2022-23 NFHS Basketball Rules Changes

[ilyazhito]

Curious. No modern rule set allows hand checking.

Back to the topic of hand checking, some boards in my area are stricter than others, but I have noticed that it is consistently called. Two hands? We call it. Repeated hot stove touches? I call it. Re-route? If I see it, I call it.

[JRutledge]

I agree with the basic philosophy that handchecking is not incidental contact. But the problem is that many cannot identify what it is much of the time. Again we have people that think simply touching another player is just that. But the rule uses the word "placing" which to me is a much more active behavior than if someone comes to you and your hand touches them. This is why we get paid the big bucks. We have to decide if the behavior is enough to warrant a foul. And if I put my arm out and you blow right by me, do we need a foul there? So there is a little art to this when it often is sold as a science.

Peace

[Camron Rust]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

I agree with the basic philosophy that handchecking is not incidental contact. But the problem is that many cannot identify what it is much of the time. Again we have people that think simply touching another player is just that. But the rule uses the word "placing" which to me is a much more active behavior than if someone comes to you and your hand touches them. This is why we get paid the big bucks. We have to decide if the behavior is enough to warrant a foul. And if I put my arm out and you blow right by me, do we need a foul there? So there is a little art to this when it often is sold as a science.

Peace

You can disagree with whether it is necessary or not, but the above is precisely the thinking they were trying to get rid of with the change. They were very clear that they do not want you trying to decide if it is an advantage or not. If a player touches another player with his/her hand in one of the forms described, it is a handchecking foul. It is an advantage by definition in the case of handchecking.

Yet, there continues to be large resistance to this change.

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by Camron Rust

You can disagree with whether it is necessary or not, but the above is precisely the thinking they were trying to get rid of with the change. They were very clear that they do not want you trying to decide if it is an advantage or not. If a player touches another player with his/her hand in one of the forms described, it is a handchecking foul. It is an advantage by definition in the case of handchecking.

Yet, there continues to be large resistance to this change.

Who is trying to get rid of what exactly? I ask because I hear this but I consistently call way more handchecks (partially the philosophy of college officiating as well). So I call them a lot, but I also use some common sense. Not every touch needs to be called when the player is moving and nothing happens. Also, RSBQ is my standard as well and the one the state I work in uses as well if we have a determining factor. This has been stated in our literature multiple times.

Peace

[Raymond]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

Who is trying to get rid of what exactly? I ask because I hear this but I consistently call way more handchecks (partially the philosophy of college officiating as well). So I call them a lot, but I also use some common sense. Not every touch needs to be called when the player is moving and nothing happens. Also, RSBQ is my standard as well and the one the state I work in uses as well if we have a determining factor. This has been stated in our literature multiple times.

Peace

I also called way more hand-checks than other HS officials. And it was b/c of my college training. Even at the JuCo level, there was such an obvious difference from what was routinely allowed at the HS level. Overall, college coaches and players know they can't put their hands and other body parts all over the ballhandlers. College players are coached to move their feet and to beat the offensive player to the spot they're trying to get to. When I had to call illegal contact to the ballhandler in college game it was often quite obvious b/c it would stand out from what defenders were usually doing.

[ilyazhito]

Is there a reason why HS officials routinely allow more contact to the ballhandler/dribbler than college officials?

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by ilyazhito

Is there a reason why HS officials routinely allow more contact to the ballhandler/dribbler than college officials?

Simple. Training. (By all involved).

Peace

[Camron Rust]

Originally Posted by ilyazhito

Is there a reason why HS officials routinely allow more contact to the ballhandler/dribbler than college officials?

Because of an old mentality that insists that touches of/by the hand/arm are not an advantage if it doesn't knock a player off balance. That thinking persists and is still pushed and taught in some locales as the way to call things despite the NFHS pleading for officials to leave that thinking behind.

[SC Official]

Originally Posted by ilyazhito

Is there a reason why HS officials routinely allow more contact to the ballhandler/dribbler than college officials?

Because there is such a shortage of HS officials that there’s no accountability for them when they swallow the whistle.

Whereas at the college level it is very simple to just scratch a camper off the list when they don’t call 10-1.4 fouls.

[SC Official]

Originally Posted by Camron Rust

You can disagree with whether it is necessary or not, but the above is precisely the thinking they were trying to get rid of with the change. They were very clear that they do not want you trying to decide if it is an advantage or not. If a player touches another player with his/her hand in one of the forms described, it is a handchecking foul. It is an advantage by definition in the case of handchecking.

Yet, there continues to be large resistance to this change.

Completely agree. And at the HS level, absent taking away postseason assignments there really is not much you can do about the old guys who still subscribe to the old way of thinking.

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by SC Official

... not much you can do about the old guys who still subscribe to the old way of thinking.

Hey. I'm one of those old guys, but I (and my interpreter, and my assigner (also old)) subscribe to 10-7-12 as written, while still using 4-27 for almost all other types of fouls, while also knowing that single, momentary "hot stove" touch with one hand is legal. However, I will admit that I will occasionally give a, "Hands off", warning early in the game before calling my first 10-7-12 handchecking "touch" foul. Old habits die hard.

[SC Official]

Originally Posted by BillyMac

Hey. I'm one of those old guys, but I (and my interpreter, and my assigner (also old)) subscribe to 10-7-12 as written, while still using 4-27 for almost all other types of fouls, while also knowing that single, momentary "hot stove" touch with one hand is legal. However, I will admit that I will occasionally give a, "Hands off", warning early in the game before calling my first 10-7-12 handchecking "touch" foul. Old habits die hard.

Talking players out of handchecks early in the game is supported by all my college supervisors. But it better be followed up with a whistle if not heeded. At the HS level too often those "warnings" don't get listened to by defenders yet the same officials who give those warnings won't blow the whistle.

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by SC Official

Talking players out of handchecks early in the game is supported by all my college supervisors. But it better be followed up with a whistle if not heeded. At the HS level too often those "warnings" don't get listened to by defenders yet the same officials who give those warnings won't blow the whistle.

For me, if I warn, a big if, it's almost always one oral warning per team, per game, and oral warnings seldom, if ever, go past the first period. I've got a whistle, and I know how to use it.

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by SC Official

Talking players out of handchecks early in the game is supported by all my college supervisors. But it better be followed up with a whistle if not heeded. At the HS level too often those "warnings" don't get listened to by defenders yet the same officials who give those warnings won't blow the whistle.

When this rule came in place, I would and still do say "hands, hands, hands" even if the player never touches the ball handler. I say this because at least they know I am watching. I have yet to have a single coach say something to me about doing that or even if they hear me in the first place. But when I do that they often pull their hands back or never touch the ball handler, so it is not something that really has to be called that much. But when they do, I use my judgment and often call fouls on handchecking without much debate from any coaches. It is usually a certain coach or team that seems to not understand the rules that have to take a few fouls to get the message. Most of the time coaches say right after a handchecking foul and sometimes before, "Show your hands."

Peace

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by SC Official

Completely agree. And at the HS level, absent taking away postseason assignments there really is not much you can do about the old guys who still subscribe to the old way of thinking.

How many of our games are reviewed by the state or association? I doubt there are many games reviewed independently to know if we are doing things correct. Unless you have someone come out and they see you are not doing things a certain way. I think that is a stretch.

Peace