Most rule changes are made to be official friendly, not player, coach or game friendly. The last coaches friendly rule was when the coaching box was put in during the 1990s and the last player friendly rule was the 3-point shot in 1987.

Who is the game really for? The players, the coaches, the officials or the fans?

Most rule changes in the past have been made to speed up the game and to make it easier to officiate.

I suggest the following rules changes for high school basketball to make the game better for the players first. Then the coaches, officials and fans..

1. Put the jump ball back into the game..

2. When the defense ties up the offense for a held ball, then award the ball to the defense. The offense never ties up the defense and the only time there is not team possession or team control is on a shot, rebound or a held ball. If there is a held or jump ball on these three situations then use the jump ball.

The held ball or jump ball should not be determined by an arrow, alternating possession. The effort should be made to reward the defense.

3. On a player-control-foul on an attempted field goal, when the player shooting the ball has left the floor and the ball is in the air and then the contact occurs caused by the shooter, then if the ball goes in, count the basket and award the defense the ball out-of-bounds. Call it a charging foul as there is no team control when the ball has left the shooter’s hands.

4. Change the closely guarded distance to three feet instead of six. This would mean that the defender is actually guarding the player dribbling or holding the ball..

5. No fouling out. How many games are decided by who is not playing, especially in tournament games? When a player receives his fifth foul and the coach takes the player out of the game, there is no penalty. If the coach does not take the player out on the fifth foul or if he does and the player returns to the game and commits a foul, then the penalty is like an intentional foul — two shots and the ball out-of-bounds.

This would add the following coaching strategies. Is the player that good that he needs to be on the floor for the team to be successful? If the coach keeps the player in the game, does the coach have his team go zone to protect the player from fouling? Does the opponent’s coach try to get the ball against the player with the fifth foul?

6. Hand checking (hands on a player with or without the ball) should be called as an intentional foul. This would clean up the game because hand checking a player with or without the ball is definitely a defensive advantage.

7. Eliminate calling timeouts to prevent a violation. Don’t let players or coaches call a timeout to avoid a jump ball, to avoid a five-second out-of-bounds on a throw-in, to a avoid a 10-second backcourt call or avoid going out-of-bounds with the ball in a player’s possession. Reward the defense.

8. Do not allow coaches to call timeouts unless the clock has stopped. All timeouts when the clock is running have to be requested by the players on the court after the coach instructs one of the players to call the timeout.

9. Call the player-control foul what it really is: a player out-of-control foul. If the player with the ball is in control of his body then he wouldn’t be out-of-control and charge into a defensive player who has established his legal guarding position.

What do you think about these changes?

The first thing a post player needs to develop is a good power layup, without any fake moves.

Second, explain the three-second rule to the post player. Once he has the ball in the free-throw lane and three seconds has not been called, then he has additional time to attempt a shot by dribbling toward or moving toward the hoop. If he dribbles or passes out of the free-throw lane then it is an automatic three-second call.

Third, a post player needs to develop individual skills to get the ball:

1. Soft hands

2. Learn how to seal a defender who is playing on either side, in front or in back of the player.

3. Develop hand position of where to get the ball on the entry pass.

4. Have a signal for when the post player wants the ball.

5. Teach the post player how to get position when he is being fronted, without getting called for a foul.

6. If he is being denied the ball, then have a ball-fake signal in place to get him free.

7. A signal is needed for the player trying to pass the ball to the post player to clear out the low block area or to screen a perimeter player.

After receiving the ball the post player must now develop footwork skills.

Then he must be taught how to rebound on the offensive end and get in the best position based on where his teammates are shooting.

Once the post player has developed all of these basic skills then the coach must use an offense that makes it hard for the defense to double team. The toughest place on the floor to defend is the low-block spot as the player with the ball knows when he is going to leave their feet to start the power layup and can draw fouls. The post player also has to learn how to find the open man when he is double-teamed.

After giving the post player the skills he needs, it is important to put in a system that emphasizes the proper floor spacing of the players. The defense needs to pay a big price for double-teaming.

When I coached post player Ken Rassi at John Bapst, we developed an offensive strategy that made teams pay a huge price when he was double and sometimes tripled teamed before he got the ball or when the entry pass was in the air to him or after he received the entry pass.

He was excellent at finding the open man. If the open player was a good perimeter shooter, he would quickly get the ball to him. If not, then Rassi would signal the open player to cut to the opposite block for an easy layup.

If Rassi wasn’t double teamed, then it was an automatic two-pointer or two foul shots.

