As I was watching a youth game the other day there was a lot of banter in the stands about "3 seconds". I realized as I sat there that I do not understand the finer points of a 3 second violation. What is required for the violation to occur?

This call is probably the most varied from location to location, and from level to level.

The rule is that a player on the team with team control of the ball in the frontcourt may be in the free throw lane up to 3 seconds. The lane includes the free throw area, EXCEPT for the half-circle at the top where the ft shooter stands.

A player who is in the lane less than three seconds and then receives the ball and is jockeying for a shot is allowed some leeway, but she'll get the whistle if she passes the ball out. Furthermore, the player who thus receives the ball may get leeway, but her teammate also in the lane does not.

Also, there used to be a rule that the count was suspended if there was an interrupted dribble but that rule was changed a year or two ago.

Lastly, if a player from the team with control is trying to clear the lane, but there's a defender blocking her way, the call should not be made, unless she changes her mind, and uses her position in the key for an advantage.

Note that the ball must be in team control, and must have frontcourt status. So the entire time that the ball is coming up court from under the opponent's basket and is in the backcourt, the count doesn't start. Also, once a shot leaves the hand, there's no team control, so there can be no 3 seconds. Most parents get confused on this point. If there's a shot, miss, rebound, shot, miss, rebound, etc, all ten players can be in the lane for as long as it takes for the ball to either go into the basket or someone to get team control again.

In practice, at the varsity and jv level of high school ball, a lot of refs don't call it until there's a really blatant advantage. So if someone's just standing there, picking her nose, with one foot in the lane, and one out, it won't be called, until all of a sudden she receives a pass (open shot) or is used as a screen for a teammate to get an open shot.

Also, a lot of refs won't call a 3 second call on someone's who's at the top of the lane and has an inch or two of shoe in the "restricted area", but isn't playing into the lane.

I hope this helps.

4,5 & 6 seconds yes, but I haven't called "3 seconds" in years! :P

I usually judge the knowledge of the fans by the number of times they yell "3 seconds". If they yell it all the time it means it is the only rule they think they know.

Two Saturdays ago, I called "nine seconds" in a rec game. The team had three players in the lane for more than three seconds each.

Had a really obnoxious fan (think it was the same fan) yell for 3-seconds twice during a GV game on Friday. Only problem was, the ball was still in the back court on both occassions.

Had a really obnoxious fan (I think he took his cue from the coach) who would yell 3 seconds even when his own team had the ball. WTH?

How bout this one....

Had a fan yell "5 seconds" as the ball was being advanced into the frontcourt. Yelled it for most of the game. Still don't know if he was actually 'at' our game or not.

:D

Doesn't it make you want to take the ball and put it where the sun doesn't shine? Then I bet they will realize that three seconds is an ETERNITY!!!!

The other thing I notice, is that coaches will inform you of 3 second violations all the time in the first half, but evidently the players clean it up in the second half, cause I never hear from a coach about it again.

If I have a coach that is on me for a 3-second violation, I usually tell him I'm not seeing it and then go down to the other end an ding his player for three seconds.

Watching too much NBA? ;)

I had a coach, in an 8th grade girls game, demand a 3 sec. call on an inbound play!!! I told him "the ball wasn't even in play for 3 seconds." He just looked confused at that point :)

In my years of officiating, the fans who scream for a 3 second violation are 100% ignorant of how and when the violation actually ocurs. The violation IMO is purely an ADVANTAGE/DISADVANTAGE call.

From the OfficialForum.com archives (originally aired 4/2/02):

If your 3-second count is a little long, don't worry about it. You should count 3-seconds like this:

One.

Man, am I hungry. I could go for a nice slice right now. Or maybe Slider will send me a Krispy Kreme. Mmmmmmm. Doughnuts. Man, that Homer Simpson cracks me up. I wonder what it's really like to work in a nuclear power plant. . .

Two.

Is that cheerleader looking at me? I think she's looking at me!! Nope. Darn, she's looking at the point guard camped in the lane. Camped in the lane? Oh, yeah. . . Where was I?

Two-and-a-half.

"Blue. Clear the lane!"

Yawn. Scratch. Adjust pants.

"Blue! Get outta there!"

WWMTDSD? (What would Mark T. DeNucci, Sr do?)

Doggone it!!

Three!! TWEET!