Team A has the ball for a throw-in under their basket after a made basket. Team A is down to its last player, but they are leading by 143 with one minute left.

How does A1 in bound the ball?

Can A1 throw the ball and have it hit team B's rim then grab the ball and continue up the court? Bouncing the ball off the backboard would be considered a dribble (if the ball was already in bounds) but what about on a throw in and the ball hits the him?

Hitting the rim is the same as hitting the floor -- so that's not sufficient for A1 to then touch the ball.

A1 should try to get the ball to hit a B player and / or toss the ball down the court to waste as much time as possible before B obtains posession.

What if A1 managed to get the ball to hit the backboard??

It's no different then it hitting the floor, unless you're talking about the back of the backboard which would be an throwin violation.

If he's really up by an insurmountable lead, then he doesn't need to worry about inbounding it. Just toss it to B1, let him score. Hold the ball for 4 seconds, then toss it to B1, let him score. Hold the ball for 4 seconds. . . The most Team B could get is 45 points.

And if they're that far behind, even as all the A players are fouling out. They sure won't hit everyone of those shots!

But just in case this is a trick question, I'd like to challenge your first sentence that "Team A has the ball for a throw-in under their basket after a made basket. " If the throw-in is under Team A's basket, it was Team A that made the shot, and Team B would get the ball. If Team A is inbounding after a made basket, the inbound would be under B's basket.

Since I'm the first to point out this minor discrepancy, do I get a trophy?

At least a "Good Job!" pencil?

Can you give an attaboy to a girl?

It's dodgeball time baby. A1 needs to throw the ball off of a team B player to legally touch the throw-in.

In your situation the smart thing to do is hold the ball for 4 seconds and than throw the ball high and deep to the other end, as this will take a few more seconds off the clock.

If the clock is stopped then A needs to try to hit a B player with the throw-in.

Throw it high, almost straight up intending it to bounce at half court, with the majority of the momentum being downward, not forward, the ball will either bounce several more times and take another 5 seconds to actuall get out of bounds, or team B will become impatient and grab the ball.

After a few times and Team B becomes impatient quicker and just starts catching the ball, start throwing it futher and further away, but still very high. Now team B is catching the ball at the other FT line, takes a few more seconds for the ball to get there and for them to dribble it back to half court.

Once they start moving all their players back, then change up and (without letting the ball touch the end line) roll the ball very slowly on the ground making them all run from past half court up to get the ball, this should take 4-6 seconds to accomplish.

Now you really have them guessing.

The deeper we get into the off-season, the worse the scenarios get! :(

A1 throws the ball to bounce off B1's head and into A1's basket, does is count?

When does the season start?

No nearly soon enough. :^/

I'm just glad we have figured out the best strategy when a team only has 1 player and a 148 point lead, I will see if coaches deploy this strategy in the upcoming season.

Aren't you also making the flawed assumption that there are a large number of coaches reading this forum to better understand the rules?

:D

There is at least one, moi.

And you now have a HUGE advantage over most coaches: you're reading this forum so you have a better understanding of the rules and what we do, AND now you have a great "ahead by 143 with only one player" end-of-game strategy that no one else knows about!

Are you saying that Coaches don't come here to learn the rules? I don't believe it.

I don't know about the other coaches, but I only come here to verify my feeling that all refs are arrogant pri&*s who are only out there to show us coaches "who da man is".

Just kidding just kidding.

This will be quite useful in Michigan now that they have done away with their mercy rule. :)

From a FIBA perspective - this sitch can't possibly happen.

Under FIBA rules a team MUST have two players on the court, or else they forfeit (regardless of score).

Which leads me to ask - has anyone had a game where one team has been left with just one player? I had a game a few years ago that went into 5 periods of extra time and both teams were left with 3 players on the court (one team started with 8, one with 9 players). Thankfully a player hit the winning free-throw with about 2 seconds to go, thus preventing it from going into a 6th OT!

Anyone had something similar? Does anyone know what the record is for periods of OT?

Indiana high school record is 9.

I don't remember the team, I just know I drive through it on the way to Indianapolis and it is on their city limit sign. I think it is Swayzee, Indiana. Good old Indiana, before the say the population or the mayor's name or the actual city limits sign they tell you how many state championships their high school has won in basketball.

I had an intramural game where one team started with 4 players (the fifth player had been ejected previously, but was allowed to come back and "coach" this game).

End of the 2nd half, the 4-man team has guys start fouling out. With just a few seconds left, I call a shooting foul, the 4-man team shoots FT's, and ties the game up.

Beginning of the OT, another guy fouls out, and they're now down to 2 players. The score was either tied, or the 4-man team was down by 1 or 2 with 1.5 on the clock, when yet another player fouled out - the 4-man team was now a 1-man team, and I called the game.