Questions from a coach

[Hawks Coach]

I have been looking for a place to ask some interpretation of rules types of questions, and hope that you all can help with one that has vexed me for some time. My assistant and I have gone back and forth on the back-court violation and appropriate interpretation of the HS rulebook.

Scenario 1: A player approaches half court, steps his right foot completely into the front court, picks up his dribble, then pivots back so that both feet are once again in the back court. Violation or not?

Scenario 2: Same situation, only instead of pivoting back, player 1 passes to player 2 who is completely in the back-court. Violation?

I was also not certain if ball position was important, i.e., breaking the plane completely as in soccer, regardless of whether it touches the floor. If that makes a difference, I guess that can create four scenarios from the two above.

I find that the four elements listed in the previous discussion of backcourt violations (and clearly present in the HS rulebook)do not provide sufficient clarity for me to know how to interpret this situation.

As an aside, is there a source of interpretive guidance available for coaches, players, and referees? I regularly review my rulebook, but that is merely a starting place. This site has great guidance on some topics, but is not comprehensive.

[ken roberts]

In order to rule upon backcourt violations (9-9), you need intimate knowledge of Rule 4-4 (Ball Location) and Rule 4-12 (Player/Team Control).

In both of your scenarios, the ball never achieved frontcourt status because of Rule 4-4-1:

"A ball which is in contact with a player or with the court is in the backcourt if either
the ball or the player (either player if the ball is touching more than one) is touching
the backcourt."

Thus, no violation (but the 10-second count should continue).

I was also not certain if ball position was important, i.e., breaking the plane completely as in soccer, regardless of whether it touches the floor.

This is all covered in Rule 4-4. Briefly, a ball touching a player or official has the same as if the ball had been touching the court at that location. Also, a ball in flight retains the same location as when it last touched a player or the floor. Finally, "During a dribble from backcourt to frontcourt, the ball is in the frontcourt when the ball and both feet of the dribbler touch the court entirely in the frontcourt." (4-4-6)

As an aside, is there a source of interpretive guidance available for coaches, players, and referees? I regularly review my rulebook, but that is merely a starting place. This site has great guidance on some topics, but is not comprehensive.

Hopefully, you have the NF Case Book which goes along with the Rule Book. That's certainly required reading. That plus the Rule Book should cover 99+% of the calls you'll see in a game. Other than that, the officials need to cobble the best ruling possible based on the existing rules and the spirit and intent of those rules.

This board and the one at www.gmcgriff.com/refonline are great resources if you're confused or uncertain about a particular play or ruling.

It certainly is nice to see a coach taking an interest in learning the actual rules (instead of the ones they make up during a game that'd help their team), and i applaud you for it...

[Art N]

Coach...you're not alone on this one I'm affraid. I'm willing to bet you are not in the minority either. This is one of the "misunderstood" basketball rules that I go over with with the coaches in a youth league I run for the town. We have cleared up the problem of coaches "yelling" for back court, three seconds... by address this items in the pre-season. Keep asking the questions and you'll be on the right track in no time.

[PublicBJ]

Finally, "During a dribble from backcourt to frontcourt, the ball is in the frontcourt when the ball and both feet of the dribbler touch the court entirely in the frontcourt." (4-4-6)


This is probably the most important part to remember. Until all three points (the ball and both feet) are in front court, the player is still considered to be in back court. Over and back can only be called after the ball has been established in front court.

Once you're clear on that, it becomes a lot easier to understand.

------------------
Brian Johnson

[Todd VandenAkker]

Nice explanation, Brian. Sometimes I think we sound like a bunch of lawyers, quoting a manual with all its jargon or quirky wording to explain something that needs plain English. Just to tack onto what Brian said, the "3 points" requirement only applies when the ball is being dribbled. So, if the player is still dribbling, he could conceivably be standing in the front court and bouncing the ball on the line (which is part of the back court) without violation. Once that ball misses the line, though, and touches in the front court, he'd better stay there. BUT, if a player is HOLDING the ball, his location on the floor is where he last touched the floor. In the 2 situations given above, he stays in the backcourt. But if he keeps his frontcourt foot down and lifts his other foot, he can't put it back down in the backcourt, because now he has established front court status (that play is in the Case book). As soon as his foot touches the backcourt again, he has violated. Hope that adds to the clarification.

[Art N]

Very good Todd. Man,did you hit the nail on the head with the legalise comment! Which brings me to my pet peeve. Does anyone else feel our rule book is not the easiest place to find things quickly? Can anyone recommend any other user friendly manuals? Any of the ones from NASO? Let me know. If not, I will quit my job write one myself and make millions selling to everyone who wants to FIND a rule...lol

[ken roberts]

Does anyone else feel our rule book is not the easiest place to find things quickly? Can anyone recommend any other user friendly manuals?

Athletic Rules Study (http://www.rules-study.com/) has a CD-Rom ($25) that has a fully searchable Rule and Case Book. It also has a testing feature that will ask you questions from the last 5 years of NF tests (both Part I & II). I've never seen this program, but i've heard good things about it.

Personally, i took this year's Rule Book off of http://www.mcoa.org/basketball/rules.html and put it all in one Word document. Then i can do text searches if i want. It also comes in handy for quoting rules w/o a lot of typing. I'm willing to e-mail this document to anyone who wants to save themselves the effort of cut-and-pasting from that site. Just e-mail me at [email protected]

Unfortunately, i haven't seen the Case Book online anywhere...