2024-25 NFHS Rules Changes
 

Finally, they address flopping with some language and not an implied ruling.

Love the rule with the BI exception with the net. Just like the college rule.

Love the blood rule where we have wiggle room, just like in college.

Love that the dunking in pre-game is not as punitive. I wish they would get rid of the coaching box losses regardless, but this is a good start.

And of course, the official elimination of the closely guarded count is outstanding for the shot clock. Now no ambiguousness in that rule.

Peace

The BI one is, in fact, how this is generally called, at least here. If someone touches the net and the ball is 3/4 through and it doesn't affect the shot, I'm not killing play to show everyone how smart I am. Now I have rules support for that.

It will be interesting to see if the flopping rule will be called and if it cleans up that part of the game.

I do not think most people even did anything if the touch hardly moved the net. I know I didn't. I think this gives something minor and out to not stop the game. The net rarely has any influence on a shot unless it was hit to where it is at the top of the rim.

Peace

Actual link to rules changes:

https://www.nfhs.org/sports-resource...nges-2024-25/#

In my experience with such plays, it was also often difficult to discern who (offense/defense) touched the net.

Unsure about "implied ruling". It is in the rules, no?

I also like the blood rule but still feel 20 seconds is not enough. I'd like it to be more generous. Kid gets opponent's blood on their jersey and there's no way that can be rectified in 20 seconds. Now, officials will probably allow a little extra time but still. Often extra jersey need to be changed in the locker room, trainers can't readily be found, blood cleaner in training room and not at bench, etc.

Regarding pre-game dunking....Many NBA rules trickle down to college and college trickles down to high school. The upper two have allowed pre-game dunking for a very long time. Why it is not allowed at HS level is beyond me. All reasons given have been quite hypocritical IMO.:confused:

Gives them a shot to stay in the game which before they had to be removed regardless. That is the college rule and often gets fixed in that time. Usually just a small scratch and they use a bandage to cover it up. Usually it is not an issue of it being all over the place, but just a spot.

It has really not been that long at the college level. But they are not just allowing it, they are changing the penalty. ;)

Peace

It's Deja Vu All Over Again (Yogi Berra) …
 

1996-97: 3-3-6: A player who has been injured to the extent that the coach or any other bench personnel is beckoned and/or comes onto the court shall be directed to leave the game.

2005-06 3-3-5: A player who has been injured to the extent that the coach or any other bench personnel is beckoned and/or comes onto the court shall be directed to leave the game unless a time-out is requested by, and granted to, his/her team and the situation can be corrected by the end of the timeout.

2013-14 3-3-6: A player who has been injured to the extent that the coach or any other bench personnel is beckoned and comes onto the court must be directed to leave the game, unless a time-out is requested by, and granted to, his/her team and the situation can be corrected by the end of the timeout.

2024-25 3-3-6: Requires a player who has been injured to be removed from the game if the coach is beckoned by the official, whether the coach enters the playing area or not, or if bench personnel (i.e., a coach or athletic trainer) enters the court without being beckoned. The coach may still use a time-out to continue assessment of the injury and keep the injured player in the game.

Interesting evolution of this rule, some of it unannounced.

Previous to 2005-06 (my books only go back to 1996-97), a coach couldn’t “buy” his player back into the game with a timeout if the coach was beckoned and/or came onto the court.

Previous to 2013-14, if a coach was beckoned, but didn’t enter the court, the player was still directed to leave the game (timeout exception added in 2006-07).

From 2013-14 to 2023-24, if a coach was beckoned, but didn’t enter the court, the player was not directed to leave the game.

Now, in 2024-25, we have a rule citation that says that if a coach was only beckoned, but didn’t enter the court, the player is now (once again) directed to leave the game (with timeout exception). And we also have actual rule language (I believe for the first time) in support that a coach can enter the court to attend to an injured player without an official beckoning.

Forty-plus years ago, our local interpreter told us that if a coach entered the court to attend to an injured player without officially being beckoning, we were to “deem” him to be beckoned. He didn’t want any technical fouls charged to coaches for leaving the bench (seat belt rule back then, coaching box later) to attend to an injured player without officially being beckoning.

Refuse To Enter The Court ...
 

Last season, I actually had a coach refuse to enter the court to attend to his injured player after I beckoned him. Best player, fourth period of a close game. He didn't want to "burn" a timeout to keep his best player in the game. Sure enough, in a few short seconds, the "injured" star player bounced back up and was ready to play. The coach obviously knew his player (a former Academy Award winner) much better than me.

Patience ...
 

