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Originally Posted by Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.
It has always (with apologies to the late J. Dallas Shirley) been my position that if there are players who either are not disqualified or injured on the bench, a team must play five (5) players.
MTD, Sr.
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Camron Rust
Playing with 5 is a fundamental requirement of the game, and has been from near the beginning. "Sitting a tick" is a recent addition created to stop a specific type of behavior. So is the requirement that an injured player (when the coach was beckoned) leave the game unless a timeout is called. Simply put, the "sit a tick" concept only applies when there is someone else who can be/stay in the game (not injured and not DQ'd). The rules requiring 5 or requiring a coach to have a sub report for a disqualified/injured player take precedence when there is any other player who can fill that role. Another way. A non-DQ'd player on the bench is always an available substitute when they are the only one remaining and a player on the floor requires replacement.
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I would love it if Camron Rust's statement, and Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.'s similar statement, was a NFHS fundamental rule, not a requirement, as Camron Rust stated in his post, of basketball, to cover all situations, injuries, ill-timed substitutions during false multiple fouls, and/or, false double fouls, etc. It would make our job as officials much easier, although this situation would be a rare, but not unheard of, occurrence.
I would feel bad if, in the situation that I posted earlier, as the referee, I allowed A-5 to enter the game to be the fifth player, and he, or she, immediately, flagrantly fouled another player, causing a major injury, and after the game, I was told by the Team B coach, or the Team B athletic director, or my partner, or my evaluator, that A-5 should have never been allowed into the game at that point because he, or she, according to NFHS rules, hadn't yet "sat a tick".
Just because I would like to see a general rule that a team has cannot play with less than five when it has a healthy, nondisqaulified player on the bench, doesn't necessarily mean that it is fully supported by NFHS rules. I would like to be convinced of this, but I'm not convinced yet.