See case book play 6.4.1. That's the criteria that I used for the point when I think that an official can stop play and get the sixth player off the court without having to assess a technical foul.

JR...not sure how 6.4.1 relates? Please explain..:confused:

That case play talks about when it's too late to correct a mistake on an AP. It's too late when the AP throw-in touches an inbound player. We usually use the same criteria to decide when it's too late to correct giving the ball to the wrong team on a throw-in also. I extrapolated it to cover the situation as to when it is too late to correct having 6 teammates on the court without having to assess a technical foul. I may be wrong but that's my take on the play being discussed.

My point to swkansasref33 was that once they have started playing, you have to issue a "T"; you can't just stop and take a player off without assessing any penalty.

OK. I understand your reasoning. However I don't believe in this play that would be correct .

Rule 4-34-3

The whole key to this play is when does the substitute who enters illegally become a legal player? Which would determine when that player could get off without penalty.

Once the ball becomes live and a team has 6 players that the official recognizes then it would be penalized with the Team T as you have said.

If the sub gets off before the ball becomes live then no penalty. I agree that once the ball becomes live that you can't arbitrarily decide to set aside the rule by not assessing the "T"