[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

I am going to bore the dickens out of most of you but I am going to review my earlier postings on this subject. I also reviewed the NCAA Rules Book and Casebook Plays and the FIBA Rules Book and Casebook Plays, and it is my oppinion that all three sets of rules are the same for this play. So I will reference this posting using NFHS Rules.

On Dec. 08th, I posted the following:

R6-S1-A2b: The ball becomes live when: On a throw-in, it is at the disposal of the thrower-in. After a goal (field goal or free-throw) is scored, the ball becomes live when the thrower-in steps out of bounds with the ball in his possession. The ball also becomes live in this situation when the ball sits on the floor and no one from the team eligible to make the throw-in makes any attempt to pick up the ball and make a throw-in or when a player from the team eligible to make the throw-in holds the ball inbounds and makes no attempt to start the throw-in; in these two cases the administering official can start a five second count when the throwing team fails to start the throw-in. In the second case if the player in possession of the ball throws the ball to a teammate as described in the posted play, then the team eligible to make the throw-in has committed a throw-in violation.

Why is this a throw-in violation? R7-S6-A3 and R9-S2-A11, say so. These two rules references say the same thing. They refer to the thrower being inbounds before releasing the ball on a pass.

The fact that the thrower threw the ball in a throw-in like manner (it is the best description I can come up with) is an indication of the player’s intent to make a throw-in. This violates R7-S6-A3 and R9-S2-A11. At no time does the delay of game warning can be applied to this play. It is just a simple throw-in violation by the team eligible to make the throw-in. At no time can a delay of game warning ever be made. This situation is not one of the three delay of game situations that require a warning. There is no rule support for a delay of game warning. If a team is constantly making this kind of throw-in violation, just keep calling the violation. If the team is careless enough to continuously not pay attention to where the boundary line is it deserves to be called for the violation. Eventually the team will get its act together or the coach will get players in the game that will do it correctly. This is not a situation that calls for a technical foul for continuously commiting the same violation. It is just poor play by the team involved.

On Dec. 09th, I posted the following:

You cannot issue a delay of game warning because:

1) The ball becoming live was not delayed.

2) The posted play is not has not a single thing to do with three delay of game warning situations listed in the NFHS Rules. And these warnings are found in NFHS R4-S46-A1, A2, and A3.

S46: A warning to a team for delay is an administrative
procedure by an official which is recorded in the score-
book by the scorer and reported to the coach:

A1: For throw-in plane violations as in R9-S2-A11.

A2: For huddle by either team and contact with the free
thrower, as in R10-S1-A5c.

A3: For interfering with the ball following a goal as
in R10-S1-A5d.

R9-S2-A11: A player shall not violate the following pro-
visions of the throw-in. Furthermore: The opponents(s)
of the thrower shall not have any part of his/her person
through the inbounds side of the throw-in boundary-line
plane until the ball has been released on a throw-in
pass.

NOTE: The thrower may penetrate the plane provided
he/she does not touch the inbounds area before the
ball is released on the throw-in pass. The opponent
in this situation may legally touch or grasp the ball.
See penalty.

This is why you do not issue a delay of game warning for the throw-in violation by the team making the throw-in. I have to believe, that if Mary Struckhoff and Dick Knox are saying that a delay of game warning as part of the posted play, they did not understand the play. The delay cannot be issued for the posted play because it just is not covered by R4-S46.

As I have stated previously, do NOT issue a delay of game warning under R4-S46, the rule does not support such action.

The following was not in my Dec. 09th posting. The delay of game warnings listed above are for games played under NFHS Rules, there are no such rules in NCAA and FIBA rules.

On a more practical note, how this play is handled is determined by a combination of the skill and level of the players. I will not get into a discussion of this here because I admit to having been guilty of treating this as a do over from time to time based on the criteria that I just stated. But before we can decided to being practical on the court, we have to understand the rule and why it is a violation.