All the touch fouls that are being called. Are they influencing the use of zone?
I'd suggest you're trying too hard to see something, or make a connection, that's not there. You're suggesting all refs officiate the same way, or call fouls for the same reasons? Or that all coaches play zone defense for the same reason? Either way, since I don't get ESPN, I can't really say I've seen what you're talking about this year. But I can tell you, from years of officiating, this: about 20-odd years ago, the philosophy entered basketball, generally everywhere, that the "defense must be allowed to play, too."
Now, in the short term, it took a while for officials to incorporate that into their game. While this was building in, it led to a lot of rough play and inconsistent officiating. And really, much of basketball in North America was more physical in part because of this. Today (the last few years, actually), however, the pendulum is swinging back the other way, with more of a "get the hands off the cutters," and "protect the shooter" focus. And a three man crew sees a
lot more than the old two-man style we all grew up with.
Also consider that what you see on TV, or from a few rows up in the gym, is quite different from what the refs see at eye-level.
In a quiet gym you can handle a lot with your voice, especially off-ball. But in a large, loud and crowded gym, all you can really do is call the fouls because that's really the only thing the players/coaches will respond to. Unfortunately, every time the "pendulum swings" it does lead to inconsistency. Change takes time, and a lot of coaches who don't like to change or adjust, don't coach players into incorporating the same mindset in their game. You get a lot of players, then, who think it was just a bad call, or that the ref guessed wrong, and it's not their problem, it just "bad refs."