After we put in the offensive setup, we called the formation “Rassi,” then we installed the “Rassi Rule,” which meant he had to touch the ball once before we took a shot unless it was a layup.

When he graduated after dominating the low block for two seasons, we still used the same Rassi offense and Rassi Rule for our other post players.

It worked well for 12 seasons. I just wish I had a quarter for each time I yelled “run Rassi” to our team during that time.

This has been reinforced by  Louisville winning this year’s NCAA title and the Miami Heat winning the NBA title last year. Both did it without a true post man.

Ali Fraser, the 6-foot-7 post player for the University of Maine men’s basketball team, is considering leaving the program. Maybe one of the reasons he is doing this is because he did not get enough offensive touches during his three years at Maine.

He averaged 13 points per game, shot 49 percent from the floor, only got 11.7 field goal attempts per game and got to the foul line just 2.5 times per game. He led the team in minutes played with 33.3 minutes and started all 30 games. He was under utilized.

He was an effective back-to-the-basket player when he got the ball. If  he wasn’t double teamed he could score one-on-one on the block. When he was double teamed, he was capable of finding the open teammate.

This brought back memories of a happy high school post player who became unhappy playing college basketball so that he looked to transfer, too.

Post players have to run rim-to-rim on shots at either basket and then before they get set in the offensive end at the low block , many times a perimeter player who only has to run foul line to foul line, jacks up a 3-pointer. The post player then has to turn around and run right back to the other rim.

So, I called a former back-to-the-basket player, Ken Rassi, who was the last real dominant high school back-to-the-basket player in Maine since he played for a team I coached, John Bapst, and led the Crusaders to a 22-0 season and state Class B title in 1993.

The 7-foot-1, 250-pound Rassi now lives in Texas. I asked him about his college experience from 1994-98. He had more than 30 Division I scholarship offers. He was one of the three finalists for Mr. Basketball in Maine, was selected as the Maine Gatorade Player of the year, and was a first-team BDN All-Maine selection.

He went to Fresno State in California, which was ranked in the top 50 teams in the country. He got some playing time there, but he did not see the ball much as a back-to-the-basket player in a West Coast run-and-gun offense..

So he transferred to the University of New Hampshire where coach Gib Chapman, a friend of mine with Maine hoop connections, who had recruited him hard, and told Ken there was always a scholarship available for him at UNH if he ever wanted to transfer back to New England.

After sitting out the transfer year, Ken had a very good sophomore season under Gib, but Chapman left the position and an assistant coach under Chapman, who came from Stanford, was named the head coach. Ironically, Ken was then playing in a West Coast style of offense again and did so for three of his four collegiate seasons.

If post payers are not rewarded with the ball  for running the court, then they become frustrated and stop defending and start fouling..

They do all the dirty work and rarely get rewarded unless they reward themselves by going hard to the offensive boards.

Ken feels that the post player is becoming extinct. Very few teams at the DI and NBA levels have great post players.

Teams are eliminating post players and here are some of the reasons Ken and I believe this is occurring:

1. The 3-point line and the emphasis on perimeter shooting.

2. It is hard work to develop a good big man.

3. Most coaches do not know how or do not want to take the time to develop a big man from scratch.

4. When coaches have an adequate post player many do not use the correct offensive alignment.

5. Perimeter players do not want to and are not forced to look inside first before shooting.

6. Coaches may tell their perimeter players to pass the ball four times and if they don’t get it to the post player, then they can take the shot  – and that is exactly what they get, four passes and a perimeter shot.

Ken said that he received more touches in his 22 high school game schedule in his senior year then he did in his four-year college career of 100 plus games.

I have heard the following old coaches adage: “You can’t make big men.” What they really meant was “that you can’t grow big men,” but Ken believes today that post players are becoming extinct because coaches “don’t coach big men.” I agree.

The way things are going, I agree with with Ken who believes that it will take just a few more seasons and all five players will be playing facing the basket and the big skilled back-to-the-basket-player will no longer exist.

Our biggest single day was on January 7 during the week of January 6 thru 11 when we had 4,245 views. This also was our biggest single week of the 22 weeks we were on the blog with a total of 5,609 views or hits that week.

I want to take the opportunity to thank all the basketball fans and people who took the time to view the blogs. I hope you found them interesting, timely and not to boring. I hope you found them as enjoyable as I enjoyed writing them.

My “Off the Rim” Column for the Tuesday editions of the BDN will continue until the NBA Season ends in Mid June. This coming week’s column has a local interest from the past and it will be the 30th column of the year when we started back in October.

