John Calipari makes case for challenges in college basketball

In just about any level of football, coaches are able to challenge various plays in a game.

Usually, it’s something like a catch, fumble or yard-line reached, but basketball has yet to adopt a similar rule. Whatever a referee calls is the final say in almost every case with the exception of some plays being reviewable, though a coach cannot initiate any kind of review.

John Calipari is hoping to change that. This week at the SEC meetings in Florida, Calipari gave his pitch for coaches being able to challenge calls in basketball.

“I challenge that call, and then they’ve got to go to the monitor and check it out,” Calipari told SEC Country. “If you’re wrong you lose your timeout.

“That was one of the things I thought we need to explore more. Why not being the first college league that does the replay, now be the first college league to challenge calls.”

It’s reasonable pitch, especially after the debacle of officiating in this year’s NCAA Tournament. Unfortunately for Calipari, Georgia head coach Mark Fox is member of the NCAA rules committee, and he doesn’t foresee this even being a real talking point.

“That doesn’t have a lot traction,” Fox said. “Matter of fact it has none. It’s not something we’re considering.

“We’re not throwing out the red flag to challenge.”

Oh well.