[BillyMac]

It just dawned on me what old timers like Mark T. DeNucci, Sr. and Nevaderef are referring to when they talked about pre-1985, pre-alternating possession arrow, ancient times, and why these situations may be confusing for some of us, and controversial for others.

Let's take a close look at a very simple jump ball situation: During the jump ball between A1 and B1 to start the first quarter, A1 and B1 both simultaneously tap the ball out of bounds.

Pre-1985, pre-alternating possession arrow, this is how we would have handled it. Jumpers A1 and B1 would be "designated" (no replacement or substitute allowed) to re-jump in the closest of three jump ball circles.

This would be handled as any other situation where the ball simultaneously went out of bounds off of any two players (even in non-jump situations). The two players who simultaneously touched a ball that went out of bounds would be "designated" (no replacement or substitute allowed) to jump in the closest of three jump ball circles.

Back then, not every jump ball situation resulted in "designated jumpers" (i.e., ball lodged between flange and backboard), but many did, including some of the situations that we've been discussing in this thread.

Now post-1985, post-alternating possession arrow, we use the alternating possession arrow instead of real jump balls in situations where there would have been real jump balls previously to the 1985 alternating possession arrow, except jump balls to start the game, or the overtime(s).

In 1985 when the NFHS Rules Committee adopted the alternating possession arrow for all (previous) jump ball or held‐ball situations except the start of the game and each extra period, they appear to have failed to change all the language to fully cover all situations that could possibly lead to a pre-1985, pre-alternating possession arrow, real jump ball (many with "designated jumpers").

Did the NFHS intentionally leave out many "designated jumper" situations, thus allowing replacement or substitute jumpers, or was it a mistake?