I first noticed this a year or two ago in the college game: they call way too many charges. It seems like defenders never have to be set anymore. I thought the NBA was still pretty good about block/charge calls, but there were so many calls this first week of the season that weren't remotely close to a charge. It's not just a bad call here or there but countless missed calls. The refs need to be "reminded" that a defender has to be set and can't just jump in the air and not even have their feet on the ground. I understand these bang bang plays are tough to call, but I thought the refs were pretty good at these calls until recently. It's getting ridiculous what they consider a charge nowadays.

http://www.nba.com/features/misunderstoodrules_051128.html

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Blocks/Charge: A block/charge foul occurs when a defender tries to get in front of his man to stop him from going in that direction. If he does not get into a legal defensive position and contact occurs, it is a blocking foul. If he gets to a legal position and the offensive player runs into him it is an offensive foul. In both situations, if the contact is minimal, no foul may be called. To get into a legal position defending against the dribbler, the defender just needs to get in front of him. On a drive to the basket, the defender must get to his position before the shooter starts his upward shooting motion. For most other cases, the defender must get into position and allow enough distance for the offensive player to stop and/or change direction.

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http://www.nba.com/analysis/rules_c.html?nav=ArticleList

quote:

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If an offensive player causes contact with a defensive player who has estab-lished a legal position, an offensive foul shall be called and no points may be scored.

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You don't have to have your feet set, you just have to have established your position on the court.

They've needed to call more charges for a while now. It's pretty weak to let offensive players barrel into the lane out of control but call the foul on the defensive guy because he tried to contest the shot or his foot shifted whilst getting truck-sticked.

It will probably end up being a superficial and short-lived change though, the same star-struck and/or moronic refs are out there.

[This message has been edited by Ulrich (edited 12/29/2011 1:41p).]

Actually, they don't call enough charges.

>>It seems like defenders never have to be set anymore.<<

They've never had to have been set, if by set you mean still. A huge myth. The stupid arc makes things a little different, but here's the gist of the rule in a nutshell:

-- did the defender have legal guarding position?
-- did the offensive player initiate the contact?

If the answer to both those questions is yes, it should be a charge. The defender may move backwards and even laterally as long as he maintains legal guarding position. He also has the area floor to ceiling in his plane.

Now, the NBA is a totally different animal and what their rule is, no one knows. It changes from game to game and player to player. For the life of me I can't figure out why college coaches want that stupid arc under the basket. They reward their players for taking charges so you'd think they'd want to keep good defensive plays.