[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by Rich

I take the jump ball as seriously as I can for an event that simply puts the ball in play and (usually) happens only once. Not very.

Originally Posted by BillyMac

Now, once a game, the tallest players on each team square off against each other, the referee tries to make a decent toss, and the umpire just hopes that nothing "weird" happens because many of us, including me, don't know the jump balls rules as well as we knew them years ago. That's why we have the various myths, like "Hold your spots". I haven't seen a tough jump ball question on an IAABO Refresher Exam in years, that's gotta tell you something.

Originally Posted by BillyMac

Ever since the introduction of the alternating possession arrow, it has been my contention that many otherwise extremely competent officials either don't fully understand and memorize all the many jump ball rules and restrictions, and/or it's difficult to watch for all the many violations and many restrictions that can occur during the jump ball, especially in a two person game. And we only get to observe various jump ball situations once (usually) a game. As the umpire in a two person game, I'm watching for common violations, jumpers tapping the ball on the way up, jumpers catching the ball, or jumpers touching the ball more than twice, before the jump ball ends (touched ball contacts one of the eight nonjumpers, an official, or the floor). I'll also watch for the ball hitting the floor without being touched by at least one of the jumpers. Unless one of the nonjumpers does something really weird, I'm probably not going to observe any non-really-weird violations from them. To avoid some nonjumper violations, as the umpire (or the referee) prejump, I will warn nonjumpers standing within three feet of the jump ball circle not to stand three feet directly behind anybody. To my point of otherwise extremely competent officials not fully understanding and memorizing all the many jump ball rules and restrictions, several times a year I hear otherwise extremely competent (state tournament late round) varsity officials saying, prejump, "Hold your spots" to all eight nonjumpers, or, "You can't stand behind him”, to a player who is directly behind an opponent, both whom are ten feet off the jump ball circle. The jump ball is archaic, some jump ball rules are poorly memorized/understood and/or poorly enforced, and we should start games with some other method.

Originally Posted by so cal lurker

Having a very tall center, my son's 8th grade team runs a play on jump balls with a player cutting to get to an open space for a long tip. The player does not line up on the circle, but stays at 5-10' off the circle. They've had a lot of success on this. In a recent game, however, a referee called a violation, ruling that he was not allowed to move until the ball was tipped. That's wrong, isn't it? I'm not too worried about a one-off mis-call, but if we're teaching a play that is properly a violation, we should change it.