was using my Athletic Rules Study cd today to test my basketball knowledge for fun. and this T/F question came up:

Team B controls the game starting jump ball, Team A will start the AP when the first jump ball situation occurs.

I said TRUE

the program says FALSE

if it's false, why?

Team A will already have the arrow when the jump ball happens, the arrow will then go to B??

It's a technical definition question -- when does the AP start?

The key here is "will start the AP when the first jump ball situation occurs." The AP begins for Team A not when the first jump ball siutation occurs but immediately after Team B controls the tip. Team A is considered to have the AP until they relinquish it in the 1st held ball situation.

The question involved wording listed in Rule 6-4-1. The rule uses "establishes" while the Question used a synonym "starts".

The question fails to recognize that there is more than one aspect to AP. We are left in limbo to try to decipher which aspect the questioner is alluding to.

Start of the AP (WHAT)?

The AP procedure? If so then the program answer of false is correct. It is the team gaining control of the jump ball that ESTABLISHES the AP procedure thus setting the arrow to the opposing team. (By the way, the arrow is set the same way if I change 6-4-1 to read "The team NOT obtaining control of the jump ball establishes the Alternating-possession procedure, and the arrow is set toward their basket".

The AP throw-in? If the questioner wanted to know if A would start the first AP throw-in following the first jump ball because B controlled the jump then the program answer is wrong.

These kinds of questions show the ignorance of question makers toward the rules. Ambiguity has no place in these questions either.

Anybody know of tests like this on web?