Not a big change, but now officials should patiently wait a second or so before beckoning just to make sure that help is needed. Don't need an upset coach that has to burn a timeout because an official "reflexively" beckoned when there was no actual need to beckon, and the player pops back up in a short time.

And what exactly changes between how I handled this last year and how I'll handle it this year? I still waited a bit if it was unclear -- the coach was always free to come on his own.

Blood rule is good for small things that a bandaid can fix, which is probably what the committee was thinking.

Misty Watercolor Memories (The Way We Were, Barbra Streisand,1973) …
 

I was wrong, off by a year, but still wrong.

Casebook plays from 1996-97 to 2004-05 confirm that a coach couldn’t “buy” his player back into the game with a timeout if the coach was beckoned and/or came onto the court.

Rule changed (timeout exception) in 2005-06.

I'll correct above.

Reflexively ...
 

Same here, not by rule (previous to 2024-25), but by local interpretation.

If a coach "reflexively"" enters the court to check on an injured player without being officially beckoned, no penalty except to "burn" a timeout (if he has one) to keep such a player in the game, or to have such a player "sit a tick".

Leaving the coaching box (or the bench in ancient times) has (locally) , and will continue (nationally) to be ignored during possible injury situations.

We now have it in the NFHS rule language.

Patience Is A Virtue ...
 

I just want to avoid doing this (below).

Next year, even if the coach doesn't enter the court, if he was beckoned (visually and verbally for everyone to see and hear), he has to burn a timeout (if he has one), or have the player "sit a tick".

Now that we have rulebook language that seems to indicate that there is no technical foul for leaving the coaching box in an injury situation (never was by local interpretation), I intend to be more patient to beckon in such situations.

If flopping has become enough of an issue under NFHS rules that it's being addressed with a rule change, why isn't the penalty a player technical instead of a team technical foul. :confused:

Better to charge it to the player and have them halfway to disqualification to drive the point home that there's no place for flopping in the game. A team technical may not be enough of a deterrent for someone who wants to flop repeatedly.

If they want to keep it a team technical, at least make it akin to the plane violation rule where a single player repeatedly breaking the plane is ultimately subject to receiving a player technical per rule 10-4-5-d. If a player is flopping repeatedly, it deserves the same treatment.


That said, I'm glad none of the proposals to tinker with team fouls for the bonus passed. What we have now works well.

You make it a player technical and you'll have less enforcement. I think as it is it will be over called.

Two free throws and loss of possession are significant enough that a coach will get his TEAM to stop. I really don't think any coach is going to leave a player in the game who's repeatedly costing his team 2 free throws and possession.

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Complicated ...
 

So if B1 flops in the first period, Team B gets a warning.

If B1 flops again in the second period, he gets a player technical foul, whereas if the second flop by a Team B player had been by B2 instead, if would be a team technical foul on Team B?

In a different game, if defender B1 illegally breaks the boundary plane in the first period, we warn Team B for delay.

If B1 again illegally breaks the boundary plane in the second period, don't we only charge Teams B with team technical foul for delay, and not charge B1 with a player technical foul?

Let us make it clear, they took this rule from other levels. This was never a stated NF rule despite what people want to say. Nothing ever backed up the language that flopping the way described was to be penalized. Seems like they are even expanding what they feel is the rule or not the rule. ;)

The other levels or at least NCAA Men's gave this a one-shot T and it was put in a category that rarely ejected a player. It was not a personal foul or went towards the 5 possible fouls a player could get. I think they tried to make the penalty for the act somewhat minor so we would call it. I know I am going to call it now. It will not be something a player will foul out on and I get to make a point while the team only loses the ball and gains points from the opponent. And it is only a T after a warning.

Peace

A video from A Better Official covering technical fouls presented a scenario where the same player keeps violating the throw-in plane over and over as a potential basis for assessing a player T under 10-4-5-d versus the usual team technical foul for delay.

https://youtu.be/bcqIOUB1Xw0?feature=shared&t=823

I suppose we will see how well the rule change addresses flopping in the upcoming season. If it works as intended, great. If not, I won't be surprised if there are tweaks proposed for 2025-26.

It wasn't? The text reads "Changes the penalty for faking being fouled...."

Notice the word "Changes". Rule 10-4-6f.


Additionally...from referee mag in 2020: https://www.referee.com/flopping-for...repercussions/

Are they getting rid of 10-4-6f? If not, then that was not the intent of the rule. Again you intend a vague language to support something, you support it with interpretations that have meaning. This had no meaning that suggested flopping.

Peace

Dueling Banjos (Deliverance, 1972) ...
 

Even Greg Austin admits that 10-4-5-D Player Technical "stumps" him.

