Player on Floor Legal Guarding Position

[Adam]

Originally Posted by Freddy

ART. 3 . . . After the initial legal guarding position is obtained:
a. The guard may have one or both feet on the playing court or be airborne,
provided he/she has inbound status.
b. The guard is not required to continue facing the opponent.
c. The guard may move laterally or obliquely to maintain position, provided it
is not toward the opponent when contact occurs.
d. The guard may raise hands or jump within his/her own vertical plane.
e. The guard may turn or duck to absorb the shock of imminent contact.
f. The guard may be lying on the floor after having obtained legal guarding position.

Am I correct in maintaining that without something like "f" above (which doesn't exist), lying on the floor does not constitute LGP?

This occurred last night in a GV I was observing: Defender B1 picked up her fifth foul being the one on the floor over which rebounder A1 tripped backwards. The lack of clarity on this exact situation is what led the official to call a blocking foul on B1 and the defender's coach to contest the call.

I'd appreciate further clarification on this, especially the foundational phraseology in the rules or casebook or vanished interps which would expect a travelling violation on A1.

When it happens, I wanna get it right.

Thanx!

You're correct, but not completely. A stationary player does not need LGP to be legal. LGP allows them to move, but a stationary player can always hold their spot without fear of a foul.

If the player in the game you observed didn't move once on the floor and the offense tripped, I wouldn't have called it. I have had a partner call a foul on a similar play where the floor-bound defender actually rolled into the offensive player, tripping her.

I believe he caught some heat from table for that one later.