During a radio broadcast of an SEC Tournament game a week ago, I heard one of the coaches in the background complaining that the foul count was at 6-0 – and not in his team’s favor.

It’s a lament I’ve heard many, many times.

In my 12 years as the sports information director at UCCS, I was the official statistician for an average of 25 college basketball games a year. I was also the official statistician for seven Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference tournaments, which consisted of seven men’s and seven women’s games each. I also attended many of UCCS’ road games.

That’s a lot of college basketball.

In almost every one of those games, one or both coaches complained loudly about the foul count.

What I came to understand was that this is a strategy.

Mike Dunlap, who was then the coach of the Metro State men’s basketball team, was the finest coach I ever saw. He would go on to coach at four NCAA Division I schools and three NBA teams.

Much of Dunlap’s success at Metro State could be attributed to his team’s frenetic, full-court trapping defense. It was fast. It was suffocating.

It also involved a lot of grabbing and slapping.

That meant the foul count was always 4-0, 5-0 and 6-0 against his Roadrunners. His teams accumulated fouls early and often – not because the referees were against them, but because they were incessantly fouling.

Referees have a highly developed sense of fairness. That’s why they became referees in the first place. They want things to be even, because that seems the most fair.

I overheard many refs observe with satisfaction that the foul count was reasonably even at the end of a game.

And that’s why the strategy worked.

Once behind in the foul count, the Roadrunners could slap and grab with impunity because the referees would be reluctant to call a foul on them until the count was more even. It gave them a huge advantage at the end of halves and games.

I dubbed it “goon ball.”

I suggested to our coaches that they put in a substitute whose whole job would be to collect four quick fouls to even the count a bit in order to neuter goon ball.

They never followed my advice. In Dunlap’s nine seasons at Metro State, he faced UCCS 13 times. Metro State won every one of those games.

His had similar success against other schools. His record at Metro State was 248-50. The Roadrunners won the NCAA Division II national championship in 2000 and 2002.

The game has opened up over the past decade, making the slapping and grabbing more obvious. Goon ball has gone from a dominant strategy to a niche one.

But you’ll still see it on occasion during March Madness (which should be a national holiday, in my opinion). When you hear anyone mention the foul count, it’s likely going against the more aggressive team. But the count will most likely even out by the end to the aggressive team’s benefit.

When I see it, I’ll think of Mike Dunlap.