10-4-5-D: Player Technical: A player must not: Repeated violations of the throw-in, as in 9-2-10.

9-2-10: Throw-In Provisions: The opponent(s) of the thrower shall not have any part of his/her person through the inbounds side of the throw-in boundary-line plane until the ball has been released on a throw-in pass.

When does the Player Technical "kick" in?

In my situation above?

Third time by same player?

Fourth time by same player?

Fifth time on the same player, as Greg Austin described?

At what point does this become a travesty situation, leading to the "nuclear" option?

5-4-1: Forfeiture: The referee may also forfeit a game if any player, team member, bench personnel or coach … repeatedly commits technical-foul infractions or other acts which make a travesty of the game

It becomes a double "dueling banjos" issue.

First, when the same player violates twice, or more, a choice between Player Technical or Team Technical.

And then (more violations by the same player) a choice between another technical or a forfeit.

I wonder if 10-4-5-D is an "artifact" from before we had the various delay warnings and penalties, and has somehow "survived" over the many years for someone like Stat-Man, Greg Austin, or Billy Mac to "stumble" over?

Dunking a Dead Ball.
 

I just sat down this afternoon to read the NFHS Press Release because I was in Akron this past weekend watching Mark, Jr. umpire in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference Softball Championship Tournament and only had my NFHS and NCAA Softball books with me.

I want to thank BillyMac for climbing into his attic at address the changes to R3-S3-A6 and its history for me, ��!

I will address the "flopping" rule later because many of you know position on this situation, and I intend to address it in the Facebook Groups: Wood County Basketball Officials Association, NFHS - Basketball Officials, and Basketball Officials Forum.

Therefore I will address the "Dunking a Dead Ball" rules change. The rule change is, essentially, returning to the Penalty when the Rule was amended by the NBC for 1971-72. The Penalty was an Administrative TF; it was not charged to the Dunker (and of course it did not count toward the Team Totals nor was it charged as an IDTF to the HC).

MTD, Sr.

It wasn't? What was the intent of the rule? Isn't flopping the same thing as "faking being fouled"? Were the people at Referee mag all wrong years ago?

The rule talks about FTs, not fouls during a play. And again, there was a case play that addressed that, never one that addressed a flop or even called anything a flop.

Peace

Conjunction Junction, What's Your Function …
 

Schoolhouse Rock, 1973

At the risk of wading onto a pool of sharks, I’d like to enter this debate.

JRutledge is 100% correct that the word “flop” is not found anywhere in the current rulebook or casebook, nor do I believe that it was ever found in past rulebooks or casebooks.

Flopping is not a formal rule language term, but an informal colloquial term used by many in the world of basketball.

However, while the old rule did mention free throws, it used the coordinating conjunction “or” which means that any part of the sentence can stand by itself, i.e., only "faking being fouled".

While I agree with bucky that flopping is the same as faking being fouled, I also agree with JRutledge that there is now much more in the rule with the addition of the faking being fouled definition in Rule 4.

The important take away is that the penalty has changed (player technical changed to team warning followed by team technical).

NFHS Previous To 2024-25: 10-4-6-F: Player Technical: A player must not: Commit an unsporting foul. This includes, but is not limited to, acts or conduct such as: Faking being fouled, knowingly attempting a free throw, or accepting a foul to which the player was not entitled.

NFHS 2024-25: 10-2-1g, 10-4-6f: Team Warning, Team Technical: Establishes a procedure for officials to issue a team warning on the first instance of faking being fouled. The warning is recorded in the scorebook and reported to the head coach. Any additional instances will result in a team technical foul.

NFHS 2024-25: 4-49: Faking being fouled as when a player simulates being fouled or makes theatrical or exaggerated movements when there is no illegal contact. Examples include, but are not limited to, embellishing the impact of incidental contact on block/charge plays or field goal attempts, using a “head bob” to simulate illegal contact and using any tactic to create an opinion of being fouled to gain an advantage.

https://c-fa.cdn.smule.com/rs-s32/ar...d3077_1024.jpg

Dunkin' Donuts ...
 

1) High school age and middle school age athletes are less likely to easily be able to successfully dunk and thus are more likely to injure themselves trying to do something that they struggle to do compared to older college and professional athletes.

2) Break, or bend, a rim in a high school gym, or a middle school gym, and one is less likely going have a readily available replacement rim, and/or someone skilled enough to quickly replace it, or repair it, than in a college gym, or a professional gym.

In an interscholastic game, a bent, or broken rim, is more likely to result in both teams (players, coaches, cheerleaders), one team that traveled to the game in an expensive bus, paid officials, paid table crew, paid police officer in the corner, paid press and photographers, and hundreds of ticket buying fans, postponing the game, turning out the gym lights, and going home, than in a collegiate, or professional game.

