Closely Guarded ?

[Camron Rust]

Originally posted by Stat-Man
I'm not sure if it will help any, but I was thinking of the following:

If the situation was slightly different, say B1 is screened by A2 and A1 goes past the screen, we no longer have a closely guarded situation.

But returning to the case at hand, if A2 is about to set screen and B1 avoids it, they have one of two options:
* fight over it and remain in front of A1,
* go behind the screen and be in front of A2 while A1 is behind A2.

In the first one, the minimum distance is still maintained, so I'd undoubtly expect the count to continue.

In the second, the defense is taking the easy way out by going behind the screen and is no longer actively guarding A1. I'd be inclined to stop the count because the defense is not actively guarding the ball and because it doesn't seem right to reward defense that is retreating from the ball handler.

I'm not going to claim this agrees with the letter of the rules in NFHS, but it's just my thoughts on the subject at hand.

That screen would have to have a enormous girth to automatically force B1 six feet away from A1. If so, then I'd agree that B1 could be closely guarding. However, if B1 is more typical, it's not an automatic termination of the count.

Guarding (above or under the screen). Less than 6 feet. Count continues.