IAABO OOB mechanics

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by Camron Rust

In the case of a player stepping on the line, only the L has decent view of that.

How can the lead have a decent view if he's not even looking over there because it's outside his primary coverage area? He's watching post players, and defenders, banging around in the paint, maybe watching for three seconds. He's not watching the point guard about to step on the sideline boundary above the free throw line extended, maybe near the division line. That would be ball watching.

Granted, this is a challenge for the trail, especially after a skip pass, but at least it's in the trail's primary coverage area.

Originally Posted by JRutledge

The issue is not whether you know if the ball is out of bounds. The issue is do you know who it is was out of bounds off of? And if you are doing your job as the Lead, you probably are not always aware of that fact ... This is one of the biggest flaws/holes in 2 person mechanics.

Agree 100%.

Back in the olden days, IAABO used NFHS mechanics and had the lead's out of bounds responsibility include the entire sideline, all the way back to the backcourt endline. It was a simple guideline to follow, and would occasionally have the lead sounding his whistle for the out of bounds, and then asking the trail for help on the correct direction call. The simplicity was the best part of the mechanic, even if the out of bounds responsibility above the free throw line extended was clearly outside the lead's primary coverage area.

Then IAABO changed to IAABO mechanics and ended the lead's out of bounds responsibility at the free throw line extended. A lot of old timers, including myself, resisted the change. It required the lead, and the trail, to decide if the ball went out above, or below, the free throw line extended, definitely more complex then the old, simple, out of bounds responsibilities. Occasionally there would be no immediate whistle when the ball went out of bounds above the free the line extended, with both the trail, and the lead, thinking that the other was going to sound the whistle for the ball going out of bounds.

It took some time, but we're all starting to get use to the new out of bounds responsibilities. The topic is broached in almost every pregame conference. It's not a perfect guideline, but in the grand scheme of things, regarding primary coverage responsibilities, it makes a lot of sense.