NFHS Points of Emphasis

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally Posted by johnny1784

1) Will the new rule revision apply to those who dress their ankles with wristbands, rubber bands and bracelets?

2) And will basketball officials continue to ignore rule changes and decide to have their own interpretation of the new rules or completely ignore them?

1) Players never could legally be wearing all that crap on their ankles. They're all regarded as "jewelry" and have been illegal for a long time. The rules state that this type of equipment should be worn in the manner that the manufacturer intended. If the players have been getting away with that, it's unfortunately because the people officiating their games either don't know the rules or don't have the will to enforce the present rules.

2) Geeze, I can't answer that one. It's certainly a good point. We go over new rules, POE's etc. with our officials at the start of each year, and we insist that they call their games by them. After that, we do have to police our officials to make sure that they are following our directives- with the object naturally being uniformity of game-calling. However, I'd have to be awfully naive (or stoopid) to believe that everybody is doing things our way. There's different ideas from area to area on how much physical contact should be allowed under the boards, for example. Expecting uniformity of calls across the country is just a pipe dream. Imo, the best that can be hoped for is uniformity of calls within a specific area. If a few officials are gonna ignore a new rule or POE, then it's probably better for everybody involved if all officials in that area do the same. That way, at least the players and coaches know what to expect, and what they can do or not do during a game.