I am in my 3rd year. Had this happen last night.

Boys Freshman 3 seconds left. Team behind shooting the tail end of 2 shot free throw. Shooter throws the ball hard at the basket. Ball hits the rim then the backboard and bounces back to the shooter. I am under the basket. The trail calls a violation saying you must attempt to make the shot. I looked and still can't find it in the book. Any thoughts?

JWC

Unfortunately, I don't have my rule book with me, but I believe all it states is that the ball must hit the rim. I can't see why this is any different than a player making an 'honest' attempt and then getting his own rebound. If the ball hits the rim, it's live, and A+ for hustle to the first player that gets there--even if it is the shooter. Did your partner penalize late in the game when teams were running 4-corners and 'not attempting' to score?

NCAA Rule 9.1.2a: The free-thrower shall release the try within 10 seconds and in such a way that the ball enters the basket or touches the ring or flange before the free throw ends.

Your free thrower did this. No violation, IMHO.

Your partner blew it. :(

I'm not even a referee, and that was a stupid call!

Matthew

If I am coaching, this is one of those calls I would feel pretty compelled to argue! I would also be talking to the league, and I rarely do that. This is a common end of game scenario and refs need to know this rule.

As all the posts above say - your partner doesn't have a clue as to what the rule is. Is this guy a real veteran? If so, that might explain why he is doing freshman games.

Since he is so intuitive as to be able to decide whether a player was really trying to score by the manner in which he releases the ball, I wonder if he would have made the same call (and waived off the point) if the ball had gone in due to some fluke.

Try explaining that to a coach!

If I'm on defense I would love that kind of call at the end of a game Mark! We coaches really aren't so unreasonable now!