule states that if you are called for a flop, it is a class B technical foul. That means that the opponents get 1 shot. Class B technical fouls do not count on the players’ overall foul total, and it would take three flops from the same player to be ejected. Flops are obviously a judgment call much like the Block and Charge calls but this rule was a long time coming.

I love the rule, flopping must find its way out of the game. There are times when a player does get hit hard and is going to go down, but the ones that need to be eliminated are the ones when a player shoots a three and then falls or a player in the paint taking minimal contact and then flying backwards with the hopes of drawing a foul. Those are the ones they need to eliminate as those are the ones that are ridiculous and are rarely ever going to draw a foul on the opponents.

As the season has gone on the referees have called this well and as intended. There are always going to be calls that are missed and the same is true with the flop rule but for the most part, it has been called as intended. It does appear to have stopped the flopping as well. I have already watched a lot of games this year and it doesn’t appear that teams are getting called for it more than once per game. The new rule is doing its job to curb the behavior.

It remains to be seen if it stops flopping altogether, but it does seem to curb it a little bit. Let’s check back on this one later in the season and see if the referees stop calling it so much and it is going to cost a team a game at some point this season especially late in the game.