"contacting" the free thrower before ball hits rim..

[Dad]

Originally Posted by BigCat

I don't think you have read the entire thread. Maybe you have..The NFHS was worried enough to make a rule saying its a violation for a player to ENTER the FT semi circle before the ball hits etc. Contact or no contact with shooter. Violation. Adam raised the issue of did they really mean "enter" as in contact with the court in the semi circle or is simply breaking the FT plane enough? I pointed out that a player could cause the same types of problems the NFHS saw (which i don't see in my games) without actually "entering" the FT semi circle. Defender could/can actually contact the FT shooter by squatting and breaking the plane without "entering" the semi circle. That wouldn't be a violation under the rule as written now. If the contact was severe enough it would be a foul but still not a violation.

If the NFHS was worried enough about protecting the FT shooter to put in a violation they probably should have said it was a violation to break the plane. that's what i was saying...

I understand the issue that was brought up I just don't understand how it's meaningful -- not that it isn't, I've just never had an issues with this sort of play. I don't mind either way while I'm calling the game. I suspect they'll eventually change it to the plane line, but that's only because we aren't calling the contact as a whole.