How Many Players Needed to Finish

[Camron Rust]

Originally posted by stmaryrams
Rule 3.1.1 - ...When there is only one player participating for a tems, the team shall forfeit the game, unless the referee believes that team has an opportunity to win the game.

Had this on my class 1 test this year - got it right - of course!

Interesting thought about this rule...

The rule quite clearly states what is to happen a team gets to one player. However, it apears to be silent about 0 players.

Could a team continue with 0 players? Could they still win, if so?

I think the realistic answer is that it would be a forfeit once the last player fouled out (or was injured).

However, I could see a case for the game continueing with 0 players. Team A would throw the ball in then, persumably, score. Team B would violate the throw-in (5 seconds) since there was no one to throw the ball in. Repeat until time runs out. If A had a big enough lead, they could theoretically maintain the lead even with no players on the floor.

If any of the players were out due to an injury, the clever coach, in order to continue the game, would put an injured player into the game with the instructions to simply sit on the floor in front of the bench....allowing the other team to play unhindered and accepting the throw-in violations that would occur.