Situation: Where to inbounds the ball
 

Had this situation arise the other night and not sure we got it right.

Team A scores a basket with 3.4 seconds left to tie the game. Team B immediately calls a timeout.

Team B inbounds the ball from the baseline. My partner gets to about click 4 on the count so B1 lobs a baseball pass down the court. The ball travels about 2/3rds down the court and B2 catches the ball in front of his bench with his foot on the out of bounds line. The clock runs to zero and the buzzer sounds.

We decided the clock should have not started since B2 caught the ball out of bounds. We reset the clock to 3.4 seconds, and gave the ball to team A on the sideline in front of B's bench (where B2 caught the ball out of bounds).

Some of my friends say we messed up and should have given the ball to Team A on the baseline under their basket, similar to where the ball would be inbounded for a throw-in violation.

Thoughts on where the ball should be inbounded?

You got it right!
 

The player that caught the ball cause it to go out of bounds, not the thrower. Therefore the ballis inbouded where it went out.

Sorry, but that is now wrong. It was correct a few years ago though. ;)

The current rule says to award the ball back at the spot of the original throw-in.

The penalty section of 9-2 reads:

PENALTY: (Section 2) The ball becomes dead when the violation or technical foul occurs. Following a violation, the ball is awarded to the opponents for a throw-in at the original throw-in spot.

BTW don't feel too bad about getting this wrong. I only became aware of this UNANNOUNCED rule change back in November when we had a big thread on this. I had been screwing it up for almost two years!

See post #6, which I wrote, in this other thread.

http://forum.officiating.com/showthread.php?t=29479

These same questions keep rearing their ugly head.
Try going back to this link for discussion.
http://forum.officiating.com/showthread.php?t=29479:D
This is one of the rules that need to be rewritten. The player that catches the ball OOB is the one that violated. Not the Thrower. rewrite rule to reflect that the new throw in is where the OOB player caught the ball.

The situation is different under NCAA rules. Rule 9-5.1, which defines the throw-in violation, says that a thrower-in shall not

b. Fail to pass the ball directly into the playing court so that after it
crosses the boundary line, it touches or is touched by another player
(inbounds or out of bounds) on the playing court before going out of
bounds.

Rule 9-5.2b says that no player other than the thrower-in shall:

b. Be out of bounds when he or she touches or is touched by the ball
after it has crossed the vertical inside plane of the boundary line.
Repeated infractions shall result in an indirect technical foul.

So the violation described would be, under NCAA rules, a violation on B2 and not on B1. As such, the ensuing throw-in by A would be on the sideline near B's bench.

I do love how 9-2-10 conflicts with 9-2-2. Only really becomes apparent, though, with the change of administration of everything to the original throw-in spot.

Right conclusion, wrong reason.

If you try to teach this play using your rationale of which player committed the violation, you will fail to reach the proper conclusion under NFHS rules.

The NFHS has the same provisions for the thrower and other players as the NCAA.
9-2-2 . . . The ball shall be passed by the thrower directly into the court from out-of-bounds so it touches or is touched by another player (inbounds or out of bounds) on the court before going out of bounds untouched.

9-2-10 . . . No player shall be out of bounds when he/she touches or is touched by the ball after it has been released on a throw-in pass.

So under NFHS rules the violation is also committed by B2, but the ball is not awarded at the location of B2.

Therefore, you must teach officials to consult the penalty section for the infringed rule. The NFHS rules book specifically states to award the ball to the opponent at the original throw-in spot for the violation of any article of 9-2. In this case it is article 10 which is being broken.

The penalty provided in the NCAA rules book is quite different:

NCAA
Rule 9, Section 15.
Floor-Violation Penalties (Applies only to Rules 9-3 through 9-13)
Art. 1. The ball shall become dead or remain dead when a violation occurs. The ball shall be awarded to a nearby opponent for a throw-in at a designated spot nearest to where the violation occurred.

So where the violation occurred is ONLY important in an NCAA game. Under NFHS rules what is important is that any provision of the throw-in provided in 9-2 was infringed. That is the way it should be explained to people.

Thanks for polishing my post. I had consulted the penalty section of the rulebook, but neglected to include it in my post.