#BanTheCharge is a stupid idea

There is a large contingent of college basketball Twitter that is done with the charge call. The #Banthecharge movement comes up every time a major game features a referee desperate for some camera time.

Snow was wrong about that particular play, King had played excellent defense until Happ hit the ol’ truck stick, and the idea in general. The charge serves an excellent purpose in basketball, and it needs to be retained.

For starters, the charge does get applied poorly, anyone who saw Xavier’s NCAA dreams end against Villanova knows that. There are a million refs looking to get themselves into a highlight film by doing a little hope step and then pointing the other way. Eliminating the charge would get rid of the ridiculous slide over, the run toward slide under, and other variants of the secondary defender looking to flop. That would be good.

Imagine a world without the charge though. Picture Quentin Goodin on a run out with a defender in position. Rather than making a basketball move, Q just plows him over like a running back and lays it in. Sounds good going for Xavier, but much less if that’s Myles Powell plowing over Ryan Welage. In another chargeless scenario, Tyrique Jones catches the ball with his back to the basket and just butts him under the basket until a dunk is simply a matter of jumping. Were Tyrique not possessed of the patience to do that, he could simply flatten the defender with one bull rush and be done. That isn’t basketball at all, nor should it be.

The proliferation of high energy, high impact, look at me charge calls is clearly an issue in college basketball, as is the secondary defender sliding over at the last second and then collapsing like a cardboard shed in a high breeze. The desire to eliminate that shouldn’t turn basketball into a sport that resembles football. #Banthecharge is a fun hashtag, but it’s not an idea that works for college basketball.