STrib: Pitino says help defense is the key to not fouling

per the STrib:

Minnesota coach Richard Pitino said on Wednesday that he thinks the key to mastering the new NCAA guidelines on touch fouls – which were introduced last year and emphasized again before the season – is improving the help defense in order to better protect the paint.

It’s something the team focused on during an extra practice on Tuesday, Pitino said, with Minnesota adding an early-morning practice after Monday’s day off in addition to the regular afternoon practice.

“Make sure you do it, don’t stare at the ball,” Pitino said. “Because guys are going to get beat, and you have to rotate.”

The Gophers have collected 48 fouls in the last two games, and foul trouble contributed to Minnesota’s 81-68 loss to Texas Tech on Sunday.

Pitino said that although there are no new fouling guidelines this season, he sees the officials calling last year’s touch foul emphases more intensely.

“When it comes to the hand-checking stuff, I guess now it’s not a point of emphasis, it’s you better do it or else type of thing,” he said. “When you play nationally televised games, those refs are being told – you better call those fouls or else.”

http://www.startribune.com/pitino-says-help-defense-is-the-key-to-not-fouling/353981031/

Go Gophers!!

I thought it was interesting that on Pitino's coaches show this week he was pretty confident in saying that a lot of calls made in the tournament will not be made in the B1G conference season. How much do you change your defensive principles to adjust to calls that you don't believe will be made in January and February? I saw a real touch foul out on the perimeter decide a game between Marquette and LSU a couple days ago. Personally, I like the idea of cracking down on fouls and I am a big proponent of calling the game the same way in minute 40 as you did in minute 1. That said, I feel like some of the almost incidental contact that is being called right now is going too far.

EG#9 said:

I thought it was interesting that on Pitino's coaches show this week he was pretty confident in saying that a lot of calls made in the tournament will not be made in the B1G conference season. How much do you change your defensive principles to adjust to calls that you don't believe will be made in January and February? I saw a real touch foul out on the perimeter decide a game between Marquette and LSU a couple days ago. Personally, I like the idea of cracking down on fouls and I am a big proponent of calling the game the same way in minute 40 as you did in minute 1. That said, I feel like some of the almost incidental contact that is being called right now is going too far.

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Teaching guys to defend without fouling is still a good concept- even if they don't call it as tight in the Big Ten. It sure has worked for Wisky over the years.

I didn't think the rule has changed in the paint though, I thought it was going to be called like it always has.

Hand checking in the open court is just a way to say I can't or don't want to play defense. Learn to move their feet and get in position, hard to understand how the rule can have this big of an impact.

This team doesn't have a lot of basketball "smsrts" Buggs and Morris lead and Gaston and Konate
just haven't played enough basketball. I think Dorsey and Murphy have a chance to be very good, but right now all they've are King and Mason that you can put on the court that don't make a mistake every other time down the floor.

Any kind of defense would help.