JuJu Watkins fouled out on a play coaches should teach to all players

The USC Trojans lost to the Colorado Buffaloes on Sunday for several reasons, not just one. However, their chances obviously took a hit when superstar JuJu Watkins fouled out with 5:50 left in the game. USC had to play nearly the last six minutes without its best player in a tight game, on the road, against a top-10 opponent. That’s a tough task. The Trojans almost pulled it off, but not quite. If they had JuJu, they wouldn’t have been guaranteed to win, but their odds would have been better for sure.

The play on which JuJu Watkins fouled out is the kind of play which could be discussed in a classroom setting for half an hour. There are so many details and lessons to take away from the play. Fans will have their own opinions on the play. USC fans probably think it was a bad call. Colorado fans probably thought it was a great play by CU’s Jaylyn Sherrod to draw the foul.

It’s a lot more complicated than that.

Let’s look at the play first so we can then discuss it:

JuJu Watkins (NPOY candidate) just fouled on THIS charge call.

“Taking a charge” is the worst rule in all of sports. Ban it pic.twitter.com/zMv7tWZIlL

— Future Of The Retro (@TraeK_) January 21, 2024

What do you see here? You see Watkins knocking over Sherrod. Charge, right? That’s what the ref called. However, in order for a charge (a player control foul, to use technical jargon) to exist, the defender must allow the receiver of a pass to come down on both feet and possession of the ball. The defender cannot undercut or crowd the receiver of the pass. If you look at the replay (the second look) of the sequence, Sherrod didn’t do that. So, it was a bad call and it wasn’t necessarily a sound basketball play by Sherrod. Yet, it’s not that simple.

I have officiated basketball, albeit at the high school level and not college. I have seen this play before. In many cases, the player who catches a pass in the middle of the floor and then immediately turns and sees a defender travels with the ball. JuJu Watkins didn’t do that here, but any college-level referee has officiated so many basketball games that s/he has seen this play before. While the call was not correct, officials have such a large memory bank in terms of sequences that they often have an instinct to make a certain kind of call on a certain kind of play. Usually, this kind of play leads to a turnover, so the instinct on the part of the official here might have been to call the charge. I’m not defending…