Free Throw Release Question

[Camron Rust]

Originally Posted by BillyMac

What exactly was the "change" from 1993 to 1996-97?

I got my information from the NFHS Basketball Handbook, doesn't appear to by anything about free throws between 1993 and 1996.

Where's Mark T. DeNucci, Sr. when you need him?

Maybe his 1950's bomb shelter doesn't have internet access?

Technically, the rule could have been read to mean that if the ball hit only the rim and bounced up (never hitting the backboard) from 93-96, the players couldn't enter the lane. The change was to add wording to make like we were actually calling it (and it should have been). The "etc." on the 93 rule was probably to imply that the rim was acceptable, but unlisted conditions are rarely consistently interpreted.

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by Camron Rust

Technically, the rule could have been read to mean that if the ball hit only the rim and bounced up (never hitting the backboard) from 93-96, the players couldn't enter the lane. The change was to add wording to make like we were actually calling it (and it should have been).

Thanks Camron Rust.

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by Camron Rust

Technically, the rule could have been read to mean that if the ball hit only the rim and bounced up (never hitting the backboard) from 93-96, the players couldn't enter the lane. The change was to add wording to make like we were actually calling it (and it should have been). The "etc." on the 93 rule was probably to imply that the rim was acceptable, but unlisted conditions are rarely consistently interpreted.

I actually dug out my 1996-97 Rulebook (it's my oldest one, I wish I had saved my older ones).

The only references to any changes are highlighted notes in Rule 9.

"Note: The restrictions (free throw line) in Articles 7, 8, and 9 (free thrower, players "behind" free thrower, players "boxing out" free thrower) apply until ball touches the ring or backboard, or until the free throw ends".

"Note: The restrictions (lane line) in Articles 6 and 10 (players in marked lane spaces) apply until the ball has been released by the free thrower".

Words in parentheses are mine.

There are no other references to the changes (comments, editorial revisions, points of emphasis, etc.) in either the rulebbok or the casebook.

I wish I had older rulebooks to see what the older language was.

The NFHS Handbook says this: 1993: Players along lane may not break plane of free throw line until ball hits backboard, etc.

I wonder what "etc." meant?

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by BillyMac

1996-97 Rulebook ... "Note: The restrictions (lane line) in Articles 6 and 10 (players in marked lane spaces) apply until the ball has been released by the free thrower" ... The NFHS Handbook says this: 1993: Players along lane may not break plane of free throw line until ball hits backboard, etc.

So here's my new time line for restrictions on players in marked lane spaces entering the lane:

1981:Released.

1996-97: Released (change based on my most recent research, discovered in a book made of dead trees).

2014-15: Released.

So my question is this.

Between 1996-97 and 2014-15, did we go back to hits backboard, etc., instead of release? And if so, when?

There's nothing regarding this time period change in the NFHS handbook.

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by BillyMac

1996-97: Released. 2014-15: Released. Between 1996-97 and 2014-15, did we go back to hits backboard, etc., instead of release? And if so, when?

Found it (again by reading an old fashioned book made from dead trees).



1997-98: Restrictions on movement of players along the lane line in effect until the ball touches the ring or backboard, or until the free throw ends.

Rationale: Reducing rough play.

Here's the (hopefully) correct time line for restrictions on players in marked lane spaces entering the lane:

1981:Released.

1996-97: Released

1997-98: Hits backboard, etc.

2014-15: Released.

Wow! That 1996-97 "release" experiment didn't last too long, did it?

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Mark T. DeNucci, Sr. will be so proud of me when he finally crawls out of his bomb shelter and sees what I've accomplished in his absence.

[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

See:

https://forum.officiating.com/basket...ml#post1038460

MTD, Sr.

[paulsonj72]

I remember the 97-98 change as I was working in radio doing sports including basketball and saw the effects of this rule change.

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by paulsonj72

I remember the 97-98 change as I was working in radio doing sports including basketball and saw the effects of this rule change.

And I forgot what I ate for breakfast this morning.

[Altor]

I think your inpretations of the 1993 change is not correct (or maybe I'm misreading your interps). Players along the lane were not allowed to cross the free throw line until the ball hit the backboard or rim. They were allowed to enter the lane upon release until 1996.

Players had developed bad tendencies when I was in high school of boxing out the free throw shooter very hard, sometimes knocking him down. This rule tried to curtail some of that. It didn't work well enough though, because they changed the rule after we graduated to not even allow players in the lane until the ball hit.