Dick Jerardi: Naismith didn't write it, so banish foul-out rule

I had been thinking about this for years, but it really struck me when I was watching the Feb. 4 Georgia Tech-Duke game. Tech star Gani Lawal got two fouls in the first 33 seconds. Terrific Tech freshman Derrick Favors got three pretty quick fouls.

The whole game changed when Lawal and Favors had to sit out significant minutes. Tech never got any rhythm. Whatever the plan had been was completely out the window.

Tech coach Paul Hewitt did not offer that as an excuse when his team was blown out. He was just being accountable. And he may very well have been right. Duke was just better and may have been better under any circumstance.

But I wondered again as I have wondered for years why basketball has a foul-out rule. No other major sport has a similar rule. No other major sport potentially eliminates or inhibits its best players by a rule like this.

So why does basketball? I have no clue.

There is no reference to it in Dr. James Naismith's 13 original rules. In fact, there were no foul shots back then. And the only references to fouls were in rules 5, 6, 7 and 10:

Rule 5. No shouldering, holding, pushing, tripping, or striking in any way of an opponent shall be allowed; the first infringement of this rule by any player shall count as a foul, the second shall disqualify him until the next goal is made, or, if there was evident intent to injure the person, for the whole of the game, no substitute allowed.

6. A foul is striking at the ball with the fist, violation of Rules 3, 4, and such as described in Rule 5.

7. If either side makes three consecutive fouls, it shall count as a goal for the opponents (consecutive means without the opponents in the meantime making a foul).

10. The umpire shall be judge of the men and shall note the fouls and notify the referee when three consecutive fouls have been made. He shall have power to disqualify men according to Rule 5.

Obviously, those rules needed to be modified. And they were over time. Eventually, we got the foul-out rule. It is long past time to get rid of it. As in the original rules, if there is some player trying to injure other players, just toss him out of the game.

Imagine the game without the foul-out rule. There would be no more games decided because one team's star player fouled out and the other team's did not. Coaches would not have to worry about a player getting two or three fouls in the first half. They could just use players based on situations and not an arbitrary foul-out rule.

If it becomes clear that the rule is being abused (say by having some no-talent player foul over and over again), create a rule that every individual foul beyond the fifth, the fouled team gets two free throws and the ball. That should eliminate the issue quickly.

Do I think this is going to happen? No. Do I think the powers that be are considering it? No. Should it happen? Yes.

If Cornell coach Steve Donahue gets a shot at some serious jobs after this season (as he should), he has some pretty strong evidence to refute any bias against the Ivy League.

There was this lazy knock against Ivy coaches that they might be able to win there, but could not get it done at the next level.

Exhibit A. John Thompson III at Georgetown. Exhibit B. Fran Dunphy at Temple.

The two coaches used to battle it out at Princeton and Penn. All JT III has done is make the Hoyas a regular in the rankings, an NCAA regular and a 2007 Final Four participant. Dunphy took a year to teach his brand of basketball at Temple. The Owls are now on their way to a third consecutive NCAA.

So, when Donahue goes in for those inevitable interviews, those are two pretty strong exhibits to take with him.

Love the Bracket Buster concept. A few weeks out from Selection Sunday, it gives the committee a serious look at some off-Broadway teams capable of serious NCAA damage.

There are competitive games all around the country this weekend, but two games to check out very closely: Friday, Old Dominion is at Northern Iowa; Saturday, in the marquee BB game, Siena is at Butler.

Any of these four teams is capable of winning an NCAA game. Siena and Butler are capable of making the Sweet 16.

Siena, Butler and UNI are probably already in the tournament. ODU is close. The results of these games might not change that part of the equation, but they could help the committee with seeding.

Drexel plays at Bradley on Saturday. The game won't have NCAA implications, but it is a serious test for Bruiser Flint's team as it gears up for the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament.

A few La Salle fans were unhappy with the officiating on Feb. 2 against Rhode Island at the Gola Arena. They were wondering aloud why Linda Bruno did not do something about it.

The former Atlantic 10 commissioner was actually in the house that night. But she hasn't been the commissioner since the end of the 2007-08 season. So, she really did not have much say about the situation.

I had no idea why Villanova's Randy Foye was getting so little playing time for the dreadful Wizards earlier this season. He was starting to get more run before Gilbert Arenas imploded. Now, Foye is getting serious time and putting up very nice numbers. In January, he averaged 14.6 points while shooting 47.1 percent and 92.9 percent from the foul line.

-- Is there a correlation between good shooting and winning? Consider that just three teams are shooting 50 percent or better. The combined record of Syracuse (52.2 percent), Murray State (51.1 percent) and Georgetown (50.6 percent) is 66-11.

-- In national stats through the weekend, No. 1 Kansas led the country in field-goal defense (Texas A & M shot just 34.9 percent in its Big Monday home loss to KU) and scoring margin, a real indicator of a team's dominance.

-- Villanova was No. 2 in scoring, ninth in free-throw percentage, seventh in free throws made and seventh in points per possession. Obviously, the free-throw line has been huge. In its two Big East losses, the 'Cats have been outscored from the foul line by 41 points. That is not coincidental to the losses.

-- The Big East has become an offense-first league. Four of the top 11 scoring teams are from the league - Villanova, Providence, Seton Hall and Syracuse.

-- Lafayette's Jim Mower (St. Joseph's Prep) shoots 46.6 percent from the arc, fifth nationally.

-- Hartford's Joe Zeglinski (Archbishop Ryan) makes 3.4 threes per game, fourth nationally.

-- Everybody knows Kansas has the nation's longest current home winning streak (56 and counting). Who knew Siena was No. 2? Now you know. The Saints have won 34 straight at home.

-- Cornell's Ryan Wittman has 1,858 points, good for seventh all-time in the Ivy. With six regular-season games left, he is going to need a nice push (and maybe an NCAA win) to become the fifth league player to score 2,000 points. The all-time leader? Princeton legend Bill Bradley (2,503 points in three seasons).

-- The Big East had the most players (55) on opening day NBA rosters, followed by the Atlantic Coast Conference (53), Pac-10 (50), Southeastern Conference (39), Big 12 (35) and Big Ten (33). The Pac-10 had 13 players drafted in the first round the last 2 years, which partially explains why the league is so far down this season.

-- Proving that the Princeton offense lives on the West Coast, Oregon State had 20 assists on 21 field goals against Oregon.