NCAAW Rules

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally Posted by BillyMac

IAABO Refresher Exam 2005 (NFHS Rules):

Question 73: Squad member #45 missed the bus and is not present at the time the squad list and starting lineup must be submitted for team members. During the pregame warmup, the referee counts eleven team members of team A but while checking the book team A has twelve team members listed. Referee informs the coach that the squad member who is not present may not be placed in the book even if he/she will get to the game late. Is the referee correct?

Answer: Yes

Rule Citation: Rule 3, Section 2, Article 1; Rule 4, Section 34, Article 4

Note to anybody reading....

That is NOT an official NFHS interpretation. It is an IAABO interpretation only, and IAABO interpretations are not official NFHS interpretations. I've also talked to several IAABO interpreters who do NOT agree with whoever came up this one either. Our association rules interpreter certainly disagreed with it, as do I.

There is nothing rules-wise that definitively backs up that interpretation. The rules cited by IAABO above sureashell don't. R3-2-1 simply says that each team has to supply the scorer with the name and number of each team member. There is nothing anywhere in the rules that states that a team member entered in the book must also be physically present when his/her name and number are put in the book. Similarly, rule 4-34-4 simply says that a team member must be in uniform and a member of bench personnel to become a player. It doesn't state when those requirements have to be met.

I can just see telling a coach that his player in the locker room getting taped during warm-up won't be allowed to play because they weren't on the court when an official counted the players. Or maybe a player in the dressing room in the bathroom......

You always have to be careful when reading non-NFHS issued interpretations. Do not take anything as gospel just because it came from IAABO or appeared in Referee magazine. Neither of those sources are official NFHS sources, and both have been guilty in the past numerous times of making wrong rulings.

Silly monkeys......