Thread: Foul, or Legal?
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Old Wed Dec 28, 2005, 05:53am
Nevadaref Nevadaref is offline
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Join Date: Nov 2002
Posts: 14,995
Rainmaker, rather than tell you whether or not I believe that a foul should be called on this specific play (which wouldn't really mean much since I wasn't there and didn't see it, nor would it help you become a better official in the long run), I am going to advise you to do some thinking about how you handle this type of play in general.

I say that because you have described a couple of situations that involve players going up in vertical planes and yet contact occurs.

I'll point out that if both players really are going straight up in their vertical planes there shouldn't be much contact if any at all. If this isn't true, then we know that someone is out of their vertical space.

These are the plays for which basketball officials earn their money. These are the plays in which our judgment is tested and an application of the advantage/disadvantage philosophy is needed. In short, these are the plays which separate the best from the rest.

In the cases in which A1 causes or initiates the contact, you seem to be quite fine ruling that the contact is incidental and not a foul on A1 (or B1). However, when B1 causes the contact, the fact that you posted this indicates that you are having trouble making that same determination.

Ask yourself, why you are allowing the player with the ball to cause contact and not calling a player control foul? I'm not saying that you should, but you need to have a good reason. Now ask yourself, if you are treating the defender the same way as the offensive player when the defender creates a similar amount of contact in these situations? Are you calling blocking or pushing fouls on the defender or are you still ruling the contact to be incidental?

However you rule, I hope that you are treating the offensive player and the defensive player equally.

Afterall, recall what is written in the Intent and Purpose of the Rules that appears near the beginning of each edition of the rules book:

"The restrictions which the rules place upon the players are intended to create a balance of play; to provide equal opportunity between the offense and the defense; to provide equal opportunity between the small player and tall player; to provide reasonable safety and protection; to create an atmosphere of sporting behavior and fair play; and to emphasize cleverness and skill without unduly limiting freedom of action of individual or team play on either offense or defense."

Therefore, my advice for ruling on these contact situations is to strive to be fair to both players involved and not to give preference to the player with the ball just because they do have the ball. Whether you call fouls on the player who initates the contact or not is up to you, but having firmness in your convictions on these situations, which is of paramount importance, will allow you to apply a consistent standard and be seen as a quality official.

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