I believe it is a violation for a defender to place his/her hand directly in front of an offensive player's face - to block their vision (I think it is a player without the ball?)...but I cannot locate this in my Rule or Case book.

I thought I read this in one of those, but cannot find it now. Brain freeze, I guess. Or maybe I'm making the whole thing up :) Can anyone help?

If you think it's a violation, then you're probably looking is Rule 9.

It's not a violation -- it's a technical foul. See rule 10 (and, check out the rules cahnges on the nfhs site).

New rule change next year...

10-3-7d Expanded rule pertaining to obstructing an opponent’s vision to include the player with the ball.

Does this rule exist in the NBA? I know it's not called, but does it exist?

lrpalmer3,
I do not think you know that. ;)
mick

So true. I have seen it blatantly ignored.

On the NFHS and NCAA level, a T seems kinda harsh doesn't it? Same for leaving the court, as in running around a screen. That's also a T and seems harsh.

Sigh. I guess you missed it when it was called in the Sac/Minn series, when the Sac defender was pretty much covering Garnett's face. . . :(

I guess I missed it. Funny though because I thought I watched every minute of every game. Hopefully I don't blank out for minutes at a time in games I'm calling. :)

As I recall this was pretty much ignored until Garnett had the presence to push his face into the defender's hand.

Ahh yes I remember that, it was pretty funny actually.

Have you seen the hand in face during the promos
 

I cringe everytime I see the promos for the playoffs. There is a quick scene of someone holding their hand in front of the face of the guy with the ball.

Now, I know next year, I will see it a lot and will have to call it.

Thanks for the references. I did see the NBA promo with the hand in the face and that is what caused me to remember reading about this.

I do think, if the promo causes kids to do this, some coaches will be shocked when their kid is T'd up.

Maybe b/c the official didn't feel Garnett's vision was being obstructed until that point? :shrug:

With hands like some of the guys in the NBA, it wouldn't be too hard to block someones vision ;)

NOW HOLD ON A MINUTE!
 

So you mean it's also illegal to put ones hand in front of the face of a jump shooter to obstruct the view of the rim while jumping to defend a jump shot???

Because that tactic is older than Moses.


And if not...then why should it be illegal to do the same while defending a player with both feet on the court????

Re: NOW HOLD ON A MINUTE!
 

Look at NCAA Rule 10-7.3: "Purposely obstructing an opponent's vision by waving or placing hand(s) near his or her eyes" is a direct technical foul, no matter whether the opponent is a jump shooter, set shooter, dribbler, screener, etc. The reasoning behind this, I'd guess, is that this can be very dangerous. Note that the hand(s) need to be near the eyes to be illegal. Simply raising your hand and obscuring your opponent's sight line is legal.

The NCAA rulebook is downloadable from http://www.ncaa.org. You might want to take a look.