If a person goes up for a shot and air balls, and the ball hits the ground, Is that person allowed to get the ball without any person touching it? In other words is he able to be the first person to touch the ball without a violation being called on him.

At what level? Rules can be different for high school, college, pro and FEEBLE.

In high school in the US, this is legal.

Sometimes "driveway rules" are whatever the driveway owner says they are.

An attempted shot ends player control and team control. The shooter can recover without penalty

Ya beat me to it Mark, but good points. I neglected to consider anything other than Fed...

Legal in NCAA. Illegal in NBA. FIBA- ?

As everyone said, legal. And btw, you don't have to wait for the ball to bounce on the floor, even off the backboard is legal, or as it comes down from over the top.

I have looked at the FIBA Rules Book and Casebook and cannot find any rule or casebook play that prohibits the shooter from being the first player to touch that ball after shooting an airball. Maybe Mark Padgett can come to my aid on this play.

MTD, Sr.

Legal in FIBA.

Uh, Juulie, wouldn't "over the top" make it OOB, and thus illegal?
Good point though about not having to wait for it to hit the floor. In NFHS or NCAA you may catch your own airball.
See the Nevada/GT game in this year's NCAA tourney.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Nevadaref

Quote:

Uh, Juulie, wouldn't "over the top" make it OOB, and thus illegal?

As long as it doesn't touch any supports or cables or anything it should be ok, right ???

I'm just guessing, but I think she means "over the top of the basket". Up, over the rim without touching, and down on the other side.

You're right -- the ball passing over a rectangular backboard is a violation; however, I don't think that's what Juulie had in mind.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by cmckenna

Quote:

Originally posted by Nevadaref Quote: Uh, Juulie, wouldn't "over the top" make it OOB, and thus illegal? As long as it doesn't touch any supports or cables or anything it should be ok, right ???

Nope. If it passes over any part of a rectangular backboard (front to back, or back to front) it's a violation.

Wow!! Chuck's not only a nice guy, but a mind-reader, as well. That's exactly what I meant. I think these are probably the most common "air-ball travels", aren't they?

I'm not a mind-reader. I am, however, a logician. And one fundamental logical form is the disjunctive syllogism. If you only have two choices, and you know one of them can't be true, then logic dictates that the other must be true.

My choices were:

1) Juulie thinks it's legal for the ball to pass over a rectangular backboard; or

2) Juulie's talking about a ball that goes over the basket.

I knew (1) was false. It was easy after that :)


I would go with the jumper that comes up short. But as others sometimes say, YMMV.

Yeah, right. :)

Nice save, Chuck. ;)