Jump Ball Positioning

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by Snaqwells

Color me skeptical.

We had to know the jump ball rules that well. Jump balls to start every period. Jump balls for every held ball. Jump balls for two opponents touching ball going out of bounds. Jump balls for when officials don't know who caused it to go out of bounds. Jump balls for lodged balls. I think that we even had jump balls for closely guarded? And we had a wide variety of players jumping, not two big guys tapping to a bunch of littler guys like we have today. In three different jump ball circles. Coaches actually had plays for different jump ball situations, expect to win tap, expect to lose tap, near their basket, near opponent's basket, etc. I only coached middle school and I had two, or three, jump ball plays that we actually practiced.

Don't believe me? Just ask Jurassic Referee, and Mark T. DeNucci, Sr. Of course Mark T. DeNucci, Sr. had jump balls every time he took the ball out of the peach basket. As an official, I don't go back that far.