Here is the Tenn/Virginia Play
 

Is this a T?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvTfNrt__LI

In MHO yes. The player was okay to grasp the ring and hang there to avoid landing on the player below him as that is a fairly clear case of an attempt to prevent an injury to himself or another. However, once he used his position up there to his advantage by reaching out and attempting to block the shot, he broke a rule. The proper penalty for the rule he broke is a technical foul.

Preventing injury? Why is he allowed to grasp the rim to begin with? :confused:


I haven't looked at the replay. I saw the play live and knew it should have been a T. :(

I only watched it once, but it looked to me like there was an offensive player directly beneath him.

Nah, he was jumping the opposite direction that the offensive player was moving. He had to swing back just to commit the foul.

I think this play could make the "Hank Nichols Hilight Reel".

Looks to me like the ref could have made the call that a player was nearby and thus he was entitled to hold onto the rim for safety's sake. But then he used that advantage of being up on the rim to swat the ball away. That would be a T I believe. Almost may have had a goaltending call too, about a half a second from that from the looks of things.

Looks to me he was hanging on the rim and attempted to block the shot with his other hand. I agree this was a weird looking play but the right thing to do is a T.

how did it look like he was hanging on to protect himself?

he was moving away from the play and had to use the rim to swing back to foul the defender. Nevada now I expected you of all people to come up with about 3 or 4 odd rules that would not only show that the T was warranted but that under some circumstances he should have been tar, feathered and forced to play the remainder of the game in clown shoes.

Again, why is he grasped the rim to begin with? There's no shot, he just jumps up and grabs the rim. That's a T, period. If he doesn't grasp the rim, there's no reason to hang on to prevent injury.

He doesn't have eyes in the back of his head. He knows he is in traffic and has actually had contact. That's all I need to know about grabbing the rim for safety. I'm only coming up with a T if he has several feet around him to the next player (regardless of the direction they're moving) OR if he showboats rather than just grabs.

Um, because there's an offensive player directly below him? He goes up to block the shot, but the shooter fakes. I agree with Camron. The T is certainly justified when he tries to make a play on the ball while holding the rim. But just for grasping, I would not give the T for that.

I agree. 147%.

Assume for argument's sake that, by rule, we should have had a technical called once he made the play on the ball while still grasping the rim. Is it possible that the officials here were under the same mindset as the Oden non-intentional? i.e., let the players decide the game?

For the record, I'm not advocating this position, just merely throwing it out there to try to get a better understanding....

Here's what I'm thinking about doing...Not sure there is any backing in the book and I probably wouldn't have done this but it might spark some discussion.

I think that the grasping of the rim in this case calls for a T, but I would want to hold the whistle to allow the offensive player to complete what looks like it could be an easy basket. The calling official signals a personal foul on Cain on the "block" attempt I would call the personal as well as the T. Since the T happened first Tennesse would shoot two with the lane cleared and then shoot the personals with the lane spaces occupied and the game would continue.

I don't think you can get away with two separate fouls here. I think it's gotta be one or the other.