UNC's Williams says college basketball is 'hand-to-hand combat'

North Carolina

UNC's Williams says college basketball is 'hand-to-hand combat'

Roy Williams works the bench during the UNC vs Gardner-Webb game Monday, November 23, 2009. Photo by Todd Melet

By Dane Huffman

Jan 11, 2010

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Just watch a college basketball game now and you’ll see all the pushing and banging and physical play you need.

And that concerns North Carolina coach Roy Williams.

“There’s no question the game has gotten way too physical,” said Williams Monday. Williams spent six years on the Rules Committee arguing that point. He said “the easiest way” to reduce some of the physical play “is to call more fouls.”

“The game of basketball is supposed to be a finesse game,” Williams said.

Williams prefers that style, with an up and down tempo, to the current style and said today’s game is much different than 20 years ago.

“It’s hand-to-hand combat now,” he said. “It wasn’t anything like that at that point.”

Williams said the changes have happened over time, with no one time when it all changed.

“It’s been a gradual thing. It’s like palming the ball,” he said. “Twenty, 25 years ago people didn’t do it and people got more lax and more lax and more lax. You can’t get it back now.”

Maryland coach Gary Williams, a former guard for the Terps, said the game is “180 degrees” different from when he played.

“We thought we were really physical and I’ve seen some old film when I played,” he said. “We weren’t very physical and we were all skinny.”

But how do you change that? The Terps’ Williams isn’t sure.

“Players are bigger, quicker,” he said. “It’s a very difficult sport to referee now because of that. I don’t know what you do, to tell you the truth. If you called every foul it wouldn’t be a good game, either.

“In basketball, there are some rewards for teams that are physical, there’s no doubt about it. But I don’t know what you do about it, unless you make the court bigger.”

Most Recent Comments

RE: UNC's Williams says college basketball is 'hand-to-hand combat'

So... last year when the traveller was on his team hacking everyone it was OK. This year its somehow different?

RE: UNC's Williams says college basketball is 'hand-to-hand combat'

Guess which team, by far, took shot free throws than any other team in the conference? UNC took 983 FTs last season, Virginia finished last, taking just 543. That's quite the discrepancy. Things aren't going Roy's way this season so he's got to whine.

RE: UNC's Williams says college basketball is 'hand-to-hand combat'

All the other dogs see is Roy's rear-end....Yeah, right. That's why "Dook" and Coach K have won more games this past decade than ANY other NCAA Div I program, and 7 out of 10 ACC Titles. And as far as Hansbrough, he flopped and did the windmill, backward academy award-winning act so much his first 2 years, that by his last year, other "bigs" figured the refs were going to bail him out, so they were going to "get their money's worth" and make sure he didn't get the basket AND go to the line.

RE: UNC's Williams says college basketball is 'hand-to-hand combat'

ROy and hand and to hand combat???? how about get off your azz and unfold your arms and do sum coaching during the game before any kind of combat is attempted....."coach of the decade" hehehe

RE: UNC's Williams says college basketball is 'hand-to-hand combat'

love the BIG EAST for the reasons this article talks about, they let them play. I can deal with the more physical game maybe the refs should focus more on all the extra steps these players take

And by the way when he gets 2 back to back then he is officially a BIG DOG

WRAL Sports Fan

North Carolina