2026 NFHS Basketball Rules Questionnaire ...

[BillyMac]

2026 NFHS Basketball Rules Questionnaire for Coaches and Officials

Part I – Are These Changes Made Last Year Satisfactory?

1.Clarifying and expanding the definition of basket interference to occurring when a player slaps or strikes the backboard, causing the backboard or basket to vibrate, while the ball is on or within the basket, touching the backboard, or within the cylinder.

2.Removing the offensive team from goaltending violations and simplifying enforcement for officials and reducing ambiguity over whether a ball was a shot or a pass.

3.Establishing that once the ball contacts the backboard, it is automatically considered to be on its downward flight.

4.Updating the definition of a player to clarify that a player is one of the five team members legally on the court at any given time, except during time-outs or intermissions.

5.Updating the procedure for determining the designated throw-in spot following a stoppage of play (not due to the ball going out of bounds) in the frontcourt or backcourt.

Part II – Observations – Have You Seen In Your Area?

1.Safety issues with untucked jerseys.

2.Players wearing concussion headbands.

3.Hand-checking fouls being called when the ball handler’s freedom of movement is not affected.

4.Offensive players initiating contact in an attempt to draw a foul.

5.Delays in administering free throws due to players occupying lane spaces when the official is prepared to put the ball in play.

6.Defensive players moving under an airborne jump shooter and restricting the shooter’s ability to land safely.

Part III – About Rules For 2026-27 – Would You Favor?

1.Requiring uniforms to be tucked regardless of manufacturer’s intent in design.

2.Eliminating the requirement to tuck in uniforms.

3.Making a dunk during pregame warmups a direct technical foul charged to the head coach.

4.Eliminating the “hand is part of the ball” principle and basing foul rulings on the effect of the contact on the ball handler.

5.Modifying the hand-checking rule so that a foul is only called when the ball handler’s freedom of movement is clearly impeded.

6.Clarifying that the backcourt exception during a throw-in ends only when player control with two feet on the floor exists.

7.Restricting a coach’s ability to request a time-out to only dead-ball periods.

8.Eliminating the coach’s seatbelt rule after a direct or indirect technical foul.

9.Simplifying the backcourt rule to only be in effect after a player has control of the ball inbounds, essentially extending the exception that exists for player control directly established on the throw-in or jump ball but not after the ball is tipped.

10.Should the five-second closely guarded count while a player is dribbling be eliminated in all games that use a shot clock, making this a permanent national rule rather than a state-adopted option?

11.Should the traveling rule be modified to permit additional spin-move and jump-stop techniques that are currently ruled as traveling, thereby expanding the range of legal footwork for ball handlers?