Over and Back

[footlocker]

Here is the quote from the video. I had to stop and rewind a couple of times to make sure that I got this quote verbatim. It is discussing receiving an inbounds pass while straddling the midcourt line. "However, if the player accepting the ball, fumbles the ball and recovers with one foot still in the backcourt, then that player has violated the backcourt rule." Plus the video that goes with these words clearly shows that the girl representing the player never has player control, therefore no team control. Yet they said this was a violation.

However, there is a key in the words they use. The video says "fumbles." The 2002-2003 simplified and illustrated states that a fumble requires momentary control and a muff does not. If a player muffs a pass no team control, if I fumble a pass then I have control and a loose ball. Unfortunately since the video appears more like a muff than a fumble, I would have ruled differently than the video indicates.