2021 NFHS Questionnaire

[BillyMac]

Implementing the “No Jump Ball” rule to start the game, with some form of alternating-possession protocol.
Eliminating the jump ball and beginning the game with the visiting team receiving the ball and using alternating possession the rest of the contest.

Yes and yes. Don't even consider a coin toss. Keep it simple. Road team always gets to bat first.

Hey Mark T. DeNucci, Sr. How do you like them apples?

[BillyMac]

Changing the rule to disallow coaches to call a time-out during a live ball.
Permitting coaches to call a time-out only during dead-ball periods.
Permitting only players on the court to request and be granted a time-out during a live ball.
Making cloth-tied headbands legal, as long as the extensions are tucked in.
Eliminating the “loss of the coaching box” for any technical fouls (direct or indirect) charged to the head coach.

Yes. Yes. Yes (back to the good old days).

Yes. Yes.

[BillyMac]

Requiring the home team to wear a contrasting dark color (the darker of the school colors or black).

What? Huh? Why?

[SC Official]

The only change I would want to bonus rules is the NCAA-W change - eliminating 1-and-1, shooting 2 on the fifth foul of each quarter. Anything different than that other than the current rule would equate to "being different for the sake of being different." Would be interesting to see if such a change would cut down on the whining about the foul count.

Don't want to see FED go to the NCAA-M rule and only let players call TO during live ball. It's a bad rule.

Any reduction in fashion police rules is a good thing.

Elimination of the seatbelt rule is by far the one change I want more than any others.

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by SC Official

Don't want to see FED ... only let players call TO during live ball. It's a bad rule.

I'm old enough to have worked both in high school games (this change was the high school rule in ancient times). Only players requesting live ball timeouts had few negatives. Adding coaches to the mix added the situations of requiring the official to glance away from player action on the court over to the bench to verify it was the head coach at often challenging times (loose ball on floor scrum).

[JRutledge]

I do not want to get rid of the jump ball. We do it once and it is fairer to start the game IMO. We just need to get better at it which almost no one complains about anyway.

Bring in the shot clock. I am honestly tired of having this debate. Then we will see how good teams can coach. A 35-second shot clock would be great. We do not need all the college and NBA provisions for offensive rebounds. Keep it simple.

There really does not need to be a change to the bonus situation. Keep it the same. Again, different kids unless you change the time in the game and add a few minutes to the half like 18 minutes halves or 20. Otherwise, keep things the same with the bonus.

They did not ask, but I wish they would change the traveling rule. Give players the "zero step" and then steps after this. The game is changing and everyone wants offense. Or allow the spin move on some level by giving some kind of wording that allows it similar to a jump stop. I hear the NCAA is going to some kind of model like this.

Peace

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

I do not want to get rid of the jump ball. We do it once and it is fairer to start the game ...

Agree on fairness if all officials could consistently toss the ball properly, if all officials knew all the permutations of all the complex jump ball rules (before the toss, after the toss, after the tip, jumpers, nonjumpers on the circle, non jumpers off the circle, not just the most egregious violations (ball touched on the way up, ball touched three times by jumper, ball caught by jumper) and adjudicated such properly and consistently, if all officials knew all the rules governing designated jumpers (vestigial rules poorly replaced by the NFHS going back to the origin of the alternating possession arrow), and if all officials did everything above well in just a split second of what some have described as a microburst of mayhem to start each and every game (often by just two officials, one who is just trying to keep all his teeth and get out of the way to not get elbowed by one of the jumpers).

Originally Posted by JRutledge

We just need to get better at it ...

Agree. Been waiting for this since 1985 when the NFHS adopted the alternating possession arrow.

That's thirty-five years. Let's not hold our breath until that happens.

[BillyMac]

To all Forum members:

Can you recite all the jump ball rules without peeking at the rulebook? Based on original positions of players, jumpers, nonjumpers, on the circle, off the circle, who can move, limits of movement, crossing lines, before the toss, during the toss, after the toss, after the tip, add to that the limitations of the jumpers; and process, interpret, and enforce, all these rules within the fraction of a second that it takes for a jump ball?

Be honest.

If so, you're a better basketball official than I am (with apologies to Rudyard Kipling).

Alright Mark T. DeNucci, Sr. I see you raising your hand. You can put your hand down now.

Please put your hand down Mark T. DeNucci, Sr. I see you.

Originally Posted by BillyMac

If so, you're a better basketball official than I am.

Well, probably also for a lot of other reasons.

[Kansas Ref]

The only change that I advocate is to Stop appealing/deferring to the arrow to determine possession when the a try for goal gets stuck in the ring support and the ball is put out of play; just give the ball to the other team.

