Had this happen in a game I was observing t'other day. A1 is dribbling. B1 has established a legal guarding position on A1 and the official has now reached 3 on a closely-guarded count on A1. A1 at this time loses control of the dribble--he over-ran it- and then had to turn quickly and go back and resume the dribble. The official kept the count going and rang A1 up at the 5-second mark for a closely-guarded violation?

Good call?

Assuming in the frontcourt?

9-10-3 and 9.10.3.

No.

Did he intentionally give up his dribble?:D

Sounds like it should have been an interrupted dribble and a fresh count.

In a few NCAA Mens games I was watching I noticed something about the closely guarded count. (I didn't pay attention to this in all of the games, but it seemed very noticeable in some.)

For those who do college or who may know, is there a general philosophy about not counting for closely guarded until it is near or inside 3 feet?

I believe by rule, NCAA mens is the same as NFHS - six feet. But, several times it seemed the defensive player was well within six feet with no count. The official was doing the "arms spread out" indicating no count until the defensive player was almost right on the offensive player.

Not criticizing here - just wondering if there is a general philiopshy in NCAA mens that this is how we want to call this.

NCAA uses the philosophy actively guarding when it comes to a closely guarded count, so just being within 6 feet does not guarantee a count.

For NCAAW, closely guarded is by rule within 3 feet. That was new for 2004-05.

A little different because:
Not while dribbling.
Only while holding.
Anywhere on the court