Backcourt Question

[ma_ref]

Originally Posted by Back In The Saddle

AFAIK, there are no exact "parameters" in the rule book for this situation. However, I believe the spirit and intent is that the offense must force the action. I offer as argument the following:

• The 10 second backcourt count, 10 second free throw count, 5 second throw-in count, and the 5 second closely guarded count. Each of which is designed to force the offense to "do something" to move the game along.
• There is no specific rule that forces the defense to advance the action.

However, NFHS 10-1-5, the "actionless contest" rule lists a goodly number of both offensive team and defensive team infractions. So it could just as effectively be argued that both teams have a responsibility to keep the game moving. You could warn them both, and potentially T them both.

Call me evil, but I'd rather single out the offense. Fair or not, they have the most to lose from a T. To me, that smells like motivation.

You make a fairly good argument, except the problem comes with the 1st item in your list. Each of those scenarios involve player control of a live ball. This is different, in that no player has control. And one could argue that the offense has forced the action, because they were the team that inbounded the ball to begin with.