Former Northwestern Guard Has Funny Reaction to NCAA Rule Change

During the 2024-25 men's college basketball season, there were two words you heard more than any other walking out of Welsh-Ryan Arena after a Northwestern loss: "ref show." The validity of those claims is obviously up for debate, but the Northwestern faithful were upset with Big Ten referees essentially all season.
There was the weird goaltending situation at the end of the Penn State game (this one was truly inexplicably bad and fans deserve to be thrown that bone). There was the questionable no-call on the Martinelli drive at the end of the UCLA game.
And then there was the Jalen Leach ejection on the road against Michigan. Leach, Northwestern's transfer starting PG, was called for a Flagrant II foul after making contact with the groin area of Michigan's Vladislav Goldin.
At the time, Northwestern was still in the game in the middle of the second half, and Leach was leading all scorers with 19 points. His departure sunk the Wildcats' chances for a precious road win in the Big Ten.
The contact seemed incidental, so fans were frustrated. But under last season's rules, officials only had the power to deem contact to the groin as a common foul or a Flagrant II. Now, the NCAA has changed the rule to give refs the option to call a Flagrant I, which would not kick a player out of the ballgame.
College basketball insider John Fanta reported this news on X, and Leach quoted it with a funny response.
šš½ https://t.co/ODJPYkqk1U
ā Jalen Leach (@JalenL30) June 10, 2025
This additional option should allow refs to make a more fair judgement as to how intentional or brutal the contact really was. There needed to be a happy medium between a common foul and an ejection.
Unfortunately for Northwestern fans, the NCAA can't travel back in time and let Leach play out the game against Michigan. Who knows what may have happened if he had, but it was plays like that one that led to this rule change.
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