Offensive Player Tries to Split Defenders
 

A1 is trapped in the corner by B1 and B2 who are so close their feet are touching. A1 tries to split between them.

Rule book says that if there are not 3 feet the offensive player is responsible for contact.

Lets say he is able to get his head and shoulders between the two defenders and then tries to dribble but as a result of the defenders being so close to each other A1 trips and falls.

What if anything is the call?

Sometimes the no call is the best call...

What if anything is the call?[/QUOTE]


Traveling if he goes down in control of the ball

If he falls and loses control before traveling, no-call.
Head-and-shoulders is a guideline; you still don't call a foul on a defender even if the offense manages to twist his body enough to get his H and S past the defender.

Offense initiates, if they fall, sorry about your luck.. They got theirself in that situation, don't expect the officials to bail you out!

On a sidenote: what is the signal for tripping? Is it the same as a kick signal?

I don't see it in the officials manual.

Use the blocking signal.
But don't call it on this play. :)

Trying to understand the OP. By rule, if the offensive player splits two stationary defenders and the two defenders are less than three feet apart, then the offensive player is responsible for the contact. Is that correct?

So, if we have a good trap set, and the offensive player bulls his way through, should we draw a charge in this situation?

I'd say only in the situation that the offense puts his head down and hits one a defender in the chest or runs them over. Going between two players is not a charge, but more than likely a travel if he trips over the defender (and the conditions for a travel are met). Notice I said tripped over the defense, not tripped by the defense (if defense initiates contact it's probably going to be a blocking foul). Otherwise... nuttin.

If the offensive player displaces a legal defender, then yes, a team control foul may be called.
However, the fact that the offensive player may have made some incidental contact going through, does not protect the defenders from being called for any illegal defensive contact.

Give us an example.

My question deals specifically with the offensive player forcing his way between two defenders and tripping as he tries to get through them. If they're not sticking their knee out as he's going through and if they're within 3 feet of each other, aren't the defenders protected should the offensive player fall down or trip as a result of trying to squeeze through?

It all depends on displacement. In your scenario, the defensive players cannot be called for a foul (as long as they don't hold, push, etc). The offensive player should be called for a PC foul if he displaces one of the defenders.

If neither of these happen, and the offensive player creates some incidental contact but doesn't displace a defender, then there is no foul.

Spence,
All I was trying to point out was that while the offensive player initiated the contact and went down, the defenders may still be called for illegal action by grabbing, pushing, bumping, holding, slapping, hacking.

The legal positioning of the defenders in your scenario is not a carte-blanche amnesty for the defenders to make illegal contact.

Absent player control or illegal defensive contact, the fact that the player is on the floor is often a no-call.

That get's my vote.

Don't Forget About The Boundary Line ...
 

A dribbler shall not charge into nor contact an opponent in his/her path nor attempt to dribble between two opponents or between an opponent and a boundary, unless the space is such as to provide a reasonable chance for him or her to go through without contact. If a dribbler, without contact, sufficiently passes an opponent to have head and shoulders in advance of that opponent, the greater responsibility for subsequent contact is on the opponent.