no bench

[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

Originally posted by PAULK1
As a matter of fact there is a way in the rule book to handle this situation. SEE (NF) 3-1 note the go to (NF) 8-2
The player should have been directed to leave the game and then the head coach or team captain could select the shooter from the players left on the floor. Just because it seems unfair we are not alloewed to set aside a rule.

The NFHS Rules references quoted above discuss a situation where the injured player cannot continue to play and the team has no substitutes involved. There is no play in the current Casebook, but I have read a ruling that was approved by the NFHS in either an NFHS publication or in Referee Magazine, that said that when the player can resume play in the manner discussed in the posted play, the player stays in the game and shoots his free throws.

In the posted play, the player was ready to play after only a short delay. The main purpose for the rule of removing an injured player from the game was to eliminate a cumbersome time-out rule that had been in the rules book for years. I will not go into detail about the old rule but any of us old timers know what the rule was.

If the player in the posted play were to be removed from the game as per rule, he would not be allowed to come back into the game until first dead ball-stop clock situation after the clock started after his removal from the game because of his injury. This would put the player's team in the position of playing with only four players for an indeterminate amount of time while it had a legal substitute on the bench. That is not the purpose of the rule as written.