On the other hand, basketball was designed as a finesse game. It's not supposed to be freakin' rugby. If the game were officiated according to the rules, muscles wouldn't matter. Go back and look at teams--ALL teams, not just Iowa--from 20 or more years ago. They were long and lean. The guys with bulging biceps were, by far, the minority.
But coaching philosophies changed with the insane expansion of weight lifting in all sports, and that has dramatically altered the game of basketball for the worse.
Just because you outweigh me by 50 or more pounds is not supposed to give you the right to knock me off my spot on the floor. "Backing a defender down" is nothing but an offensive foul every damn time. It is illegal according to the rules of the game that are still on the books. And yet here we are.
Look at Iowa's undefeated 1970 Big Ten champs that averaged over 100 points a game and featured two all-Americans and future NBA stars in John Johnson and Fred Brown. They couldn't play today because they were too skinny. And if you think Patrick McCaffrey is too skinny, check out another NBA draft selection from that same Iowa team, Glen Vidnovic.
Look at Ronnie Lester and company, Iowa's last Final Four team from 1980. There are no sculpted bodies on that team, but there sure as heck were some tremendous basketball players.
Stop the weight lifting. Stop the evolution of basketball into indoor rugby (traveling is seldom called; carrying the ball is the rule, not the exception; and thuggery is preferred over finesse). IT'S NOT SUPPOSED TO BE A CONTACT SPORT! My gawd, people. This is insane.
