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Show Gardner Opposes WAC Foul Rule By Mike Beyeler Staff Writer Remember the good ole' days when "free throws", "foul pitches", and "charity tosses" used to be colloquial basketball terms in the Western Athletic Conference? Well, no more. In this year's tilts with the WAC's experimental experiment-al foul shot rule in effect, it seems charity tcsses are facing the same fate as the vanishing American buffalo. You just don't see them around Uteville anymore. WAC Experiment Before this year's hardwood season, NCAA Basketball Rules Committee and coaches across the nation selected the WAC as the site of a controlled experiment experi-ment in basketball "revisionism." "revision-ism." The WAC became a test tube for a rule change abandoning abandon-ing the one-shot free throw in favor of merely calling the personal per-sonal foul and then giving the fouled team the ball out of bounds, at least until a one-and-one situation developed. Coach Jack Gardner says, "The rule came into effect because coaches wanted to cut down4 on free throws, feeling that the team scoring the most field goa's should win." This however, has not been the case as Utah barely squeaked by New Mexico Mexi-co with nine more field goals and BYU edged Arizona State in overtime with 11 more two-pointers. Gardner also complained that the new rule is diminishing the total elapsed time in contests. "Basketball is a game packed with continuous action and thrills and the players and fans need a pause for breathers during foul shots," said Gardner. In discussing new basketball strategies, Utah's hoop chief noted that a team was more likely to foul late in the game attempting to steal the ball, knowing they wouldn't be hurt by a free-throw. The "Fox" revealed that he was somewhat discouraged over the ability of a team to set up its defense immediately after a foul, thereby flattening the offensive of-fensive team's momentum. No Final Decision Weighing both sides of the issue, is-sue, Gardner said that he hadn't reached a final decision concerning con-cerning the controversial rule. To some fans there may be doubt as to what Gardner's recommendation rec-ommendation will be, but to those radio listeners of recent locker room interviews its known that he's not exactly singin' praises and hallelujas over it. It's this writer's guess that at the next NCAA Basketball Rules Committee meeting there's liable li-able to be at least one "fox" howling negatively toward its approval. |