Question about charging

[craiglaw]

I have really enjoyed reading this forum. I have learned a lot and I understand the game and the rules much better because of the discussions and insights of this group about the rules.

I am a fan of women’s college basketball, and I have a question about charging/blocking. I don’t know if the rule changed this year for the college men, but it did for the women. As a fan I was not clear on how the change affected the call, but at the start of the season charging was called often in many of the games. One thing I noticed was that charging would be called if the defensive player had position under the basket – or behind the basket – and the offensive player crashed into the defender after making a shot. I had not seen this called before. As the season progressed, there were fewer and fewer charging calls either because the players were used to the new rule, or the ref’s reverted back. It is always hard to judge a charging call from the stands, so I usually think that the refs got it right.

My questions for you experts are: (As it applies to the women’s college game,) is a defensive player allowed set up (establish position) where the driving player will land after a lay up when driving to the basket – and get this call? Sometimes the offensive player is in the air when the defender sets, which does not seem to me to be a charge. What is the rule? What rule change caused so many charging calls at the start of the season – and why are there so many fewer now.

I look forward to your comments.

[Raymond]

From the 2008 Case Book:

A.R. 67. (Women) B1 is standing directly under (1) the cylinder or (2) the
backboard before A1 jumps for a layup. The forward momentum of airborne shooter A1 causes A1 to displace B1. RULING: In both situations, offensive foul on A1. (Rule 4-10)

I believe in previous seasons there was verbiage regarding a made basket and ignoring the contact.

[M&M Guy]

craiglaw - welcome to the forum. Hopefully you'll learn a lot and pass that wealth of information on to your fellow fans.

The principles involving whether a foul would be called a block or a charge are essentially the same at the high school and college level. A defender must first obtain "legal guarding position", which involves having both feet on the floor, and facing the opponent. Once LGP has been obtained, that defender can move, within certain limitations, such as parallel to the path of the player with the ball, or into the path of the offensive player, provided they get to that spot before the offensive player leaves the floor. In simple terms, if you have the defender get to the spot, then the offensive player leaves the floor, then there's the collision, the offensive player is responsible for the contact, and it could be a charge. If you have the offensive player leave the floor, then the defender gets to the spot, then the collision, the defender is responsible for the contact, and it could be a blocking foul.

In the past, the women's college game held the belief that a defender standing under the basket cannot be defending, but is only there to draw the charge, so any contact on a drive down the lane would be either ruled incidental or a block, no matter how long they had legal guarding position. (The exception was if the defender had that same postion on a drive along the endline, the offensive player could still be called for the charge.) That rule changed this past season to allow the offensive player to be called for a charge anywhere on the floor, even underneath the basket.

As far as your observation on less charges being called now - it could simply be the players adjusting over the course of the season from going all out on drives, to being a little more selective on when they drive.

[Mark Padgett]

Craiglaw - welcome to the forum. That was an excellent question and you stated it very nicely. Expect every once in a while to get teased a little, but it's all in fun.

BTW - I use your list all the time.

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by craiglaw

I have really enjoyed reading this forum. I have learned a lot and I understand the game and the rules much better because of the discussions and insights of this group about the rules. I am a fan of women’s college basketball.

Welcome to the Forum. To save yourself a lot of grief, please pretend that you're a fan of men's college basketball, and when you refer to women's college basketball on this Forum, I suggest that you call it "wimmins" basketball. I guarantee that if you follow my suggestions, you'll have an easier time dealing with some of our more prehistoric members, the ones that dragged their wives into their caves by the hair.