Throw In Question
 

Watching the Xavier-Texas Southern game, I saw an unusual throw in and wondered if it was legal.

Team B scores
As the ball is still bouncing from the made basket on the court in bounds, A1 while completely out of bounds taps it to a teammate in bounds.

Legal but sometimes when players attempt this they screw it up. NBA guys perform this type of throw-in frequently.

Arguably careless, but perfectly legal. No different than if a thrower held the ball on the inside of the plane and then made the TI pass.

On a related note, watching UVA/UMBC, I noticed after made VA baskets in the second half that UMBC would inbound the ball and then let it bounce unchecked for a few seconds. UVA wasn’t pressing and as long as UMBC didn’t possess it, the BC count/SC wouldn’t start. Ate up a lot of time (which was the idea). Well done by UMBC.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That is indicative of great coaching, as well as player awareness and discipline.

I noticed it immediately.

Indeed. I've often wondered why you don't see that more.

In one case, the ball almost came to a full stop. I don't know why the player didn't just let it be until a UVA defender came along. They could have effectively ran out the entire clock if UVA didn't respond.

I think they didn't want to be too obvious about it. A couple of times when the ball was stagnantly bouncing, the two players involved would appear to discuss something, as if they had miscommunicated and wanted to get something straightened out before they advanced the ball. In actuality, I think it was just really good acting. If you're too obvious about it, UVA notices and then they're pressing after the very next basket. But the way UMBC did it, they were able to do it several times before UVA ever caught on.

At which point UVA players started taking the ball and handing it to the thrower in.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

That happened later when UVA was pressing and UMBC was in no hurry to get the ball after a basket to begin the throw-in. But what they are talking about was happening after the ball was released on the throw-in. UMBC would let it bounce in the back court for several seconds before picking it up. That let the game clock run while the shot clock and the back court count were not.