Maryland just got a technical foul for dunking too hard

Maryland’s Jake Layman was penalized for dunking too hard. He was assessed a technical foul for this:

To be fair, it wasn’t a full technical foul -- the rulebook calls for a “Class B” technical foul for rim-hanging, meaning Kansas only got one free throw and Layman would need to pick up two more to get ejected -- but it was still a pretty upsetting call. All Layman did was dunk while running fast and hold onto the rim until he could safely let go. And yet he was penalized under a rule meant to outlaw showboating.

Here is the official wording of the rule against hanging on the rim:

”A technical foul shall be assessed to a player or a substitute for...Grasping either basket in an excessive, emphatic manner during the officials’ jurisdiction when the player is not, in the judgment of an official, trying to prevent an obvious injury to self or others.“Is what Layman did “excessive” or “emphatic?” Isn’t it kinda obvious that if he did let go, he might’ve fallen off the rim at an unseemly angle that might’ve resulted in him falling on his back or neck? Isn’t it generally a bad idea to fall from 10 feet onto your back or neck?

Even if you do think the NCAA needs a law against rim-hanging dunks to prevent showboating -- personally, I think players should showboat whenever, but, I’m probably in the minority -- Layman’s dunk pretty clearly didn’t fit the definition of what should be a technical foul, but referees are rather conditioned to call a tech for any sort of rim hanging.

This wasn’t the only bad call on the possession -- Layman pretty obviously should have been called for a double dribble.

Kansas missed the ensuing free throw, so there was no harm on the technical foul. But hopefully college basketball players won’t continue to get penalized simply for protecting themselves while dunking with momentum.