Rule question from coach
 

I was invited to speak at the regional high school coaches' meeting recently to give them a brief synopsis of this year's rule changes and POEs. It went very smoothly and I even got some questions.

This morning I got an email asking if the new violation for entering the free throw semi-circle refers to where the free throw shooter stands to attempt the free throw, or to the dotted semi-circle in the free throw lane.

I'm not trying to make fun of this coach, because I give him a lot of credit for following up to make sure he understands the rule. But how long has it been since the dotted jump circle around the free throw line was used in a high school game?

I'm sure he asked only because he sees it on TV in NBA games. But I honestly don't even know when it was used in basketball. It has to have disappeared like 30 years ago, right?

It was still around when I was in school and I'm now 36. Can someone enlighten us to what the purpose of it was? I never knew and cannot recall ever seeing any violations concerning it


I wish I had a cool signature

Really?? I'm almost positive that it hasn't been used since I've been officiating. (I started in '92).

It's for jump balls. If there was a held ball in the free throw lane, for example, there was no AP arrow, so they had a jump ball. And rather going to center court, they would have the jump ball in the circle around the free throw line.

But the Alternating Possession procedure has been around -- I think -- since I started officiating in '92. So if you had the dotted semi-circle, it was just because your high school was too cheap to re-paint your court.

1985 NFHS adopted the "alternating possession" throw-in for all jump or held-ball situations except the start of the game and each extra period.

I would say this is most correct sir. And it's possible I'm not remembering the high school floor as much as the smaller middle school floor where all my glory days took place.


I wish I had a cool signature

Many of which still have that old small circle inside the center circle. And there are still occasionally officials who tell the jumpers they've gotta each have at least one foot inside that smaller circle. :eek:

Dang, this is making me feel old . . . when I was in middle school, I remember a gym that still had the old key shaped key painted on it because it had never been refinished . . . and two mid-court lines because it was too short -- does the rule book still have the rules for the those short courts with two lines?

After the AP arrow was added, there was no longer a need for it. All jump balls now occur in the center circle. 30 yards is probably about right.

What does distance have to do with it? This isn't soccer! :)

Note: just having some fun with your post today as I'm bored. I believe that your auto-correct picked the wrong word for you.

Anybody Ever See A Jumper Tap The Ball Into The Basket ???
 

Maybe the dotted jump ball lines are still around the free throw circles in case an NBA team wants to play a game there. They still use those jump ball circles in the NBA, don't they?

Not happening at Success MS, whose gym is so small that it does not have corner threes. The three point line runs into the sideline about 10 feet from the end line. But if an NBA team got desperate, I'm sure I could liaison with my old stomping ground to make a mutually beneficial event happen


I wish I had a cool signature