Andy Kennedy's Idea Would Fundamentally Change Basketball - For The Worse

One-time NC State player and current Ole Miss coach Andy Kennedy revives an old idea: not fouling players out.

After the fifth foul, Kennedy would like to treat each subsequent foul like a technical: two foul shots and the ball out of bounds to the other team.

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We can see why he likes that idea, but two things seem inevitable: first, the deterrent value of fouls would be forever gone and the game would fundamentally change.

And second, based on the Big East experiment with six fouls, one can reasonably expect that Kennedy's proposal would lead to a much more physical game. You can easily imagine that a guy like, oh say Shaq, who was physically overwhelming but couldn't hit the broad side of a barn, would be fouled endlessly.

At that point, an out-of-bounds play is just a mild gamble compared to O'Neill with the ball close to the basket.