ncaa men's: 'absolutes' and goaltending

[Brad]

Originally Posted by rockchalk jhawk

on the subject of absolutes, they showed a play in the ncaa video where a player was breaking up the court by himself without the ball for an easy basket. the ball is thrown to him, but while the ball is in the air for the pass, he's tripped up, goes to the floor, and never ends up touching the ball and never technically becomes a 'ball handler' and the ball goes oob. is this still an 'absolute foul'?

If I am thinking of the same play that you are describing, this was a "You make the call" play. The correct interpretations were listed in the back of the handbook and they do want a foul on this play.

Originally Posted by rockchalk jhawk

or does the ball have to be above the cylinder in the sense that if you were looking up through the cylinder from the bottom you could see the ball directly above you?

No - that is already the basket interference rule (as others pointed out). The new rule allows for goaltending to be called when the ball is above the rim, touches the backboard, and is then touched by a player.

If the ball is within the cylinder, that is still basket interference. The new rule addresses the ball being above the rim, touching the backboard, and NOT within the cylinder. Under the new rule, the ball is considered on its downward flight, so if is touched it is goaltending.