Auburn-Florida NCAA semifinal game

[Zorro]

It looked like I was watching a hockey match.

When did college basketball get so physical?

[House of Roberts]

1. To answer your question,

college basketball switched from a game of grace and agility to basic thugball, when Shaquille O'Neal began playing.
All it took to beat him was to foul him so he'd have to shoot foul shots and he couldn't throw the ball off the middle of a bridge into the river. Referees in the SEC quit calling fouls against him. He'd catch the ball, turn and dunk, and four other players would hit the floor. No whistle. Pretty soon it spread to all the games in the SEC, then pretty much elsewhere as well.
Used to be an offensive player couldn't knock a defender backwards to get clear to shoot. Now it's SOP.

[Zorro]

2. Thanks for the answer

I remember when Shaq played for LSU. He was a tank.

The Auburn-Florida game seemed more of a combination hockey/wrestling match. Guess I'm just getting too old.

[unc70]

4. It seemed rough even by SEC standards

[AZProgressive]

5. I'm not sure it started with Shaq

The Pistons were a very physical team in the 80s and in the 90s there seemed to be an unwritten rule that you couldn't drive to the basket without being clotheslined or they made you earn the points from the free throw line.

I remember the Indiana-Lakers NBA finals. The refs definitely called fouls but Shaq was so unstoppable the only thing they could do was foul. Even in that case Shaq seemed to do better with free throws the more he was fouled.

[ITAL]

7. Celtics and Lakers were super physical against each other too

Basketball has always had the potential to have a rough edge to it.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

3. Kimmel had Florida in the office pool.

Very happy for him. He deserves a win.

[Deuxcents]

6. I thought it was an exciting game..glad my sister called to remind me it on was