Back Court Violation ?
 

Player A1 is bringing the ball up the floor in A1's backcourt, trailed by A2. As A1 crosses the midcourt line he is pressured by B1 and passes the ball to A2 who is airborne over the halfcourt line. A2 lands in the front-court with one foot down prior to catching the ball. is this a backcourt violation ?

This is the important part of your scenario. Where is A2 when he has one foot in the frontcourt and nothing touching backcourt?

A2 is entirely in the Front Court when he catches the ball. The visualization of this would be a running motion across half-court, but going airborne across the midcourt line.

That answers your question.

The key here - as in most of the rules - is to not overly-complicate the situations. The pass was from a frontcourt (or backcourt - it's not entirely clear from your description if A1 had entirely entered the frontcourt before passing) player to another player in the frontcourt. As long as the ball didn't gain backcourt status at some point after gaining frontcourt status, no violation.

Our team was called for a back-court violation. The Referee who made the call told me that A2 had to have both feet down prior to catching the ball. I am still puzzled by this call, because, like you said, the player never established possession of the ball in backcourt.

I'm not sure if I'm reading this correctly.

1. I can't tell where A1 was when he passed the ball. Was he in the FC or the BC? Since you said "as A1 crosses...." I'm having a hard time making that decision.

2. From your description of A2 being airborne over the division line, I have to assume he had jumped from the BC.

Here's how I'm reading this play:
A1 crosses the line, gains FC status, then passes the ball to A2, who is airborne after having jumped from the BC. Where he lands is irrelevant if he catches the ball in the air. This is a violation as soon as A2 touches the ball.

It seems like he made the right call. Had A2 jumped from the backcourt? Had he landed prior to touching the ball?

OP says A2 has one foot down in front court prior to catching the ball. Where is the second foot? Has A1 fully established himself in the frontcourt?

If that's what the official told you, the official is mistaken. If any part of a player is touching frontcourt, and no part of the player is touching backcourt, he is in the frontcourt. If any part of a player is touching backcourt, regardless of any part touching frontcourt, the player is in backcourt.

1 Foot in the frontcourt/1 foot in the air = NO VIOLATION (2 feet are NOT required...if the official explained it that way then he was wrong)

You're right. Somehow I missed that. My bad. It feels like Monday.

points of clarification.

(1) A1 is clearly in the Front Court prior to passing the ball to A2 who is airborne over midcourt line at the time of the pass.

(2) A2 clearly had no feet in or on the backcourt when he gains posession of the ball in the front court from A1. He clearly had one foot down in the Front Court when he caught the ball.

Sounds like the official either made a mistake and tried to cover it by inaccurately explaining the rule, or doesn't know the rule.

Did the official actually say two feet, or did he say he had to establish himself in the frontcourt? If the latter, he may know the rule but judged A2 hadn't touched the frontcourt yet after being airborne from the backcourt.

Bottom line, there are missed calls. Sorry this one appears to have gone against your team.

here's the worst part of the ruling .... The backcourt referee was standing out of bounds straddling the mid court line and was watching the exchange between A1 and A2. He had perfect vantage point. He did NOT call the infraction. The other referee (who was working his way toward the baseline) made the call !!!!

Sounds like a guy I used to work with. :D