Confusion on Backcourt

[Camron Rust]

Originally Posted by mbyron

Step 1: Learn the 4 necessary conditions of a BC violation.
1. Ball has frontcourt status.
2. Team A has control.
3. Team A is last to touch in FC.
4. Team A is first to touch in BC.

Step 2: remember the exception for throw-ins.

Careful. While that describes a subset of backcourt violations, it is not exactly right. It dosn't cover at least one possible group of backcourt violations...and the order is probably best thought of differently...

1. Team control
2. Ball has FC status
3. A was last to touch before the ball returned to the backcourt
4. A was the first to touch the ball after the ball returned to the backcourt

The difference in 1 and 2 is semantics but the difference in 3 and 4 is materially important as it doesn't matter where A touched the ball but only WHEN A touched the ball relative to it transitioning form FC to BC status.

In 3, A's last touch could be in the backcourt with the ball subsequently bouncing in the FC before returning to the backcourt. And in 4, A's first touch after having the ball go into the backcourt could still be in the frontcourt.

As an examle, imagine A1 getting trapped at the division line in the frontocurt. A1 throws a bounce pass to A2 who is in the FC also near the division line such that the bounce occurs in the backcourt. Neither A1 nor A2 ever touched the ball in the backcourt nor touched the backcourt yet it is a violation when A2 touches the ball.

You could flip the play around such that both players were in the backcourt with the bounce pass touching in the frontcourt. The result is the same....a violation.