I see bent, and broken, rims all the time on outdoor playground backboards.

I really don't want to see such in my interscholastic gyms.

All of that stuff could have been said regarding college ball but now they are allowed. In addition, there are far more dunks in the same gym, outside of a game, and the number of equipment failures is, oh, idk, a few.

https://www.sbnation.com/2015/6/9/87...technical-foul

BillyMac - you probably enjoy https://basketballuniverse.io/dunkin...armups-exists/

Few, sure I'll agree with that, but not never.

While I personally don't agree much with the sportsmanship issue (obviously many others did), I still contend that it will be a lot easier to get the rim repaired, or replaced before (or during) an intercollegiate game, or a professional game, then before (or during) an interscholastic game.

I don't care about dunks and broken, or bent rims, in physical education classes, intramurals, or basketball practice, just dunks and broken, or bent rims, before (still illegal) and during (legal) my interscholastic game that night.

If the rim breaks, or is bent, in physical education classes the morning of my night game, and can't be repaired, or replaced, in a timely manner, I don't care, I'll get a call before my game telling me that my interscholastic game is postponed.

I do care very much if the rim breaks, or is bent, fifteen minutes before my interscholastic game, and can't be repaired, or replaced, that night.

I also care very much if the rim breaks, or is bent, during my interscholastic game, and can't be repaired, or replaced, that night, but it's legal and I have no control over that situation, except for a dead ball dunk, and in both cases, that would really piss me off.

Even if the rim could be repaired, or replaced, in a timely manner, I would probably still be too late to hang out with the guys at the local watering hole.

They're not going to wait for me to order.

Interesting...lots of use of the word "care." If it breaks, don't you still get paid? Game is done/rescheduled and you can get to the watering hole early.;)

I have had scoreboards/AP arrows/shot clocks/etc., all malfunction or not work, but have never experienced a broken rim, while officiating or playing.

Guess I have been lucky:)

The rule, as written, was "Fake being fouled, attempt a free throw, or accept a foul that one is not entitled to". For some reason, the rules writers conflated "faking being fouled" with other infractions that abuse the foul calling and enforcement process. Because the rules writers failed to define what "faking being fouled" was, it forced officials to come up with their own interpretations. I thus defined faking being fouled as a player embellishing incidental contact or acting as if there was contact to draw a call (e.g. sitting down on a block/charge play).

Thankfully NFHS has cleaned this up this year.

Caring ...
 

I wouldn't officiate for free, but I don't do it for the money.

I like working my games as scheduled, as do players, coaches, cheerleaders, table crew, police officer in the corner, press, photographers, and hundreds of fans.

Pain In The A** ...
 

I agree that it is rare, but when it does happen immediately before, or during, an interscholastic game, it's a big deal, at best, a very long wait, or at worst, a postponement.

The Whole Truth, And Nothing But The Truth ...
 

That's only a part of the story. Here's the whole story.

The following is an excerpt from an article, “Who’s Trent Tucker? And Why Is There A Basketball Rule Named After Him?” that appeared in IAABO “Sportorials” magazine in May 2018.

When Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul Jabbar) (UCLA 1966-1969, NBA 1969-1989) started playing basketball for UCLA Bruins, NCAA officials felt that the seven foot, two inch All-American center, being especially tall and athletic, could place the ball over the rim and throw it through the hoop with ease. This feat of athleticism which we all know as the dunk, and seems so routine now, was not so routine back in the mid-1960’s. It was considered unfair that he could do it so easily. The dunk was seen as taboo among “purists,” it did not “display basketball skill, only height advantage,” against the very nature of basketball itself. So the NCAA banned dunking in 1967. This was called the “Alcindor Rule”. Another reason dunking was outlawed was to prevent injury and equipment damage. A distorted rim could delay a game. As a result of the rule, Alcindor developed a great hook shot, the “Sky Hook”, which he used effectively during his playing days in college, and in the NBA. After multiple issues with the new rule and the invention of the breakaway rim the NCAA allowed the dunk to be legal again during 1976-1977 season which was shortly after UCLA Coach John Wooden's retirement. The “Alcindor Rule” eventually trickled down to NFHS rules. In 1967, the NFHS banned dunking in high school basketball games. In 1970, the NFHS also prohibited dunking during pregame warmups. Like the NCAA, the NFHS reversed itself in 1976 and a rule change allowed dunking during the game but not during pregame warmups, nor during intermissions, and with a later rule change in 1978 outlawing dunking a dead ball.