I really enjoyed my 13 years doing the Radio/TV Color Analyzing for WABI Radio/TV. Working along with George Hale, Jon Small, Tom Winston, Al Hackett, and Bob Beatham gave me a chance to see the game from a very different aspect.

Then getting the chance to have my own Column and my own Blog for the BDN 3 years ago, has also given me another very different view of the game of basketball. I want to take this opportunity to thank Joe McLaughlin, the sports-editor for the BDN for this great and enjoyable opportunity.

I have seen the game as a fan, a player, an official, a Radio-TV Color Analyst and now as a basketball writer. I have been involved in the game ever since my father put up a hoop off our barn when I asked him to when I was 7 years old in the second grade.

So now after being involved in the game for 68 years, I still am as interested in the game as I was in any of the other facets of the game I have been lucky enough to be involved with.

Enjoy your summer. The LORD willing, I hope to be back Blogging again next November.

Bob Cimbollek

The only basketball on the tube is the NBA (Not Basketball Anymore League). I have a suggestion that could eliminate some of these symptoms of basketball withdrawal.

AAU, MBR, Maine Athletic Association, MBNation, Maine Hoops and YBOA basketball are currently going full force on Saturdays and Sundays as teams from the elementary school, middle school and high school levels are getting ready for the state AAU tournament this weekend at the University of Southern Maine.

Teams that qualify for the national tournaments in July will continue with a tough schedule to get ready for nationals. Teams that don’t qualify still continue to play as the real objective for the players is to improve to get ready for the basketball season in 2013-14.

These weekend basketball events have been going on since early March and will run in May and June after the state AAU tourney and before high school summer basketball starts.

The basketball at this level is usually better than basketball during the high school season as in most cases they are all-star teams with players from different schools.

The basketball is also usually better because there are very few problems with “Helicopter Parents” hovering overhead to cause coaches the problems that some do about playing time, squad selections, and team strategy.

If parents don’t like the situation their player is in, then they can pull their player and try to find a more suitable situation or the coaches can refund their remaining money and drop the player from the team if they have problems such as attitude and attendance.

These programs are not the “Charmins Disease,” the soft generation that has infected today’s basketball. The phrase originated several years ago with an MBR.org poster named “Archer Bunker.” It’s an appropriate description of a parental problem many coaches face during the high school basketball season.

I like to call it “Soft Charmins.”  Some coaches have been victims of these complaints and then the athletic directors, principals and school boards are infected and do not rehire the coach.

Non-high school programs do not have to put up with what I call the “Four  Cardinal Rules,” that parents should never be allowed to break in public or private high schools.

Parents should not be allowed to contact any school personnel about: 1. playing time, 2. squad selection, 3. team strategy, and 4. the players. I never took a coaching or AD job unless I was guaranteed the support of the school’s AD, principal and school board.

The coaches in non-high school programs don’t have to deal with these potential problems and can concentrate on coaching.

I wonder how long it will be before these outside groups in many sports like basketball, softball, baseball, soccer, and hockey will replace middle school sports as budgets get stretched.

Once it starts in the middle school levels, how long will it be before they take the place of high school athletics?

If and when this does happen then the many schools which are currently just running high-priced athletic intramural programs by allowing parental interference, then can truly institute intramural  sports for their students and save money.

In the non-high school  leagues, players compete with better players in practices and games. This is what helps them improve and that improves the level of team play and overall play in the games.

You can now see this type of basketball on Saturdays and Sundays with games as far south as Saco and as far north as Bangor. Schedules are on the programs websites.

I work as an official at these games and the basketball is usually better than the level of play that I ref during the regular season. It’s easier to officiate because the better the level of play, the easier it is to do a good job and it’s more enjoyable.

The games will cure  your basketball withdrawal and the soft generation won’t be in attendance.

It is about the slowdown of the basketball season. Now that high school and college basketball is down and completed the only thing left on TV to watch as far as basketball is concerned is the NBA (Not Basketball Anymore) Play.

The only team I will watch on the tube is the San Antonio Spurs as they are now currently in 2nd place with the best win loss record in the NBA and will right now have the home court advantage until if they meet the Oklahoma Thunder in the playoffs.

Last year the Spurs had the home court advantage and after winning the first two games at home against the Thunder they then lost four straight including 2 at home to get ousted from the playoffs.

The Spurs have more basketball players who play more basketball as basketball players playing basketball then athletes that are playing basketball and relying on their athleticism then their pure basketball skills of making good decisions and playing the game above the shoulders and not below the shoulders as most of the other NBA Teams.

