Quote:
Originally posted by bebanovich
In another thread, there was a discussion of the system my team uses that requires substition of 5 fresh players every minute or so to maintain an extreme pace. Much to my chagrin,  a few posters (wisely) stated that, if they were the opponent, they would request a defensive match-up whenever we subbed.
My first response is to wince whenever I hear mention of this rule, but I decided to take a closer look at it first before I dare not speak its name again.
A coach running the same system in college sent me what I presume is a direct quote from his rule book:
"When 3 or more substitutes for the same team enter the game, an official may honor a request by the opposing captain to aid it in locating the entering players."
This raises serveral questions for me:
1) Is this also how the rule is worded for high school?
2) Does timid language such as "official may honor" and captain may "request" make this rule as discretionary as it first appears to the lesser trained eyes of a coach?
3) If this is truly discretionary, what criteria would you use to decide whether to "honor a request?" Would you grant this request every minute for the whole game? Why / why not?
Now is probably a good time to confess the sin of not having a rule book in my possession (my A.D. can't find my new one and I tossed my old ones).
My fingers are crossed in anticipation of your responses.
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NFHS R3-S3-A1e: A captain may request a defensive match-up if there are three or more subsitutes from the same team during an opportunity to substitute.
That means that either captain may request a match-up when either team substitutes three or more players during an opportunity to substitute.
With respect to NCAA rules. There is not rule or A.R. that addresses this situation but the college coach was correct. The rule that we are discussing dates back to when the NBCUSC wrote the rules for H.S. and college. When the NFHS and NCAA rules committees came into being all casebook plays in effect were adopted by the two rules committees. Until a few years ago the situation was not in the rules as a rule but as a Question and Answer within Rule 3. A Question and Answer within at rule is considered a Casebook Play (NFHS) or an Approved Ruling (NCAA). For some unexplained reasoning the rules committees dropped this particular Q/A from the appropriate rules section, but that did not void the ruling. Then the NFHS actually amended Rule 3 to include this situation in particular.
Getting back to your original question about how to implement this rule. If either team enters three or more substitutes at the same time and any player from either team is knowledgeable enough to make the request, I will honor the player's request. The accepted way to faciliate the match-up is to line the players up at the nearest freethrow circle (I am dating myself) is if we were going to administer a jump ball (now I am really dating myself).
MTD, Sr.
[Edited by Mark T. DeNucci, Sr. on Dec 5th, 2004 at 06:10 PM]