The NCAA’s adoption of a shorter shot clock has had an unintended side effect.
Shaving five seconds off each possession has led to more scoring, but it also illuminated a recent trend: the increase of fouls.
Team Fouls
Arkansas led the SEC with 21.3 fouls committed per conference game*. The only other team to average more than 21 is Kentucky (21.1).
To view a team-by-team breakdown of fouls committed and fouls drawn in SEC play, as well as a game-by-game and referee-by-referee breakdown on fouls, https://docs.google…">click here.
*These stats, and those included in the story, are based on conference games only in order to eliminate variable, such as differing non-conference schedules.
Nowhere is that trend more apparent than in the Southeastern Conference.
In 126 SEC games this season, officials called 5,015 fouls. That is an average of 39.8 per game, which led all Power Five conferences.
The Pac-12 (39.26) and Big 12 (39.19) were close behind the SEC, while the Big Ten (35.79) and ACC (35.52) averaged more than four fewer fouls per game.
The foul total in the SEC was also an increase of 8.8 percent from the previous season, when there were 36.6 fouls per game.
However, much of that increase can be attributed to the 30-second shot clock.
Using Ken Pomeroy’s formula, SEC teams averaged 70 possessions per game during conference play, up 8.1 percent.
When factoring in pace, fouls went from occurring every 3.54 plays to every 3.51 plays, a negligible difference.
Still, with a foul nearly every minute of game time, fans and media members complained on Twitter and message boards.
The complaints may seem unfounded based on last year’s numbers, but appear credible over a six-year period.
Fouls were called every 4.02 plays in SEC play during the 2010 SEC season, but have steadily become more frequent in the six seasons since. They were called 12.7 percent more frequent this season than in 2010.
Compared to the four years prior to that, when fouls remained relatively constant, that is a large jump.
From 2007-2010, SEC games averaged one foul every 3.96 plays and that number never varied more than 2 percent either way from year to year.
The SEC is calling fouls at a much higher rate than the NBA, which, as of March 25, has a foul called every 4.73 possessions. If that rate were the same in the SEC, there would have been 10 fewer fouls called per game.
Another common complaint is that certain officials seem to call more fouls than others.
Two names brought up often are Karl Hess and Pat Adams and the data seems to support their reputation.
Among 28 referees who worked at least six SEC conference games, they rank second and third, respectively, in fouls called per game.
In 19 games that featured Hess as an official, an average of 43.95 fouls were called. Adams’ 16 games averaged 43.63 fouls.
Lee Cassell is the only man who was a part of games with more fouls. His 12 games averaged a staggering 45.5 fouls.
At least one of those three officials worked eight of the 11 SEC games with 50-plus fouls, but it was the three-man crew of Roger Ayers, Tim Gattis and Mark Whitehead that called the Jan. 26 Mississippi State-South Carolina game that had a season-high 57.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, the 16 games that Anthony Jordan was a part of averaged just 36.44 fouls.
Jordan, along with Tony Greene and Antinio Petty, was a part of the crew that called only 23 fouls during the Texas A&M-Vanderbilt game on Feb. 4.
Most people also recognize Ted Valentine’s name. Nicknamed “TV Teddy,” Valentine worked four SEC conference games in 2016 and those games saw only 35.75 fouls.