[a4caster]

Interesting one last night. JV Boys game, V team is out of state and coach hasn't warmed up to us. Besides the point. With 6 seconds left, V is at the line and shooting 2 FTs with his team up 1. I notice a H player with blood on his shorts. He sees it and grins like, "thought I could sneak in one more play." No problems on substitute and I tell coach, "just get a new pair of shorts." So, the sub comes in, in addition to several others from both teams, the wait 2 seconds and send in another sub. We shoot the first throw. The replaced player is a speed dresser and is back to sub in before the second throw. As I wonder what took so long for us to make a free throw, I beckon him in. Now, a guy in the stands looking like a team assistant is pointing at the player and saying something to the coach. I start thinking, "did I make a mistake?" The replaced now returned player gets the rebound after V misses both, goes down and draws the foul. We go to the line, and he drains them both, game over.

As we go back to the locker room, I say "should we have let that player return?" Legal substitution occurs when a replaced player stays out one live ball. But, do we allow an exception when it comes to blood? It wasn't an advantage to allow the player to be substituted, rather an exceptional substitution. Thoughts?