The Most Misunderstood Basketball Rules

[jmwking]

I've found this fascinating enough to register after many years of lurking. Thanks, Billymac, for all the work that's obviously gone into this.

I do have a question (or three), as in your introduction you said you used this with the college game, too. I don't know if you have any intention that this list work for NCAA rules or not, but I'd at least like to ask or point out these discrepancies I noticed in case someone reads it from that angle. If I've missed something painfully obvious, please forgive me!

You stated that "the backboard has nothing to do with goaltending". The NCAA (4-34.3) says "When the entire ball is above the level of the ring during a field-goal try and contacts the backboard, it is considered to be on its downward flight. In such a case, it is goaltending when the ball is touched by a player."

Also, for a 5 second violation, you said, "the count continues even if defenders switch". The NCAA (4-13.3) states "After the start of a five-second closely guarded count, in order for a closely guarded violation to occur, there shall be continuous guarding by the same opponent."

Lastly, you said "a player saving the ball in the air can ask for and be granted a timeout even if that player is going out of bounds." NCAA (5-12.1.c) has "No timeouts shall be granted... to a player or coach when an airborne player’s momentum is carrying him/her out of bounds or into the backcourt."

Again, I'm only pointing this out as you indicated you gave this presentation to college audiences, and these points didn't seem to mesh.

Thanks.

[Adam]

Interesting catches; two of those three are, I think, fairly recent changes at the NCAA level.

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by jmwking

You indicated you gave this presentation to college audiences, and these points didn't seem to mesh.

College level coaching class at a small Christian college. Most of these students were former high school players who hoped to coach high school basketball after graduation. I made it clear to them at the time that these were a set of high school rules and that NCAA rules, and NBA rules, although similar, were not exactly the same.

[jmwking]

Originally Posted by BillyMac

College level coaching class at a small Christian college. Most of these students were former high school players who hoped to coach high school basketball after graduation. I made it clear to them at the time that these were a set of high school rules and that NCAA rules, and NBA rules, although similar, were not exactly the same.

Ah. Thanks for the clarification.

[Scrapper1]

Originally Posted by jmwking

You stated that "the backboard has nothing to do with goaltending". The NCAA (4-34.3) says "When the entire ball is above the level of the ring during a field-goal try and contacts the backboard, it is considered to be on its downward flight. In such a case, it is goaltending when the ball is touched by a player."

I take this to mean that touching the backboard has nothing to do with GT, which is true even at the college level. As BillyMac has it written here, I can understand how it could be confusing when considering the college rule. (But in fairness to Billy, I'm pretty sure he was only writing with NFHS rules in mind.)