[blindzebra]

Originally posted by rainmaker

Come on, BZ, this has been an excellent discussion with no personal attacks so far. Let's keep it that way.

My question to you would be, the definition of player control. If the dribbler pushes the ball forward and then takes several steps without touching the ball, but could still dribble again at any point if she chose to, does she still have player control? Is that a different scenario from the one where the dribbler pushes the ball forward, and then steps around the defender? In this second case, the "dribbler" could not decide at any moment to continue the dribble. THe defender's body is in the way, thus the dribble could be considered interrupted, albeit an "intentional" interruption. At the point where the defender is between the dribbler and the ball, does the dribbler have player control? I'm not asking this to be a smart-aleck, I'm just not sure what the various issues are here.

Before you accuse me of lowering this discussion read all of his responses to me. I only gave what I got.

An interrupted dribble is the loss of control of the dribble. That is the intent of the rule. The ball is not doing what the dribbler intended it to do.

We all know it when we see it. If the ball is going where the dribbler intended, i.e. past the defender, it is not yet an interrupted dribble, and I'm calling the violation when they step out BEFORE it becomes an interrupted dribble.

This play is no different then a crossover dribble where the direction of the bounce forces the dribbler to change their path to continue the dribble.

I've said it several times, if you use the definition literally EVERY dribble is an interrupted dribble, because all dribbles get away from the dribbler. The interrupted dribble is not caused by where the ball went to the floor, it's where it comes back up that makes it a dribble or an ID.