Team A in possession in the backcourt and is being pressed by Team B. A1 throws the ball from backcourt to frontcourt and A2 and B2, both going for the ball collide before the ball reaches them. B gains possession. A coach is screaming for a foul. My partner, who was in position to make the call, told the coach it was incidental contact. I agree with him, but wonder if we made the right call.

thoughts?

As long as neither player put the other at a disadvantage before the collision, you have nothing even though the contact could have been severe. It sounds like you had two players who simply got to the same spot at the same time and ran into one another. It happens and it's a no call. My only advice is that you work to get good coverage angles so that you see the whole thing happen and truly can see if there was or was not any advantage gained by either player.

This is alway a tough one when A1 is a 6'6 250lbs and B1 is 5'11" 175lbs. A1 will have an advantage and B1 will bounch. B1's coach expects a call and sometimes there is nothing there. The book says sometimes minor contact is a foul and some severe contact is not a foul. You're darned if you do and darned if you don't. Just like it's already been said, better be in good position so you can explain your decision to the coaches.

Had one of these in a freshman girls' game. Loose ball in A's front court, A1 and B1 both go after it and their heads reach a spot at the same time. Completely incidental loose ball contact, neither player had advantageous position first. We played on for a second, as the girls looked like they were okay. One started wobbling shortly after, though, so we stopped the game.
Amazingly, neither coach questioned the no-call (probably because it happened right in front of A's bench and the coach saw it clearly.

Adam

Advantage/Disadvantage
 

While I agree with both of the previous post, one area that I see too often is when A1 is physically on top of B2 going for a lose ball and a "jump ball" is called. It's hard for me to understand that, with B2 pinned to the floor, he/she isn't at a disadvantage.
In this scenario, I will tend to go with a foul more times than not, with the person on top getting his/her number in the book.

Don't forget this posible option - The double foul.

PF on each player if equally responsible.

Change of possession dictates who gets ball.

Personally, I would not call a double foul is such a situation. As stated in the initial post, this is incidental contact, plain and simple. Just because we have violent contact, that doesn't mean we have a foul.

You had a freshman girls' game with only one of these? Wow, great game!

Re: Advantage/Disadvantage
 

In my games, anybody who lands on an opponent while the ball is on the floor gets a foul. You cannot jump on somebody else. I agree that this is allowed too often, Chuck. Grab it, it's a message-sender.

Are you kidding? With most of the freshman girls games around here, it's hard to find two excessively agressive girls on the same court going after the same loose ball. Apparently, the stars were aligned and the basketball gods were not kind that evening. I'd had another girl from the same team as the wobbly one hurt an ankle earlier (no contact) in the game.
I'll tell you, as someone with a daughter, it's not all that easy for me to see a young girl cry.

Had an 8th grade boys game last week. Ball is being passed to A2 B1 comes flying across the court and is airborne horizontaly (Feet were even with his head. Must have been a football player) crushes A2. Actually looked worse than it was. Could have made an arguement that they were both going for the ball. My call was an intentional foul with no complaints. A2 Coach was satisfied with the call and we played on.