“On Wednesday night, Florida State guard Xavier Rathan-Mayes scored 30 points in less than five minutes in a Division I basketball game. Go ahead, check the play-by-play sheet. It’s all there, bucket after bucket, Rathan-Mayes staging a one-man takeover of literally every possession, including the only one he didn’t finish himself — a Robbie Berwick 3 with 23 seconds to play for which Rathan-Mayes was credited with an assist. Incredible, right? Even more incredible: Florida State still lost. The Seminoles were trailing by 17 when their freshman morphed into Kobe-against-the-Raptors. But they allowed 52 points in the second half to Miami and fell 81-77 all the same. Crazy.”
“Grantland’s Mark Titus picks up a radical rules change we’ve pushed for in the past — getting rid of charges altogether: “Here’s one suggestion that could add a little spice to the discussion: Let’s ban charges from the help side. Instead of experimenting with a larger restricted area under the basket, just get rid of the arc altogether. I know it sounds insane, but you know what’s more insane? Rewarding players for grabbing their nuts and falling over. Seriously. Imagine basketball hadn’t yet been invented, and a group of people got together to make up rules for the new sport. Imagine how the room would respond if someone said, ‘We should make a rule that lets defenders force turnovers by just standing close to the basket and pretending to be knocked down.’ Half the people would be in tears from laughing, while the other half would be trying to figure out who let Greg Paulus into the meeting. I know what you’re thinking: If charges didn’t exist, what would keep offensive players under control? Wouldn’t they just be able to put their heads down and power the ball to the basket? No, because there would still be offensive fouls. Off-ball defenders could still slide over, put their hands up, and keep a vertical plane as they jumped to challenge shots. If the offensive player bulldozes the defender in that instance, an offensive foul would still be called. The difference is that defenders would have to make a play on the ball. Defenders would have to, you know, play defense instead of just saying, ‘Welp — there’s nothing I can do to stop him, so I might as well just stand here, close my eyes, and hope I don’t die.’“
