A "What would you have called?" question......

In a game I reffed yesterday, the following happened:-

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I handed the ball to a player to inbound after a violation, she went to inbound, changed her mind and lost her balance, bent forwards and the ball touched an inbounds area of the court. She did not step over the line, or take either hand off the ball whilst it was touching the court.
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If she had stepped on the court it would clearly be a violation. But only the ball touched the court, then she stood up and inbounded as normal.

The part of the rule
"26.4.1 A player taking a throw-in shall not:
• Touch the ball on the court before it has touched another player."
clearly refers to not be able to inbound to yourself, not this situation.

Anyone have any thoughts?


Here is the rule on inbounding (FIBA)

26.4 Rule
26.4.1 A player taking a throw-in shall not:
• Touch the ball on the court before it has touched another player.
• Step on the court before or whilst releasing the ball.
• Take more than five (5) seconds to release the ball.
• Whilst releasing, cause the ball to touch out-of-bounds without
being touched inbounds by a player.
• Cause the ball to enter the basket directly.
• Move a distance of more than one (1) metre laterally nor move
in more than one direction from the place designated by the
official before or whilst releasing the ball. It is, however,
permitted to move backwards and perpendicular to the line as
far as circumstances allow.
26.4.2 No other player shall:
• Have any part of his body over the boundary line before the ball
has been thrown across the line.
• Be closer than one (1) metre to the player taking the throw-in,
when the area, free of obstruction, outside the boundary line at
the throw-in spot is less than two (2) metres.
An infraction of Art. 26.4 is a violation.
26.5 Penalty
The ball is awarded to the opponents for a throw-in at the place of
the original throw-in.

I think that there are tow keys to this play.

1) A1 did not carry the ball onto the court, i.e., step on to the court with the ball.

2) A1 had not yet released the ball on a pass.

Therefore, I think (and I may be wrong), that under all three (NFHS, NCAA, and FIBA) codes, A1 has not committed a throw-in violation. Hopefully Duane will add his expertise per FIBA rules to this play.

If A1 had dribbled the ball on the in-bounds side of the line, wouldn't that be a violation? Well, yes, but now that I think about it, there is a rule that a player can hold the ball, touch it to the floor, and it doesn't constitute part of a dribble. But even if it was a violation, I think the key is that she had lost her balance, and wasn't intentionally or mindlessly breaking the rule. And she didn't take advantage of the extra fraction of an inch, but corrected herself, and then did it correctly.

I've got no-problem.

I tried looking this up in the FEEBLE rulebook but I don't read metric. :D

Thank you, I now feel confident enough to reveal that I let it go!
Game situation was the inbounding team 2 up with 7 seconds left....

Intent cannot be an issue here. This is a violation. Can a player hand the ball to their teammate?

I have to disagree with you, Mark. The ball touched the floor inbounds. I don't know, and don't care, about the interpretation but it's a violation in NF play. This is no different than handing the ball to a teammate inbounds. Wouldn't it be a violation for a FT shooter to do this? I don't see any difference.