Quote:
Originally Posted by so cal lurker
If we got rid of the possession arrow, and went back to jump balls the way God intended, then the refs would know these rules!
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Agree.
Back in ancient times every official knew all the permutations of the jump ball rules, before the toss, after the toss, jumpers, nonjumpers on the circle, non jumpers off the circle, backwards, forwards, inside out, and upside down. Officials had to know these jump ball restrictions because in a some games you could have dozens of jump balls, in three different jump ball circles, in addition to the jump ball to start the game, each period, and any overtime.
Officials, players, and coaches all knew the jump ball rules, some coaches even had different jump ball plays for each of the three jump ball circles depending on whether one expected to win or lose the jump ball.
Now that we average 1.02 jump balls per game, many officials (players and coaches) don't know the rules as well as we knew them back in ancient times.
The alternating possession arrow was invented by some genius for a good reason, so let's get rid of all jump balls, give the ball to the visitors to start the game, and use the possession arrow for the rest of the game, including overtimes.
Mark T. DeNucci, Sr. only wants to keep jump balls because he actually gave the idea for jump balls to his best friend, Jimmy Naismith, back 1891. It's true. It's true.