Continous Motion

[crosscountry55]

Originally Posted by deecee

I've always thought in HS we didn't award FT's as much as we should have.

Originally Posted by jTheUmp

My association clinicians have been saying this for years... if in doubt, give 'em the free throws.

Originally Posted by Raymond

For some reason, a lot of officials seem to be emphatic about putting fouls "on the floor".

I agree with all of this and have observed the same. If I'm in any doubt, I award FTs. A clinician once asked me, in a marginal case, when a player was driving, why I didn't award FTs. He asked, "Do you think he wasn't trying to go and score? What else would he possibly be doing?" I've approached it that way ever since.

Trickiest situation for me is when a player passes off at the last second. I have to determine if the contact/foul forced the ball handler to change his mind on going to basket, or if the pass was intended from the beginning. If I think the ball handler bailed on the shot because of the contact, I'm going to award FTs, and then inevitably the opposing coach will say, "but he was passing!" But hey, I get paid to make judgments.

[frezer11]

Originally Posted by crosscountry55;1030886 A clinician once asked me, in a marginal case, when a player was driving, why I didn't award FTs. He asked, "Do you think he [I

wasn't[/I] trying to go and score? What else would he possibly be doing?" I've approached it that way ever since.

I like this. And while I've always taken this approach, I hadn't worded it like this to others when having the discussion. I think I'll use this thought process moving forward.

Originally Posted by crosscountry55

Trickiest situation for me is when a player passes off at the last second. I have to determine if the contact/foul forced the ball handler to change his mind on going to basket, or if the pass was intended from the beginning. If I think the ball handler bailed on the shot because of the contact, I'm going to award FTs, and then inevitably the opposing coach will say, "but he was passing!" But hey, I get paid to make judgments.

This is pretty tough. Unless it's pretty obvious that the ball handler basically just tried to shove the ball to his teammate after being fouled, I think I'm going with the pass most of the time, it is really difficult to judge intent over action

[SC Official]

While I agree that too often we incorrectly don't award FTs, if the ball handler passes it off after the contact I'm not giving him the act of shooting.

"On a pass" never gets me any grief from the offensive player's coach.

[Camron Rust]

Originally Posted by frezer11

I like this. And while I've always taken this approach, I hadn't worded it like this to others when having the discussion. I think I'll use this thought process moving forward.



This is pretty tough. Unless it's pretty obvious that the ball handler basically just tried to shove the ball to his teammate after being fouled, I think I'm going with the pass most of the time, it is really difficult to judge intent over action

I'm doing the same (giving shots). We have to judge intent on almost every shooting foul situation. If they're fouled while I think they're trying to shoot, I'm giving 2 shots. What happens after that is irrelevant. The foul stopped a shooter. The shooter should not be required to guess if we are going to call it or not. They have to make the best decision they can after being fouled and should not be penalized for looking for an alternative.