Pittsburgh’s Lamar Patterson was whistled for a flagrant foul during his team’s game against Wichita State on Thursday after he hit an opponent in the face with an elbow. The contact occurred as Patterson was driving to the basket and did not appear to be intentional. However, the call was correct in that even an unintentional elbow to an opponent is a Flagrant 1 by rule.
The officials made the right call, but that didn’t stop analyst Doug Gottlieb from having a meltdown over how much he hates the rule itself.
“This is the dumbest thing we do in basketball,” Gottlieb said. “This is dumb. This is absolutely, completely moronic. This is not a foul. It’s not a purposeful elbow. It’s a guy driving to the basket and his elbow happens to hit (Tyler Baker) in the mouth. That’s incidental contact. It’s considered a flagrant by letter of the rule book.
“You mean to tell me that in the process of driving to the basket he sees Ron Baker, lines him up and elbows him? Come on, he’s protecting the ball and protecting the drive. That’s a basketball move.”
Gottlieb was so fired up you could hear him slapping his hand as he ranted. He also mentioned how it was ridiculous that the officials were reviewing the play and holding the game up, which he thought would cause viewers to switch over to the Bucknell-Butler game.
Personally, I agree with Gottlieb that the rule is a lousy one. That being said, I’d never be able to express myself in quite as convincing and squeaky of a tone as Gottlieb can. If viewers did switch over to the Bucknell-Butler game, it’s most likely because he was giving them a headache.
Video via The Big Lead
