NCAA Block/Charge Definition

[rockyroad]

Originally Posted by Texas Aggie

No, its because there's no coherent rationale for declaring a small portion of the court as a "charge-free" zone. There is significant play under the basket or backboard where this rule gives the offensive player a totally unfair advantage. Why should the offense have this advantage by rule? The rule, which I'm not sure is spelled out in the actual set of rules (is is?), talks about a "dribbler" which is undefined. Take a play where a dribbler goes airborne and runs into a defender, you have either a no call or a block, even if the defender was in an otherwise legal guarding position. Take the exact same play where the offensive player received a pass and went up. Do we have a charge now because she wasn't a "dribbler?" If so, how do you know?

Not liking a rule doesn't mean I think its stupid. I don't like the NFHS rule requiring free throw lane folks to stay put until the ball hits the rim/backboard. I also don't really like the 5 second closely guarded rule while dribbling. I can also give you a few others, but I don't think these rules are stupid. The above one is.

We've had this discussion on this board before (many times), and the biggest problem is that most people who don't work NCAAW ruleset don't understand what the rule actually is saying...it DOES NOT give the dribbler the right to run over the defender under the basket. If the defender has established legal guarding position and is moving with the dribbler (maintaining legal guarding position) they have every right to keep that position. The rule DOES mean that a secondary defender can not set up and take a charge under the basket unless the drive is parallel to the baseline (as in going for a reverse lay-in). The rationale has always been that taking up defensive position directly under the basket is a non-basketball play and serves only to lead to injuries - get out of there and play some good defense.

And I'm not sure why you are confused by the "dribbler" part...if the person is dribblling the ball, they are a dribbler. If they are catching a pass and turning to shoot, they aren't dribbling, are they? The rule applies to drives to the basket and secondary defenders stepping in to draw a charge under the basket.