High Dribble

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by Nevadaref

The thrower violates while making a throw-in from the backcourt endline. For years there were numerous officials who advocated ignoring such violations, but the NCAA came out a couple of seasons ago with a clear statement that these violations must be called regardless of whether or not there is defensive pressure. Doing otherwise is unacceptable.

So did the NFHS:

9.2.5 Situation: Thrower A1 inadvertently steps through the plane of the boundary line and touches the court inbounds. A1 immediately steps back into normal out-of-bounds throw-in position. The contact with the court was during a situation: (a) with; or (b) without defensive pressure on the throw-in team.
Ruling: A violation in both (a) and (b).
Comment: Whether or not there was defensive pressure or whether or not stepping on the court was inadvertent, it is a violation and no judgment is required in making the call.

I agree with Nevaderef on this situation. Boundary line calls are pretty much black and white.

However, how about the following violations, Nevadaref? Would you call them every time they occur, keeping in mind the Spirit and Purpose of the Rules, advantage/disadvantage, the Tower philosophy, the level of play, the time remaining in the game, and the score (middle school, blowout, 20 seconds left)? Or would you "make the teams play within the constructs of the rules"?

1) A free throw shooter uses eleven seconds before releasing his, or her shot.
2) A player gets "lost" in the lane for four seconds, not posting up anybody, not preparing to set a screen for a teammate, just standing with one foot outside the lane, and the other foot on elbow.

Unlike the black and white, as defined by a NFHS case book play, boundary line rules, I believe that these rules present gray areas, also known as Spirit and Purpose of the Rules, advantage/disadvantage, and the the Tower philosophy, to the officials assigned in that game.