I was watching the Finals of the Great Alaska Shootout on Friday night. Marquette vs South Carolina. There was a call toward the end of the game during a spot throw in. The official called traveling. One of the commentators agreed with the call and said you cannot move your pivot foot during a spot throw in. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Anyone else see this play? I still cannot get over it.

It is actually not traveling, just a violation. The person can litterly move a step to the right or left and as far back as he/she wants too.

The player has a box that I believe is 3 feet on each side that they can move in.

My understanding of that rule is that once you have established your "spot," then a player may step with one foot in any direction. If both feet are moving or in motion on a spot throw-in, then it is a violation. It's not called as a traveling violation but a spot throw-in violation. But it's basically the same concept as traveling. Is this right? Any comments.

You believe wrong. The box is a total 3 feet wide, not 6 feet. The thrower must keep one foot on or over the designated spot.

Travel
 

What I don't understand is why nobody said anything about this. I thought the other officials would have told the offical that made the call the correct rule. I am surprised the commentator did not know the rule and agreed with the official. The player may have gone over three ft on the inbound pass but it was hard to see. At first, I thought I was seeing things, then they showed it over on replay.

Here is the rule - Section 42

ART. 6 . . . The designated throw-in spot is 3 feet wide with no depth limitation and is established by the official prior to putting the ball at the thrower's disposal.

The thrower must keep one foot on or over the spot until the ball is released. Pivot-foot restrictions and the traveling rule are not in effect for a throw-in.

Re: Travel
 

It's unlikely that an NCAA D-1 official would call this violation merely for moving the pivot foot. I'd guess that in the official's judgment the player moved out of the space.

It's more likely, but wrong, for the official to use the travelling signal on this violation.

It's not at all unlikely for the commentator to not know the rule.

It's not at all unlikley for another official to not be able to help -- they shouldn't be watching the inbounder. (If the calling official said something along the lines of "travelling -- he moved his pivot foot" then one of the other officials would be more likley to intervene).

As others have pointed out, that's not correct, Nate. You can do the hokey-pokey during the throw-in, if you want to, as long as you stay within that 3-foot wide designated spot.

I agree with Bob. The violation was probably leaving the designated spot and the official simply used an inappropriate (but fairly common) signal to communicate that.

I've also heard that in some of these early tournaments in AK and HI that they use local, non-D1 officials. Sort of a benefit of having the tournament in your backyard. Does anybody know if that's true?

Re: Re: Travel
 

The first rule for watching sports on TV -- The commentators get paid for their personalities, and interesting voices, not for their intelligence. If you start listening carefully to their comments, they don't demonstrate any more understanding of the coaches or the players than they do of the refs. They are just plain .... uh, personalities.

It doesn't bother me when commentators get things wrong. I don't think many of them have ever cracked a rulebook. However, it always bugs me when I see officials on TV call traveling on the thrower for violating the 3-foot wide area. I've seen it several times. :(

Z

I live in Anchorage and was at the game when this call was made. We do use some local officials that I also work High School ball with. They are very good officials and would not call traveling on an inbound violation. This was a D-1 official from the lower forty-eight and when I went into the officials locker room after the game it was talked about and delt with. Don't listen to the commentators they don't usually have a clue when it comes to rule knowledge. I guess it goes to show that however good you are as an official, that we all make mistakes at one time or another. There were four officials from Anchorage and they worked with two officials from the lower forty-eight in each game that was played, except for the Womens games. They never worked in games together except for the Womens games.

[Edited by Ed Maeder on Nov 28th, 2005 at 05:00 PM]

That would be funny to see someone complete the Hokey-Pokey within 5 seconds.

"This was a D-1 official from the lower forty-eight and when I went into the officials locker room after the game it was talked about and delt with. "

I'm glad it was talked about after the game. They should have talked to the the commentators afterwards, too. I think the announcers should have to take a test to do a D1 game. They are giving a lot of people a lot of misinformation.

Here are the three officials that officiated that game according to the Box Score. Kelly Self is the only name I recognized. He is a fairly high profile D1 official.

Gabby Lujan, Kelly Self, Tim Gabutero