When the 2012 NCAA tournament comes to a close, many of us will remember it as the year of the lane violation. You can go an entire season without seeing a single call for a lane violation on a free throw, yet we saw it during a round of 64 game and a round of 32 game already this year. Both times, the call may have affected the outcome of the game. Jim Boeheim’s squad was the beneficiary of the first lane violation that was called, and Charles Barkley — along with many other people — was critical of the official who called it. As expected, Boeheim doesn’t think very highly of Barkley’s opinion.
“Charles is an idiot,” Boeheim said during an interview with 1260 The Score in Syracuse. “You have to call calls. If they’re there, you have to call them. If a foul occurs or whatever happens, you have to call it. It’s as simple as that. If referees start doing that, we’ll have a chaotic situation. They have to make the calls that are there. If it’s a little touch foul away from the ball, a good referee won’t call that.”
Boeheim certainly isn’t the first person to insult Barkley and Sir Charles does say some completely idiotic things, but I tend to agree with him on this one. It’s easy for Boeheim to say that call has to be made when it may have saved his team from historic embarrassment, but if it has to be made then why is it never made the countless other times it happens?
As LB mentioned in an earlier post, any official that makes this call should be calling all the carries, travels, and blatant fouls that they let go constantly. Boeheim says it’s good if they don’t call a “touch foul,” but what’s the difference between a “touch foul” and a borderline violation that always happens and is never called? In both instances the call was the right one but didn’t have to be made.
