Tough sideline call

[Back In The Saddle]

"When a dribbler in his/her progress is moving in a straight-line path, he/she may not be crowded out of that path, but if an opponent is able to legally obtain a defensive position in that path, the dribbler must avoid contact by changing direction or ending his/her dribble." (NFHS 10-6-9)

Unless the defense has LGP in the dribbler's path, this is a foul on the defense. It seems pretty subtle, but in my experience this will continue to happen until you call it. Then it'll stop like magic. YMMV

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally Posted by Back In The Saddle

"When a dribbler in his/her progress is moving in a straight-line path, he/she may not be crowded out of that path, but if an opponent is able to legally obtain a defensive position in that path, the dribbler must avoid contact by changing direction or ending his/her dribble." (NFHS 10-6-9)

Unless the defense has LGP in the dribbler's path, this is a foul on the defense. It seems pretty subtle, but in my experience this will continue to happen until you call it. Then it'll stop like magic. YMMV

Agree. What you can't call is a violation when illegal contact gives a team an undeserved advantage not meant by rule.

Add case book play 10.6.9...
Dribbler A1 has established a straight-line path towards a certain area of the court. Can A1 maintain this specific path.
RULING: Only to the extent that no opponent is who is behind OR TO THE SIDE can crowd A1 out of this path. Opponents may attempt to obtain a legal guarding position in A1's path at any time...

Throw in Rule 10-6-8 and you have enough direction from the rules to make the correct call imo...
Rule 10-6-8- When 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.

[TimTaylor]

Originally Posted by Jurassic Referee

Agree. What you can't call is a violation when illegal contact gives a team an undeserved advantage not meant by rule.

That's my take as well - correct call is a foul on the defensive player.

[Rich]

I had a play in a varsity girls game a week ago where the defender established LGP and made it impossible for the dribbler to go outside the defender. So what does the dribbler do? She bumps straight into the defender (not enough for a PC foul), the ball goes out of bounds, I give the ball to B, and the coach (who's naturally right in my lap) asks me how that couldn't be a foul.

[mbyron]

Originally Posted by RichMSN

I had a play in a varsity girls game a week ago where the defender established LGP and made it impossible for the dribbler to go outside the defender. So what does the dribbler do? She bumps straight into the defender (not enough for a PC foul), the ball goes out of bounds, I give the ball to B, and the coach (who's naturally right in my lap) asks me how that couldn't be a foul.

"Well, coach, I just didn't see enough contact to call a charge."

Or:

"Well, coach, if I call a charge we're going the other way anyway -- just thought I'd save you a team foul."

[TimTaylor]

Originally Posted by RichMSN

I had a play in a varsity girls game a week ago where the defender established LGP and made it impossible for the dribbler to go outside the defender. So what does the dribbler do? She bumps straight into the defender (not enough for a PC foul), the ball goes out of bounds, I give the ball to B, and the coach (who's naturally right in my lap) asks me how that couldn't be a foul.

Don't you just love it! If I think they"re being rhetorical I simply ignore it....but if it's a sincere question my reply would be something like "Defender had LGP -not enough contact to call a player control foul" or "Defender had LGP coach - do you really want me to call a foul on your own player?"

I know it's rarely a good idea to engage in conversation with a coach, but I actually used the latter version once. Coach had been asking these kind of questions throughout the game and his manner wasn't harassing in the least - it just appeared he really didn't understand the rules all that well. Similar situation to yours early Q3 and very sincerely I used the latter response. His reaction was priceless - reminded me of the line "hung him up" from the Jimmy Buffett song. He just stared at me for a couple seconds with a bewildered look on his face, then said "Oh, OK - thanks." We didn't hear a whole lot from him the rest of the game, so in this case I think it worked out OK.