Unusual Strategy Involving the 10 Second Count
 

:confused: Championship girls game (rec. ball) this morning. Team A is really strong, outscoring everybody all season long. Team B coach is tired of his team being humiliated. He feels that Team A runs the score up on everybody. He comes up with a strategy before the game. This league uses a running clock except for fouls. If he feels that the score is being run up, after a made basket by Team A he wants his girl to inbound the ball, let it roll to a stop in the back court before his player touches it. As I understand it, by rule the 10 second count doesn't start until his player touches it inbounds. Team A can not press in the back court until last two minutes of the game (league rule). He wants to let the ball stay there while the clock runs.

How would you guys have handled this? I will tell you later what my partner and I did.

Easy
 

Five seconds to inbound the ball. We have a turnover.

Not so fast
 

The rule says that they have 5 seconds to release the ball on the inbound throw.

Nope. The 5 second count ends when the throw-in is released.

Warn him. If they refuse to play, issue the technical foul.

10-1-5
A team shall not:
Allow the game to develop into an actionless contest


If he continues this pattern, declare the game a forfeit.

5-1-4
The referee shall forfeit the game if a team refuses to play after being instructed to do so by any official. The referee may also forfeit a game if any player, team member, bench personnel or coach fails to comply with any technical-foul penalty, or repeatedly commits technical-foul infractions or other acts which make a travesty of the game. If the team to which the game is forfeited is ahead, the score at the time of forfeiture shall stand. If this team is not ahead, the score shall be recorded as 2-0 in its favor.

I agree with you BsktBallRef. This is quite different than a team running a delay. Although it is drastically slowed down, it is definitely not an actionless contest, as the OP is.

Step one. Warn the coach that he's making a travesty of the game and causing a stop in action.

Step two. Call the T if play didn't pick up after step one.

Step three. Forfeit if step two didn't result in picking up the pace.

I doubt you need to go past step one. BTW, since this was the championship game, was the first place team really that much better than the second place team?

OK, The suspense is just killing me. What'd you do?

Copycat. :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

10-1-5 applies to dead ball situations and those where a team tries to keep the ball from becoming live or put into play (see case book last play on 10-1-5). The lack of action rule has not been in place since the very early '90s. Assuming you do not have any sort of backcourt or throw in violation (and you don't), this would be a legal play. It isn't subject to the travesty rule as it isn't a travesty.

The problem here is that additional, non-Fed rules, are in place. This situation would never happen in any regular Fed games that don't play with "extra" rules. Since under normal fed rules, the defense has the ability to go get the ball, what if they decide they won't do it?

Actionless ?
 

Please see Rule 10-5 and note the words "similar acts". I'm not sure, but the situation described in this thread may fall into the category of being a "similiar act" resulting in an "actionless contest". The thread would only occur in a real game with revised rules, in this case not allowing a press, however, a similar question was asked on an IAABO refresher exam a few years ago. Maybe one of our Forum members can recall the situation, the question and the answer from that exam.

Allowing the ball to sit on the floor and refusing to play is certainly allowing the game to become an actionless contest. Since the no BC pressure is not a per Fed rules, there's absolutely no reason 10-1-5 can't be used in this situation. It's certainly a similiar act.

Leave the legalese at the officie, Aggie.

So which team are you going to award the forfeit to, as all 10 players stand around?

You might want to re-read the original post. That will give you your answer.

Well, fine, if you want to be a stickler for things like facts. :)

How about if there's no rule about defense in the backcourt and the same thing happens?

A totally different situation.