Passcatcher allowed a step?

[Camron Rust]

Originally posted by duketownie
The situation: A fastbreak. An offensive player who's running hard upcourt catches the outlet pass in the midcourt area. However, a defender plants herself in the area where the offensive player will take her first step after catching the pass. So, of course, the offensive player, whose head is naturally turned back downcourt in order to catch the pass, crashes into the planted defender after making the catch and either travelling or, worse, a charge is called on the offensive player.

Correct call? Or should it be a blocking foul on the defender for not giving the offensive player a fair chance to avoid contact (like a step and a half)?

Correct.

If the offensive player catches the ball prior to the contact, the defender must either be in the spot before the offensive player jumps or, if they take the spot after the offensive player jump, allow the offensive player room to get one foot down after the jump.

If the offensive player doesn't catch the ball before contact, the defender must be in the spot even earlier...allowing the opponent up to 2 steps to stop...depending on speed.

What's peculiar about this play is that a position that a defender takes that is "too late" becomes "in time" if the opponent catches the ball.

Also, how could a charge call be worse than traveling when the former actually happened and the latter didnt? It's gutless to make up a travel that never occurred.