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by Kansas Ref

The only change that I advocate is to Stop appealing/deferring to the arrow to determine possession when the a try for goal gets stuck in the ring support and the ball is put out of play; just give the ball to the other team.

Happens on a throwin violation when this happens.

Who's the "other" team? No team control if it's a try. What if it's not a try, but a deflected pass? Touched last?

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by BillyMac

If so, you're a better basketball official than I am (with apologies to Rudyard Kipling).

(Mark T. DeNucci, Sr., Do Not Read)

Originally Posted by BillyMac

Girls varsity prep school game. My partner, a veteran who's been officiating for forty-five years, is the referee in a two person game.

It's the start of the game. He has already checked to make sure that the jumpers are facing the correct baskets, and he has already checked with the "speaking" captains if they are ready to play. So we're all set to go, and he moves toward the center of the circle, and is about to make the toss, when one of the coaches instructs his players to change positions with a teammate. One player starts to move onto the circle, and the other starts to move off the circle, with their two opponents following them.

As the umpire, I immediately think,"S*it. What's the rule? Do I wait until the toss is made and call a violation? Do I call the violation now? Is it a double violation? Is it a violation? Just let it go, since I'm not 100% sure about the rule?"

Luckily, my partner, with a cooler head than me, he has less hair, backs away from the circle and has everybody reset, he tosses the ball, and we go on our merry way.

All you veteran Forum members have heard this spiel from me before. No more jump balls. Start the game ... with the visitors getting possession first.

And I know that I should have known the rules better than I did in this game. Back before that alternating possession arrow, when we had several jump balls a game, at three different circles, between any two players, not just the tallest ones, when coaches had a few jump ball plays, I knew these rules like the back of my hand. I could quote them in my sleep. Now, with, usually, one jump ball a game, I just assume, wrongly, that the ball will get tossed, everybody will obey the rules, and we'll get the game started.

OK. I've said my piece. I've had my catharsis. Now, could someone please help me down from this soapbox so that I don't hurt myself. I'm not as young as I used to be ... I'll take out the old rulebook and study up on the many jump ball rules. Fool me once. Shame on me. Fool me twice. Shame on me, again.

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by BillyMac

Implementing the “No Jump Ball” rule to start the game, with some form of alternating-possession protocol.
Eliminating the jump ball and beginning the game with the visiting team receiving the ball and using alternating possession the rest of the contest.

Yes and yes. Don't even consider a coin toss. Keep it simple. Road team always gets to bat first.

Hey Mark T. DeNucci, Sr. How do you like them apples?

The jump ball is as outdated as laced basketballs, peach baskets, and chicken wire cages around the perimeter of the court. For generations of players and fans they are a forgettable anachronistic formality. Coaches bemoan inconsistency in officials tossing the ball, and unevenly governed rules about the movement of players during the jump ball (how many officials start the game by incorrectly stating "Don't move" to all the players?), and some officials are weary of policing these microbursts of mayhem.

Now that we only have about one jump ball per game, many officials (players and coaches) don't know the rules as well as we knew them back in ancient times. Back in ancient times every official knew all the permutations of the jump ball rules, before the toss, after the toss, after the tip, jumpers, nonjumpers on the circle, non jumpers off the circle, backwards, forwards, inside out, and upside down. Officials had to know these jump ball restrictions because in some games you could have dozens of jump balls, in three different jump ball circles: the jump ball to start the game, each period, overtime periods, and all situations where we now use the alternating possession arrow to adjudicate (held balls, etc.). Officials, players, and coaches all knew the jump ball rules, some coaches even had different jump ball plays for each of the three jump ball circles depending on whether one expected to win or lose the jump ball.

How well do otherwise very good officials know, understand, and adjudicate the jump ball rules today? Only memorizing and adjudicating the most egregious violations (ball touched on the way up, ball touched three times by jumper, ball caught by jumper), especially in a two person game, often ignoring (or not being able to fully observe) all eight nonjumpers (and the two jumpers)?

How can the non-tossing official (two person game) accurately and realistically observe (with peripheral vision) all eight nonjumpers (and often the two jumpers) for violations, especially when jump ball rules are so complex (and we only see a jump ball about once a game), especially the seldom called violations (those other than ball touched on the way up, ball touched three times by jumper, ball caught by jumper), when such violations happen in a split second, keeping in mind that some have described jump balls as microbursts of mayhem.

It's the twentieth-first century. We now have alternating possession arrows. The alternating possession arrow was invented by some genius for a good reason, so let's get rid of all jump balls, give the ball to the visitors (neutral court: lower seeded team, usually wearing dark jerseys, usually visitor on scoreboard) to start the game, and use the possession arrow for the rest of the game, including overtimes.