Darryl Dawkins (NBA 1975-1989), the Philadelphia 76ers six foot, eleven inch, 251 pound center, in a game against the Kansas City Kings at Municipal Auditorium on November 13, 1979 dunked and broke the backboard sending the King’s Bill Robinzine ducking away. Three weeks later he did it again, this time at home against the San Antonio Spurs at the Spectrum. Thus, Dawkins became famous for his backboard shattering dunks and is credited for being the player to cause the NBA to introduce breakaway rims. Breakaway rims are now an essential element of the game of basketball. A broken backboard or distorted rim could delay a game for hours. In 1981 the NFHS adopted specifications for breakaway rims.

Shaquille O'Neal (LSU 1989-1992, NBA 1992-2011) a seven foot, one inch, 325 pound center, was one of the heaviest players ever to play in the NBA. O'Neal dunked with so much power that he broke the steel supports holding backboards during games against the New Jersey Nets and the Phoenix Suns while playing for the Orlando Magic during the 1992–93 NBA season. This prompted the NBA to increase the strength and stability of the backboard supports and change the stanchion design for the following 1993–94 season. The NFHS added backboard support specifications to the rules in 1996-97.

I have had an NCAA D1 game delayed because of a rim being damaged due to dunking.

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Raise Your Hand If You''re Sure ...
 

Back in high school we were coached to raise our hand (back when it was actually a mandatory rule to raise one's hand when charged with a foul) when we were in the vicinity of our best players being charged with a foul.

It occasionally worked.

And we were never penalized for trying (wink, wink, gamesmanship).

For some reason, nobody ever raised their hand for me.

My opening game in the 19(74)-75 AIAW Div. I Florida Sub-Regional delayed because of a bent rim that had to be replaced.

MTD, Sr.

So does that make for once in over 4 decades? 5? 6? lol, seems like allowing it is worth that risk.

Exactly. They're just emphasizing and spelling it out while decreasing the penalty since very few called it and some even denied it even existed.

There was never a definition for flopping or even the word "flopping" used in any rulebook or interpretation. It was never spelled out how to enforce or the multiple situations in which a player can flop. So if that was the intent, it was horribly executed or stated. Now that they put in this rule, some people do not even understand how you even adjudicate this current rule yet for some real situations. People are now debating when you stop the game. But this was so clearly defined before right? LOL!!!!!

Peace

The F-Word ...
 

Still isn't.

4-49 (NEW), 10-2-1g (NEW), 10-4-6f: Changes the penalty for faking being fouled from a player technical to a warning for the first violation and a team technical for any subsequent offense and adds a definition and examples. Rationale: Allows officials to issue a warning before assessing a technical and the technical will now be assessed to the team and not the player, lessening the severity of the penalty while addressing the behavior.

Faking being fouled is defined in Rule 4-49-1 as when a player simulates being fouled or makes theatrical or exaggerated movements when there is no illegal contact. Examples include, but are not limited to, embellishing the impact of incidental contact on block/charge plays or field goal attempts, using a “head bob” to simulate illegal contact and using any tactic to create an opinion of being fouled to gain an advantage. The new language also establishes a procedure for officials to issue a team warning on the first instance of faking being fouled. The warning is recorded in the scorebook and reported to the head coach. Any additional instances will result in a team technical foul and not a player technical foul, which was previously the case.

Maybe we'll see the F-word when the NFHS comments on the 2024-25 Basketball Point of Emphasis Faking Being Fouled; or when the NFHS publishes annual interpretations.

"Flopping" used in the announcement

I agree that in your example that might not be fully listed, but it appears they are using the word to describe the types of action in their announcement. We do not have the rulebooks yet and see if they use it as apart of the rule. But even if they don't, they are clearly addressing this situation. It was not about the wording for me, it was the fact they gave examples that are bigger than a block-charge play which people only seemed to focus on. And then they were so adamant they would T up a player for doing that, but never considered things like falling on shots or "head bob" actions that are also considered flops at other levels before this new rule change.

Peace

I have not had a head bob happen in my games yet, but I have had the shooter falling down, players falling to exaggerate contact, and players sitting down on block/charge plays. In women's college games, play is stopped "at the next stoppage of the game clock" to report the warning (4-14.2). The technical foul for a second or subsequent offense is called as usual for any other technical foul.

NFHS can follow the women's college protocol, or they might choose to follow the old men's protocol of stopping the game immediately after the play the flop happened on ends. We will have to wait until the new rulebook is officially published to find out.

The F-Word Has Been Spotted ...
 

... possibly for the first time ever.

A new definition and subsequent warning for faking being fouled (flopping) has been added to the NFHS Basketball Rules Book for the 2024-25 season.