Quote:
Originally posted by Jurassic Referee
Quote:
Originally posted by Camron Rust
A foot on the sideline only has one effect: that player does not have legal guarding position. That player may still be the victim of a player control foul. All they lose by stepping on the line is the right to be moving laterally or obliquely and the right to verticality. A stationary player without LGP can still be fouled.
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The NFHS doesn't agree with you, Cameron.
See Situation 7(a) of the Rules Interpretations on their website:
http://www.nfhs.org/sports/basketball_interp.htm
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Actually, I think they do. In situation 7 that you reference, it is strongly implied that B1 is moving.
"There is no contact by A1 while B1 has both feet on the playing court. B1 stays the path of A1 but in doing so has (a) one foot touching the out-of-bounds boundary line when A1 contacts B1 in the torso".
For B1 to have LGP by having both feet inbounds and then stay in the path such that one foot is out implies movement.
B1 is moving and loses LGP when they step on the line. Thus, it's an automatic block for being in motion when contact occurs. It doesn't matter which direction B1 is moving. However, if B1 were stationary, it is possible to draw a foul in absence of LGP. The casebook has several cases on this topic.
The crux of the entire issue is legal guarding position. Rule 4-23 is the definition of LGP. The only fouls that are impacted are those that depend on LGP. For any foul that does not depend on LGP, the rule is unchanged...not an automatic block simply based on location. If you look at the "Further Clarified page", it repeatedly reinforces that LGP is the issue
"In order for a player to establish legal guarding position both feet must be touching the playing court (in bounds)."
"In order to maintain legal guarding position, the guard must have in-bounds status"
"Understanding that the defensive player must have in-bounds status to maintain legal guarding position should help alleviate any confusion."
Consider this case: B1 standing by the sideline talking to his coach. B1 has one foot on the line. A1, seeing this, dribble across the court towards a lone B1 and deliberately plows over B1. You can't tell me that you're going to call a blocking foul on B1. That is a PC foul at a minimum and possibly an intentional foul.
[Edited by Camron Rust on Jan 26th, 2004 at 06:16 PM]