When a foul isn't just a foul, but a field-leveler

Thought you'd like this, from the Nov. 19 Sporting News Today:

"A study co-authored by a professor in Indiana examined 365 major conference games played during the 2004-05 men's basketball season found a clear pattern of an increased probability of a foul on the team with fewer fouls, the visiting team and the team that is leading.

"'We had suspected that, having played and watched basketball,' Kyle J. Anderson, a visiting assistant professor of business economics at Kelley-Indianapolis, said. 'But once we started to run the data, I think the magnitude of the effect was much more than we had ever anticipated. We thought that this was going to be a very small effect.'

"Their study found that if a home team is trailing in the foul count by five fouls, 69 percent of the time the next foul goes on the visitors. The effect steadily increases as the disparity grows."

Looks like Deadspin has a lengthier story on it: http://deadspin.com/5407674/study-college-basketball-refs-suck-too.