Also, the Spurs owner does not tolerate any head cases on the roster. If they make a mistake in drafting or trading they get rid of the mistake as soon as possible.

Their head Coach feels the same way and that is why I feel that they are the really only good role model of a team in the NBA.

The thing that the hurts the Spurs in the playoffs is their age and the fact that the games are in series not just one game and on to the next game as in the regular season.

In the best of 7 series in all rounds of the NBA Playoffs also matchups are more of a factor then in the regular season as you are playing teams in a series not just one game and on to the next.

Opponents of the Spurs have a tendency to be able to wear the Spurs down because their better players, Duncan, Parker and Janoblia are older players and that teams pick up their defensive pressure in the playoffs.

However, I have been a Spurs fan ever since Duncan signed with them out of Wake Forest.

THey are always one of the top teams in regular season play, but have not been able to achieve the success they had when Duncan, Parker and crew dominated the league with 4 NBA Championships.

Right now if they finish 2nd in the Western Conference behind the Thunder (but the second best won lost record in the entire league standings) they may get the depleted Lakers who have won two straight after Kobe Bryant went down with that Achilles injury.

Looks like the Spurs will have to get by the Thunder again this year in order to move onto the NBA Championship series.

It was on a Friday morning in December 1977, and I got a call from my College Basketball Officials Association assigner, asking me if I could fill in and do a Maine JV prelim game at the University of Maine that evening.

I agreed and I worked the game with Board 111′s current interpreter, Dave Ames. We worked the game and it was packed to capacity at the Memorial Gym’s famous “Pit.” It was the prelim game before the Boston University and UMaine varsity game.

Skip Chappelle was coaching at UMaine and Rick Pitino was coaching at Boston University.

I was just getting ready to leave the refs’ room when Stu Haskell, the athletic director at UMaine, stopped me to inform me that the varsity officials for the BU-Maine game had missed their flight and they had no officials for the varsity game.

He wanted me to stay and work the varsity game. I said with Dave? Stu answered there was a problem. Dave could not work the varsity game because he was employed by the University of Maine. That was against CBOA rules as BU also pointed out when it was suggested that Dave and I work the game.

Pitino and Chappelle joined the discussion and I asked Pitino, “When are you leaving to go back to Boston after the game?” He said, “Tomorrow around noontime.”

I quickly suggested that they should play the game the next day at noon and leave after the game. That way the original officials could get to work the game or I could get two CBOA Board 111 officials to do the game.

He did not want to do that, so we were in a big dilemma.

Haskell, knowing that I was the Eastern Maine IAABO Board 111 assigner for high school basketball officials at that time, asked me if there was a Board 111 official available that could work the game with me.

I said that because it was the opening night of high school basketball in the state, all the Board 111 high school officials that worked CBOA college games were already working. Haskell asked, “Are there any high school officials available then?” I said, “There was one that was not working that was capable of doing a college game and that I would call him.” I called, but the official was not home and I asked where I could reach him. They said he was at the BU-Maine basketball game at Orono.

I said, “Great, we will make an announcement for him to come to the officials’ room.”

The official, who will remain unnamed, came down and agreed to work the game, and both Pitino and Chappelle also agreed to have him work it with me.

Now here came another big problem. He had no equipment with him. He didn’t have time to go back home and get his equipment or have someone bring it to him as the game was already almost an hour beyond the starting time and the crowd was getting restless.

So he borrowed a whistle from me and borrowed Dave Ames’ shirt, pants and shoes. However, because he was a bit bigger than Ames, he was in an even tighter situation than having to ref the game with me. The shirt, pants and shoes were all too small, but he put them on anyway.

The first half went pretty smooth and BU had a slight lead at halftime. But at halftime we did have a problem. The other official had split the seat out of Ames’ pants and had blisters on his feet because of the size of his feet in the smaller shoes, two sizes too small. So I gave him a black T-shirt which he put under his pants to hide the split and then he put on his street shoes to take care of the foot problem.

In the second half the game got real nip and tuck with neither team getting a very big lead. The “Pit” was rocking so loud that the players could hardly hear the whistles, and a couple of times they just kept on playing after we had blown our whistles as hard as we could.

The game went right down to the final minute with Maine winning by a couple of points.

After the game Haskell told me that Pitino wanted to talk to me. He was very gracious in defeat after a very tough loss in a very tough situation. He told me, “I should have taken your suggestion.” I replied what suggestion was that? He jokingly said, “Your suggestion to play the game tomorrow at high noon.”

