Free Throw Release Question
 

After the 1997-98 rule change requiring players to remain out of the lane until a free throw hit the rim or backboard when it change back to on the release of the shot. And when did it change the first time. Thank you very much.

Please Release Me (Engelbert Humperdinck, 1967) …
 

2014-15 NFHS BASKETBALL RULES CHANGES

Lane Players Can Release When Free Throw is Attempted in High School Basketball

Players in marked lane spaces will be able to move into the lane when the ball is released by the free-throw shooter beginning with the 2014-15 high school basketball season. Previously, players could not release until the ball touched the ring or backboard or until the free throw ended.

The committee noted that the current rule of players in marked lane spaces not releasing until the ball touches the ring or backboard creates two obstacles for officials: 1) attempting to watch the ball strike the ring or backboard while simultaneously attempting to observe if any players/free thrower violate the lane-line restrictions, and 2) insufficient time for the perimeter official(s) to obtain optimum angles on the players involved in rebounding a missed try.

“In recent years, we have moved players along the lane spaces up and removed excess players along the lane lines, so the rationale for changing this rule to its current status is no longer an issue,” said Theresia Wynns, NFHS director of sports and officials education and staff liaison to the NFHS Basketball Rules Committee.

In my forty years of officiating basketball there have been so many changes involving release and hit that it makes my head spin.

Mark T. DeNucci, Sr. will be moseying along shortly to give us the history of the free throw back to ancient times.

Until then just sit back, relax, and enjoy some classic bubblegum pop music, Dizzy, by Tommy Roe (1969):

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/sbdtQ99yIUo" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I'm So Dizzy My Head Is Spinning ...
 

Mark T. DeNucci, Sr. is self-quarantining and social-distancing in his 1950's bomb shelter and can't make it up to is attic library.

Here's what I've discovered, as told by the oral traditions of grizzled veteran officials to young'uns while sitting around a blazing campfire.

1981: Revised free throw restrictions to allow leaving marked lane spaces when ball is released.

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

1996-97: Restricted movement on free-throw lane until ball touches ring or backboard.

2014-15: Players in marked lane spaces will be able to move into the lane when the ball is released by the free-throw shooter.

Here's a family portrait of the DeNucci family discovered on the walls of a cave in Lascaux, France.

While enjoying their usual Sunday family dinner of Wooly Mammoth and ... well, just Wooly Mammoth, they're discussing the "change in status" rule.

Mark T. DeNucci, Sr. likes his Wooly Mammoth medium-rare and likes to eat it with two hands.

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/...historic_c.jpg

Changes (David Bowie, 1971) ...
 

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.

Free Throw Restrictions ...
 

Thanks Camron Rust.

Et Cetera (More Latin On The Forum) ...
 

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?

Riddle Me This ...
 

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.

Eureka ...
 

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

https://tse4.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.j...=0&w=250&h=185

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.

Why I do not have access to The Attic!
 

See:

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

MTD, Sr.

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

Is It Tuesday ???
 

And I forgot what I ate for breakfast this morning.

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.

I Told You My Head Was Spinning ...
 

Altor is correct. I over-generalized.

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

Thanks Altor. I'll try to do a cleanup on my earlier posts.

https://i5.walmartimages.com/asr/9f1...4fc8a410e.jpeg

And The Hits Just Keep On Coming ...
 

https://tse4.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.Y...=0&w=512&h=116

I'll give it another try.

Restrictions on players in marked lane spaces entering the lane:

1981:Released.

1996-97: Released

1997-98: Hits backboard, etc.

2014-15: Released.

I'm fairly certain that I've used "hits" twice in my forty years.

Could it have been in 1980-81, or sometime between 1981-82 and 1996-97?