Slapping The Backboard

[BillyMac]

Let's go to the Rule Books:

1996-97 NFHS Basketball Rule Book, page 59, Technical Fouls: A player shall not slap or strike either backboard to cause either ring to vibrate while the ball is in flight during a tap or try or is touching the backboard or is on or in the basket or in the cylinder above the basket.

2000-01 NFHS Basketball Rule Book, page 70, Comments on the 2000-01 Rule Revisions: Clarified illegal contact with the backboard by stating that a player shall not INTENTIONALLY slap or strike the backboard or cause the ring to vibrate. The previous rule was difficult to understand and consequently was being called incorrectly or inconsistently.

Previous to 2000-01, if the basket vibrated after the backboard was slapped, even if the slap was a legitimate attempt to block the shot, a technical foul could have been called. Beginning with the 2000-01 season, if the vibration of the basket occured after the backboard was slapped during a legitimate attempt to block the shot, a technical foul could not be charged. In any case this situation has never been associated with basket interference, and the basket could never be awarded for contact with the backboard.

This rule clarification in 2000-01 is what has led to the myth that a vibrating backboard and/or basket is always a technical foul. Where the myth started that this is a form of basketball interference and that the basket could or should be awarded is anybody's guess