College hoops is closing in on perfection

A good review challenge system is the last big step

The bad times are almost over (Photo credit: Associated Press)

Arsenal Football Club have had a challenging 2024-25 campaign. Extended injuries to key players pervaded. Questionable refereeing decisions killed early season momentum. A long-shot run to the Champions League semifinal was glorious, sure — two wins over Real Madrid are about as good as it gets — but the mental prioritization of that competition, and the physical exertions of a short squad, came at the expense of even a nominal league title challenge. And then Arsenal lost that Champions League semifinal anyway, if narrowly, to PSG.

The season wasn’t a total disaster, especially compared to where the club was just a few years ago. But it was an immensely frustrating exercise for fans, not least because the solution to much of the frustration seemed self-evident: Arsenal needed a striker. To take that last step, to turn 1-1 draws into 3-1 wins, the Gunners required a proven, high-volume, plus-XG goalscorer, a player worthy of the team’s nickname. It was just that simple.

It is rare to have a problem with such a straightforward, glaring, immediately impactful fix — a big red button you can push to transform a once-challenged, already excellent institution into something sublime. And yet it is also true of college basketball, where an already thriving sport seems very likely to fix perhaps its only meaningful flaw as soon as the start of next season.

That’s right: Video reviews are — probably, finally — getting fixed.

On Friday, NCAA director of media coordination/statistics (and unofficial, unsung person who makes the NCAA Tournament happen and also total gentleman) David Worlock posted a relatively nondescript tweet. The text: “Men’s Basketball Rules Committee proposes changes to enhance the flow of the game.” Perhaps this is why we aren’t employed as a media relations professional, but our tweet would have been written in all caps, with at least a dozen exclamation marks, leading with the all-important rules change at issue here: HEY YOU GUYS YOU KNOW HOW YOU’RE ALWAYS WHINING ABOUT CHALLENGES WELL HEY CHECK THIS IS OUT IT’S GOING TO BE WAY BETTER. Something like that.