Two Play Situations, Same Concept?

[bob jenkins]

Originally Posted by youngump

I mostly just lurk here from another board but I thought I had an okay grasp of the rules. But this one surprised me. Why is 1 a legal play? A quick glance at the (NCAA) rules didn't find an obvious reason why it would be illegal. There seems to be no rule whatsoever against throwing the ball up in the air, running to grab it and doing this over and over as long as you are not "holding" the ball.
But if so, is this legal: A1 catches the ball in the post but his feet aren't well set. He takes a step to establish a pivot foot. He holds the ball up high and lets go gathering his other foot to a new spot and catches the ball in the air. He then pivots on his pivot putting the ball on the ground before lifting his pivot foot.

Or is there such a rule that I missed and this is considered legal because there's some interpretation that makes this a dribble even though it doesn't meet the definition?

In the OP, the ball touched the floor, making it a dribble (and, I assume, the ball was released before the pivot foot was lifted -- I didn't go back and check the OP). The dribble was continued. All legal.

In your play, the ball never touches the floor -- tossing the ball up in the air, running (well, moving the pivot foot) and catching the ball is a violation -- for a while it was travel, then it was illegal dribble, now it's ... well, it doesn't really matter, the other team is going to get the ball.