2021 NFHS Questionnaire

[SC Official]

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/5VXCYP8

It is that time of the year once again.

[SC Official]

19. Eliminating the “loss of coaching box” for any technical fouls (direct or indirect) charged to the head coach.

Once again the only proposed rule change on the questionnaire that I would love to see. Too bad it will never pass.

[BillyMac]

Checkup on present 2020-21 Rules – Were the following rule changes satisfactory?
1. Adding a signal to end the player replacement interval.
2. Reorganizing and clarifying the process to use when a coach or school personnel is not available to sit on the bench.
3. Clarifying that the warning to a coach may be used, but it is not mandatory.

Have you observed any of the following this year?
1. Increasing number of hand-checking fouls called.
2. More illegal screens being set but not called on the perimeter.
3. Officials understanding legal guarding position when adjudicating block/charge calls.
4. Officials more consistently using the proper NFHS mechanics.
5. Increasing number of games with one team possessing the ball for longer than 30 seconds before attempting a shot.
6. Increasing number of three-point shots attempted.

About the rules for 2022:
1. Beginning with a team’s seventh foul, awarding, in each quarter, a bonus free throw if the first free throw is successful. Then with the team’s eighth foul in each quarter, and extending into any subsequent overtime period, awarding two free throws regardless of the success of the first attempt. At the end of each quarter, with the exception of any subsequent overtime period, zeroing out the team foul total.
2. During a quarter, awarding no free throws for the first four common fouls and then, starting with the fifth foul in each quarter, awarding two free throws for each common foul. Reset fouls to zero at the end of each quarter.
3. Resetting team fouls to zero at the end of each quarter, eliminating one-and-one situations and awarding two free throws for the sixth and all subsequent team fouls in a quarter.
4. Awarding bonus free throws beginning with a team’s sixth foul each quarter (unless the foul is a player-control or team-control foul).
5. Resetting a team’s foul count to zero at the end of each quarter [except following the fourth quarter if overtime is necessary; in such case a team’s foul count at the end of regulation play will carry over into overtime(s)].
6. Implementing the “No Jump Ball” rule to start the game, with some form of alternating-possession protocol.
7. Eliminating the jump ball and beginning the game with the visiting team receiving the ball and using alternating possession the rest of the contest.
8. Eliminating the jump ball and beginning the game with a coin flip and using alternating possession the rest of the contest.
9. Eliminating the jump ball to start each overtime and continuing to use the alternating-possession arrow since overtimes are a “continuation” of the fourth quarter.
10. Allowing use of a 30-second shot clock by state association adoption.
11. The NFHS approving a 30-second shot clock by state association adoption.
12. The NFHS adopting a 30-second shot clock.
13. Implementing a 35-second shot clock.
14. Changing the rule to disallow coaches to call a time-out during a live ball.
15. Permitting coaches to call a time-out only during dead-ball periods.
16. Permitting only players on the court to request and be granted a time-out during a live ball.
17. Requiring the home team to wear a contrasting dark color (the darker of the school colors or black).
18. Making cloth-tied headbands legal, as long as the extensions are tucked in.
19. Eliminating the “loss of the coaching box” for any technical fouls (direct or indirect) charged to the head coach.

[BillyMac]

Not a big fan of keeping track of team fouls by quarter. Instead of two chances for correctable errors caused by the table per game, it will be four chances of correctable errors caused by the table per game.

Note: For those of you that don't work middle school games like me, middle schools often have student scorekeepers and often have scoreboards that don't show team fouls.

However, that being said, it could be worth resetting to zero each quarter if, and only if, all one and ones were eliminated. Always two shots instead of one and one means fewer chances of rebounding action contact and/or lane violations, possibly fewer chances for correctable errors (zero, or two; instead of zero, one and one, or two on common fouls), and of course, fewer chances to screw up substitution opportunities (six players, four players, sit a tick).

[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]

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.

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by BillyMac

Eliminating the jump ball and beginning the game with a coin flip and using alternating possession the rest of the contest.

To start the game, the ball shall be put in play by a throw in by the team that wins the coin toss between opposing captains at the pregame coaches/captains/officials conference. The referee will toss the coin. The home captain will call either heads, or tails, while the tossed coin is in the air. The referee will provide the coin for the coin toss. This coin must be legal tender in the United States (having an easily identified head, and tail), and that it's face value be at least one United States cent. The losing captain of the coin toss shall be allowed to keep the coin, thus insuring that all parties leave the pregame coaches/captains/officials conference happy. It is considered unsporting, and must be penalized with a technical foul, charged to the home team captain, for said captain to call, "Heads I win. Tails you lose", or any variation of said call.

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by Rich

I take the jump ball as seriously as I can for an event that simply puts the ball in play and (usually) happens only once. Not very.

Originally Posted by BillyMac

Now, once a game, the tallest players on each team square off against each other, the referee tries to make a decent toss, and the umpire just hopes that nothing "weird" happens because many of us, including me, don't know the jump balls rules as well as we knew them years ago. That's why we have the various myths, like "Hold your spots". I haven't seen a tough jump ball question on an IAABO Refresher Exam in years, that's gotta tell you something.

Originally Posted by BillyMac

Ever since the introduction of the alternating possession arrow, it has been my contention that many otherwise extremely competent officials either don't fully understand and memorize all the many jump ball rules and restrictions, and/or it's difficult to watch for all the many violations and many restrictions that can occur during the jump ball, especially in a two person game. And we only get to observe various jump ball situations once (usually) a game. As the umpire in a two person game, I'm watching for common violations, jumpers tapping the ball on the way up, jumpers catching the ball, or jumpers touching the ball more than twice, before the jump ball ends (touched ball contacts one of the eight nonjumpers, an official, or the floor). I'll also watch for the ball hitting the floor without being touched by at least one of the jumpers. Unless one of the nonjumpers does something really weird, I'm probably not going to observe any non-really-weird violations from them. To avoid some nonjumper violations, as the umpire (or the referee) prejump, I will warn nonjumpers standing within three feet of the jump ball circle not to stand three feet directly behind anybody. To my point of otherwise extremely competent officials not fully understanding and memorizing all the many jump ball rules and restrictions, several times a year I hear otherwise extremely competent (state tournament late round) varsity officials saying, prejump, "Hold your spots" to all eight nonjumpers, or, "You can't stand behind him”, to a player who is directly behind an opponent, both whom are ten feet off the jump ball circle. The jump ball is archaic, some jump ball rules are poorly memorized/understood and/or poorly enforced, and we should start games with some other method.

Originally Posted by so cal lurker

Having a very tall center, my son's 8th grade team runs a play on jump balls with a player cutting to get to an open space for a long tip. The player does not line up on the circle, but stays at 5-10' off the circle. They've had a lot of success on this. In a recent game, however, a referee called a violation, ruling that he was not allowed to move until the ball was tipped. That's wrong, isn't it? I'm not too worried about a one-off mis-call, but if we're teaching a play that is properly a violation, we should change it.

[Rich]

Originally Posted by BillyMac

Thanks for quoting me, but after a season of starting with many games with a throw-in, I am ready to go back to the jump.

My only point is that I don't need to be as obsessive as you seem to be about the jump ball rules. I know them, but spend little time thinking about them.