[BillyMac]

Jurassic Referee:

The statements below are taken directly from the 2005-06 NFHS Basketball Rules Book. They can be found under the heading "The Intent And Purpose Of The Rules":

"It is important to know the intent and purpose of a rule so that it may be intelligently applied in each play situation. A player of a team should not be permitted an advantage which is not intended by a rule. Neither should play be permitted to develop which may lead to placing a player at a disadvantage not intended by a rule."

Two of the three statements refer to "rules". Rules include both fouls and violations. If you have any expert and reliable sources that you could cite to back up your statement that the concept of advantage disadvantage only refers to physical contact i.e. fouls, I would welcome that information.

If the ball is being dribbled in the frontcourt out near the division line, and an offensive player has a half of an inch of the heel of his sneaker on the middle of the foul line for exactly three seconds, I'm not calling a three second violation on that player unless I think he is gaining an advantage at that time. I may even verbally warn offensive players to "get out of the lane". At some point, when I believe that such a player is gaining an advantage in posting up an opponent to receive a pass or in getting into a position to gain an advantage in getting an offensive rebound, I will definitely call the three second violation, with or without a verbal warning.