It was ironic that on last Tuesday, my BDN “Off the Rim” column was attached (literally connected) on the first page of the sports section to the very article about the Maine coaches’ connection to Pitino.

Even more ironic was on the fourth sports page of the continuation of both articles, Pitino’s name was above his column and mine was above my column, and his column was directly above my column and attached literally again to my article.

Now that was a real different Maine basketball connection to Pitino, both figuratively and literally speaking.

# point %
Louisville 60% on 8-16 Michigan 44% on 8-18

Foul Shooting %
Louisville 78% on 18-23 Michigan 72% on 18-25

Turnovers
Louisville 9 Michigan 12

Assists
Louisville 18 Michigan 12

Personal Fouls
Louisville 22 Michigan 15

Rebounds
Louisville Off 15 Def 16 Michigan Off 8 Def 18

Leading scorers
Lousiville Hancock 22, Siva 18, Behanan 15 Michigan Burke 24, Albrecht 17

Certainly Albrecht carried Michigan in the first half to a 12 point lead mid way through the first half with his outstanding play of 17 points as he filled in for Burke who had 2 fouls early in the game, one of which was on a three point attempt which was a very questionable call.

However, in the second half Michigan played Burke and Albrecht together for most of the 2nd half in which Albrecht did not score and only took 1 shot his first missed 3 of the tournament.

Playing both together, Michigan gave up size and quickness defensively and on the boards. Also, Burke never looked for Albrecht on his drives to the basket, so why was Spike in the lineup???????????

The second thing and probably the real reason they lost that really cost Michigan was their inability to keep Louisville off the offensive boards in the second half. After getting a several good defensive stops which hurried Louisville because of the shot clock with some missed shots they gave up way too many second chance opportunities which Lousiville took advantage of and really won the game for the Cardinals.

Louisville had 15 offensive boards to Michigans 7 and C. Behanan was the key as he had 8 and scored on at least 3 or 4 put backs at real crucial times.

Michigan defenders were more interested in turning to find the ball on the Lousiville shots then they were on finding their offensive man first and makeing sure to block them out so that Michigan could get the defensive boards and not give Louisville so many offensive boards and scoring put backs on missed teammates shots.

It is really deflating to get the successful defensive stops by having the offense miss the shot, but to give them as many second chance points as Michigan gave up especially in the second half of the second half is just to much to recover from when you go back on offense and then Michigan rushed their shots trying to get back into the game too quickly.

PLaying Albrecht with Burke and giving up so many second half points on putbacks was the demise of the Wolverines as the Cardinals flew right by them on their way to their 3rd National Title.

Tonite’s Cardinals opponent will be going for it second tile, as will Louisville whose only champiuonship came under Danny Crum and Michigans came under Steve Fisher.

Ironic that Kentucky is involved in this championship game as Indiana and Kentucky are considered by many experts as the high school hot bed for high school hoops in the entire country.

Both teams could easily have lost their semi-final games. Lousiville who had to come from 12 doemn to edge upstart and upset minded Witchita State.

Michigan had all they could handle with Syracuse.

It will be the Big Ten vs. the Big East Tonight.

Michigan handled the 2-3 zone of Syracuse’s even with their star pont guard Tyrone Burke hit only 1 for 7 from the floor. Tonight they will have to handle another 2-3 zone, but it will be different as it will be a 2-3 matchup zone quite alot different then Syracuses straight 2-3 zone.

Louisville will ceretainly have to have a better game from their start point guard Smith who in scoring 21 points in the win over Witchita did not relly shoot the ball very well.

So the key to the game will be which point guard plays his normal game running their teams and in their shooting abilities.

Michigan who plays in the toughest ranked conference in the country has less pressure on them as a 4 seed and a 10th national ranking before the tournament started compard to Louisville’s number 2 national ranking in the second ranked conference behind the Big Ten.

Michigan finished 5th in the Big Ten while Lousiville won both the Big East’s regular season and conference tournament.

All the pressure is on Louisville and without the injured Ware they will have to get the bench performances that they got in the semi’s.

I am going with Michigan as they are the decided underdogs and all the pressure is on Louisville and Pinto in his attempt to be the first coach to win an NCAA Championship at two different schools.

Michigan is the better shooting team and an excellent foul shooting team. They will rely more on their basketball skills then they will their athletic skills and Louisville will be just the opposite in that they will use their athletic skills more than their basic basketball skills.

MICHIGAN OVER LOUISVILLE by 12 points.