Interpretation.

[Camron Rust]

Our state interpreter clearly stated in our annual clinic that a defender who has a foot on the line while playing normal defense has NOT violated. This is supported by casebook 4.23.3B where the defender is called for the block. If it were to be a violation, the defender could never be guilty of the block since the ball would be dead the moment the defender stepped on the line.

Applying that to this play, there is no violation. The steal is legal since the player that stole the ball was not OOB.

Stepping on/over a boundary line when playing otherwise legal defense only has the ramification of loosing LGP.

"Leaving the court" is not equivalent to being OOB. The purpose of the leaving the court rule is to prevent a player from gaining an advantage that would/could have not been obtained by remaining inbounds. In this play, whether the defender has a foot 1/4" inbounds or 12" OOB has no material impact on the play. The impact on the dribbler was not changed.


[Edited by Camron Rust on Dec 1st, 2005 at 01:51 PM]