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Originally Posted by CLH

If the ball is tapped in, the officials have to know whether the ball was above or within the ring as this will affect how many points are awarded.

But don't the officials already need to know whether the ball is in the cylinder in that type of play? Under the current rule, no points at all can be scored if the ball is touched in the cylinder. It sounds like, under a FIBAesque rule, you still need to know if the ball is in the cylinder, just for a different reason. No real additional hardship there.

Additionally, on a final free throw, the TIMER must know whether the ball is above or within the ring as the clock would not start if the ball is within the basket, but would start above the basket.

Eh, not really. Just one more clock management issue for the officials to watch. Just like noticing if the shot clock is reset or not when a try barely hits or misses the rim.

There is also a very big potential of having a game "stolen" with a free throw near the end of the game by tapping in a 1pt free throw above the ring and it being scored a 2pt and winning by 1pt as nearly happened in the D-Leage Western Conf Finals last week.

You mean stealing a game, like when Kendrick Perkins is credited with 2 points after touching a ball when it is clearly in the cylinder in the final 30 seconds of a playoff game?

There are way more parts to refereeing these plays than just saying "ok, boys it hit the ring, go get it."

That may be true. But it seems to me that they will happen infrequently enough so that it is -- on the whole -- easier for officials to deal with plays on and around the rim.