I blew one last night..

[A Pennsylvania Coach]

Originally Posted by Scrapper1

That is not correct. NFHS 4-1-1 specifically says that a player who jumps and taps the ball toward the goal is an airborne shooter.

One of our most basic definitions is that a player is in control of the ball when s/he is holding or dribbling a live ball inbounds. Period. That's the only 2 ways to have player control. Batting or tapping the ball does NOT establish player control. Therefore, there is no such thing as a "controlled tap".

Actually 4-1-1 says "has tapped (past tense) the ball and has not returned to the floor." Either way, that play isn't quite the same. 4-12-1 says "holding or dribbling a live ball inbounds." So I guess it comes down to your definition of holding a ball. I'd call it a gray area. One could say that controlling the ball to tap it is "holding" it, even if just for a moment. The opposite could be argued as well.