[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

Originally posted by Corndog89
MTD

I understand and agree with what you're saying about an inbounds pass to a player inbounds, as in the example you gave.

But in the original post, after a made basket A1 threw a legal pass to teammate A2 who was legally OOB as in 7-5-7 (therefore, not an inbounds pass), but A2 fumbled the ball which remained OOB beyond the endline as it passed the sideline extended. There was never an attempt by A1 to throw the ball inbounds. The actual inbounds pass was made by A2 after retrieving the ball and before 5 seconds elapsed. And when A2 threw the ball inbounds, it did cross the plane of the boundary line so that it touched a player on the court who was touching inbounds, constituting a legal throw in by definition (7-6-1).

Except for the endline restriction problem.

The key consideration in this whole dilemma is the status of the OOB area beyond the sidelines and endlines extended. If the endline stops at the sideline and the sideline stops at the endline(?), then the OOB areas extending outward from the corners of the court must be in the twilight zone. But does it really matter?

The more I think about this the more I'm coming over to the dark side. JR (as I recall) noted the clear limits of the endline (ideally 50 ft, from sideline to sideline) on both the court diagram and in para 5 of the "Supplement to Court Diagram". 7-5-7 says a "player...may pass the ball along the end line to a teammate(s) outside the boundary line". If the end line goes only from sideline to sideline, then logically that boundary outside the end line must also. Therefore, the ball fumbled beyond the sideline extended would constitute a violation as in the example you provided, MTD, negating the "legal" throw in by A2.

Yes, I know, it's been right in front of me the whole time...I'm just a little (a lot??) slow.

I'm still not looking forward to explaining this to a dumbfounded coach now that it inevitably will happen to me, but at least I think I can now. Thanks for everyone's explanations, references, and patience as I hashed this out in the lump 3 feet above my a$$.

What do you mean come over to the dark side? Don't you know that JR lives in the land of the midnight sun. LOL

MTD, Sr.