A shot from team A contacts the rim and bounces completely over the backboard without, touching anything, and is recovered by another player from team A.
Out-of-bounds or not?

OOB. Ball awarded to Team B.

Anything that passes over the backboard from the front is out of bounds.

Yep.. and remember that it can hit the top of the backboard (and bounce on it as many times as it wants) and not be out of bounds. All sides of the backboard are inbounds. Passing over the backboard or hitting the back of the backboard are out-of-bounds.

Z

Yep, that too! Thanks!

Unless the backboard is fan-shaped. Then the ball may pass over without being out of bounds.

Good point, forgot about those old things. We only have one school that still has those.

Z

Confession time: I kicked this one recently. Ball hit the rim and then went up and over. I called nothing since it hit nothing and landed near my partner's line (I was trail).

Where's that wet noodle?

It is also OOB if the ball passes over a rectangular backboard from the BACK.

Had this happen this weekend. We are playing on a court that has movable stantions like the NBA arenas. A kid drives the endline, finds himself trapped by two defenders, so he throws the ball up and over from behind. His pass touches nothing and lands near the FT line. Actually had to explain to the coach what the whistle was for.

And my understanding is that the reason for the rule was originally not to keep the ball from going front to back. Either Mikan's or Chamberlain's college team ran an OOB play every time the got the ball on their own end line. The big guy would set up a foot from the rim and the inbounder would lob the ball over the backboard. Nobody could block the pass, and the big guy could outjump everybody for it. Easy two points every time. The next season, you couldn't cause the ball to pass over the backboard.

Now that I think about it, maybe it was Chamberlain, b/c in Mikan's day, I think the backboards were all still fan-shaped. I don't really know for sure, tho.

I read someplace that it was Bill Russell when he first came into the NBA, and the rule then filtered down to amateur ball. Cousy useta run an OOB play to Russell that nobody could stop, so they legislated it out of existence.

Plausible, but my board interpreter (who told me the Chamberlain story) is a contemporary (age-wise) of Russell, so I would expect him to remember if it happened the way you say.

I've read George Mikan's biography, "Unstoppable" and there is no mention of this rule change. The book does mention other rule changes that were made due to Mikan so I have to surmise this change came after his playing days. Also - I think the rectangular backboard came way after he left the game.

I think the player that caused this change might have been Muggsy Bogues. ;)

I have come upon this same story when reading about Chamberlain. Additionally, during the season when the play first came about, opponents strung chicken wire from the back of the backboard (near the top) to the supporting structure of the backboard to prevent this.