Substitution prior to opening tip?
 

My daughter, a sophomore in high school, tore her ACL early in the season and is done for the year.

We have two Seniors on the team who have expressed an interest in having her announced as a starter and take the court on Senior Night in a couple of weeks. But, they want to approach the coach and give him an option that he might be agreeable to, as they are sure that he won't want to give up a timeout or allow an easy basket.

Would it be allowable to have her take the court, and then have a substitute come in prior to the tip?

Substitutions are allowed prior the tip when a player is injured. The intent is not for this type of situation, but it doesn't seem to go against the spirit of the rule, either.

If you're going to do this, you would need to clear it through the officials and possibly the visiting team. Talk to whomever assigns officials for your school (the AD would have this information) and ask that person. If they're contracted directly by the AD, you'll need to have the AD ask the officials directly.



What's to prevent the announcer from announcing her as a starter even though she's not in the book that way?

I would have the head coach discuss the situation with the game officials and the other team's head coach prior to the start. I have had this happen twice. The coach can put the proper game starters in the book and then ceremoniously announce your daughter and have a "fake" tip. Then let your daughter head to the bench and start the ball game with the proper starters. This shouldn't be a big deal as long as all parties agree.

When I was a senior in high school, we had a similar situation. One kid was injured for the whole year so for senior night, they wanted to honor his contribution to the basketball program. They announced him as a starter, and actually had him do a ceremonial jump ball.

Nice gesture.

That's how I would handle it. The rules do not address this. Have the announcer announce 6 starters, if you want, or an "honorary starter," or just the wrong 5 ("wrong" because the book has the right ones).

Also doesn't give the visiting coach veto power.

I have done this in a couple of different ways. Always tell both coaches what is going on and how it is going to be handled.

This is always seen as a positive. Throw out the rule book and make it right for the player, the coaches have never had an issue.

1. Allow the person on the court for the jump ball. As soon as a team has posession, blow play dead and allow the sub to come in and replace.

2. Allow the person on the court for the jump ball and intentionally have a very bad toss that gets blown dead by one of your partners. Allow the sub to come in.

3. Do a ceremonial tip, then do the real one.

4. This one was the best, put the injured player next to his or her goal. Throw the tip, no matter who gets, the pass goes to the player and he / she scores and then you blow dead and allow sub. This is normally for a senior person in last game of season kind of thing.

Ew.

Yikes.......

Stranger things have been allowed.
 

If memory serves correctly, Nykeshia (sp?) Sales of UConn was allowed to set the NCAA women's scoring record wearing an obviously illegal boot on her injured ankle. She was given the ball after the tip and was allowed an uncontested shot under the basket to set the (some would say tainted) record.

Did they give it the ceremonial *.

Nykesha Sales News Story ...